Anticipation -- The Year of the Lord's Favor

Luke 4:14-30 (The Message)

^14-15Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit. News that he was back spread through the countryside. He taught in their meeting places to everyone's acclaim and pleasure.

^16-21He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God's Spirit is on me;
he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to
the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, "This is God's year to act!"
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."

²²All who were there, watching and listening, were surprised at how well he spoke. But they also said, "Isn't this Joseph's son, the one we've known since he was a youngster?"

^23-27He answered, "I suppose you're going to quote the proverb, 'Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.' Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn't it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian."

^28-30That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he gave them the slip and was on his way.

Have you ever waited a long time for something? If you have, then the closer you get to that event, the greater the anticipation increases. Do you remember the turning points as you moved from dating, to engagement and then marriage? Maybe you are a high school or college student in your senior year and you are anticipating graduation and your future. Perhaps you are awaiting the arrival of a child. The moment when it comes is full of joy and the emotion that often accompanies that which has been anticipated.

God had promised the decisive demonstration of his salvation for his people for a long time. Now Jesus turns to declare the day as come; opportunity is present. After two-thousand years of promise stretching all the way back to Abraham, Jesus claims that the promises of the prophet Isaiah are now being decisively realized.

But as in many great moments, questions arise. Is this really it? Have we moved from the days of promise to the time of the beginning of realization? Is God at work to fulfill his promise?

Jesus’ synagogue declaration brings a moment of decision for those who hear his claims. A snapshot of his entire ministry flashes in this brief exchange. Jesus offers much, but the crowd questions what is offered. In the tension of the contrast, Luke’s readers are left to choose sides.

God has called us to do these very same things:

• Preach the Message of Good News to the poor
• Announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind
• Set the burdened and battered free.
• Announce, “This is the year of the Lord’s favor.”

It’s time to choose sides. Whose side are you on?

¹¹ For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations. Isaiah 61:11(NIV)