Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Today's episode talks about how bold Jesus was stand up in front of all those He grew up with and claim the Old Testament Prophecy was fulfilled in Him. Also, He had the confidence to step into His destiny without hesitation. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Jesus’ Boldness & Confidence
Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, and the Holy Spirit came upon Him, He went into the wilderness for 40 days where he was tempted by the devil. This verse takes place just after His return from the wilderness. It says in Luke 4:16-21, “When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
When I heard this scripture last night what stood out to me was Jesus’ bravery or boldness and His confidence in who He was and what He had been sent to do. I say bravery or boldness because Jesus stood up in font of all those in the synagogue and said He was the fulfillment of that scripture. I would say that take some boldness or some bravery. I believe Nazareth would be considered a small town at the time. I am from a small town and standing up in front of people that have known you your whole life and declaring something this amazing would be difficult. When you grow up with people it is hard to see them differently than you remember them. It can be hard to picture them as this famous person, or this person that is exceptional at something if that is not who they were when they were growing up. Imagine standing up in front of everyone you graduated 8th grade with and telling them that you are the fulfillment of an old testament prophecy. That would not be easy for me.
I also admired Jesus’ confidence in who He was and what He was sent here to do. Jesus read the scroll that was handed to him and read what it said and announced that the prophecy had been fulfilled. He didn’t read it, go home and think about it for a few days, and then claim it. He stepped right into his destiny and I admire that. I believe it is rare to have someone so sure of His calling. I know, He is fully God, so of course He knows what God called Him to do, and yet He was also fully human. He had all the human emotions that we have, or at least most of them. Think about when Jesus was praying to God in the garden. He knew all the reasons He needed to die on that cross, He knew it was going to happen, and yet He asked His Father to not let it happen. He was fully human also. Even though He was fully human He didn’t seem to doubt His identity at all.
Doubting our identity as a child of God is pretty common. Often times, we believe in God, we love God and we know God is there for us. However, we don’t identify as a child of God. We wouldn’t necessarily call ourselves children of God because that seems reserved for someone closer to God, someone holier than we are. We don’t doubt God’s goodness or His ability to love, we doubt our worthiness of that love. We also doubt our calling. I think many of us know or at least have a pretty good feeling as to what God is calling us to and yet we question it because we don’t really feel equipped for it. For instance many years ago I got this desire in my heart to be involved in a healing ministry. I didn’t pay much attention to it because I “knew” that was for people far holier than I was. I counted myself out of something that God had placed on my heart. Have you ever done that? Have you ever had the desire to do something or the feeling that God was calling you to do something, and then proceeded to tell God all the reasons why you weren’t right for that calling? Yep, me too. Why do we do that? Why do we think we know better than God?
I wonder if Jesus ever felt like that? I wonder if He questioned God as He grew up? I wonder how old He was when God revealed the whole of the plan? I wonder if He had conversations with God the same as we do? I wonder if He questioned God like we do? I can just picture Jesus talking to His dad and saying things like, “Really, you want me to go there? I think it would make more sense if I went here and then there.” There is so much I wonder about Jesus and I can’t wait to ask Him all my questions when I get to meet Him one day. For now, I will just ponder.
This verse says that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus because He was anointed to bring good news to the poor. He was sent to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” God did not send Jesus on His mission without first equipping Him with the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was baptized the Heavens opened up and they never closed again. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and so He had the power to go forth and to complete His mission. The Holy Spirit was all that Jesus needed to do all that He was sent here to do.
I know many of you are questioning your purpose, or your mission. Many of you are questioning your call. You have a desire in your heart and you don’t know if it is from God. Or maybe you do feel it is from God but you also feel like He may have made a mistake because you can’t possibly do what He is calling you to do. All of this is normal. It is normal to wonder if your desires were put there by God. It is normal to feel you are not equipped for the call you are pretty sure God has given you. It is normal to question. The one thing I think is important to remember is that we were equipped at our baptism with the same Holy Spirit that Jesus was equipped with. This means we were anointed as well. I know you don’t feel equipped to do all you are being called to do, do it anyway. You will be pleasantly surprised that you actually do have all you need inside of you already. God does not make mistakes. If He called you to something it is because you are the perfect person for that thing. Trust Him and that He knows what He is doing. Jesus stepped forward confidently into His role and into His mission after He was filled with the Holy Spirit. I wonder if we can do the same? Can we trust God knows what He is doing and that since we were filled with the Holy Spirit at baptism we too are equipped and anointed?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, it is amazing the way you align our heart with your heart. Lord, help us to answer the call you have placed on our lives. Help us to trust you even if we don’t trust in ourselves. Help us to believe that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and that means we are ready for any challenge you give us. Lord, since today is St. Valentine’s Day, I ask that you be with all those who are broken hearted. Please wrap all those who need a little extra love in your arms today Lord. Help them to feel loved today and every day. You are so good to us and we are so grateful. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I hope you all have an amazing Valentine’s Day! I look forward to brining you a Witness tomorrow for Witness Wednesday. Remember Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day.