Written by: Captain Rob Barker - Church Army

Luke 4 v 14-16
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit, and stories about him spread all through the area. He began to teach in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
Jesus traveled to Nazareth, where he had grown up. On the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue, as he always did, and stood up to read. 

Notes
As Christians we are filled with that same wonderful Holy Spirit that filled Jesus, and that same Holy Spirit is with us always. He can lead us and go with us into many differing places and situations. Some we may feel are really exciting; others times it may appear to be the very ordinary or worse. But God is the God of the whole of our lives. So the exciting and the maybe not so exciting are equally as important to Him because we are important to Him. 

In today’s reading Jesus enters the synagogues (would that have been an exciting or ordinary or maybe even boring place for him to be?) and he begins to teach them and he received the praises of all the people. I bet he was a great preacher that didn’t make you want to check out the giant sundial on your wrist (no watches then) to see if the service was nearly over.

But as you may read later on in Luke’s Gospel, filled with the same Holy Spirit the response was not always so positive and neither were the situations.
And so it will be with us. Maybe your going through a really exciting phase in your life right now. Brill, God’s in it with you. Maybe you’ve hit a rotten patch, well remember he is still in that with you also. 

How did you answer my question about the synagogue? 
An exciting place? An ordinary place? Or a boring place. Whatever, the Holy Spirit was there with him; in fact the Holy Spirit led him to that place. How do you feel about Church?

Luke 4 v 17-19
The book of Isaiah the prophet was given to him. He opened the book and found the place where this is written:
“The Lord has put his Spirit in me, because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to tell the captives they are free and to tell the blind that they can see again. God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness.” 

Notes
Good News to the poor; to set captives free, sight for the blind, the Lord’s kindness to those treated unfairly. If you read the Gospels you will see that Jesus fulfilled this scripture in the days of his life on earth. But what about today, how is Jesus continuing to fulfil this scripture in the world that you and I live in? The same Holy Spirit is equally at work today as he was then, but he works through you and me, ordinary people who know the love of an extraordinary God. But you and I need to allow him to work through us as Jesus did, by being open to him and faithful and honest in all we do. 

Sight for the blind! How are your eyes workings today, are they open? How do you see other people? In your time of prayer ask Jesus to open your eyes to see those outside the church, or within the church, as he sees them. Not in a patronising or sloppy way, but as Jesus sees them. Ask him to give you a heart like his heart and the ability to see beyond the prejudices and fears that we all have within us. Dare to let the Holy Spirit lead and use you, and as he does allow yourself to be liberated from the things that have held you captive.

Luke 4 v 20-22
Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the assistant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue was watching Jesus closely. He began to say to them, “While you heard these words just now, they were coming true!”
All the people spoke well of Jesus and were amazed at the words of grace he spoke. They asked, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

Notes
Who do people associate you with? How do people look at you? As you live out your life as a Christian, are people recognising something different about you, compared to the behaviour and standards accepted by the majority? Are your words full of grace that amaze your friends? I wish mine were, but the truth is that too often they are not. But my failures and yours are never an excuse to throw in the towel and conform to the standards of the world. Thankfully, neither shall our failures ever cut us off from the love of God. If we faithfully want to follow the Lord, he will in some way shine through us despite our failings, and others will notice something different and attractive. 

When you became a Christian it involved making a commitment to follow Christ, and to turn your back on all that we know to be wrong (part of repentance). As Christians we are called to continue in our stand and not to conform to the standards of this world. But in doing so be careful not to get holiness mixed up with sour faced, false piety and self-righteousness, rather remember the grace afforded to you at Christ’s expense.

So, whom do people associate you with? Who do you want to be associated with? I want to be associated with Jesus, and that means following him; being honest, loving, gracious to others, and real.

Luke 4 v 23-24
Jesus said to them, “I know that you will tell me the old saying: ‘Doctor, heal yourself.’ You want to say, ‘We heard about the things you did in Capernaum. Do those things here in your own town!’ ” Then Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, a prophet is not accepted in his hometown. 

Notes
In my work as an evangelist on the Bus Project, I quite often get requests to prove God is real, and I also come across people from my past, or have heard my past, who then try and use it to discredit my witness (not that my past is hugely bad, but even if it was it would be dealt with by Christ’s cross). I suppose to some extent this will always happen, not only to me, but to every believer who is active in the world and constantly mixing with people who as yet have not come to know and experience life in Christ for themselves. But when speaking with non-Christians it affords great opportunity to share what the Lord has done in my life and how liberating it has been. For me to know and experience full forgiveness for what ever my past has been, and for those searching for the truth and the same liberation, it is Good News to their ears. It is sadder however when those from within the body of Christ, try to remind you of where you have come from. Don’t ever let anyone make you deny or doubt the full forgiveness and the new life you have received through Jesus. Sadly some people don’t want to go further with Christ and discover the wonderful things he has for us to experience, or receive the wonderful gifts he has to give us, and when they see new Christians surpassing them in growth, resentment can creep in. Don’t let them stifle you, or deny your experience and growth because of your past or age. Take heart, it means they are noticing the difference in your life. Thankfully some will also notice it and want the same reality of God in their lives to.

Luke 4 v 25-27
But I tell you the truth, there were many widows in Israel during the time of Elijah. It did not rain in Israel for three and one-half years, and there was no food anywhere in the whole country. But Elijah was sent to none of those widows, only to a widow in Zarephath, a town in Sidon. And there were many with skin diseases living in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha. But none of them were healed, only Naaman, who was from the country of Syria.”

Notes
Reading these verses of scripture at first glance can give you a distorted narrow picture of God’s love. Why did only the widow of Zarephath and Naaman receive God’s favour? Why did Jesus say such things to his listeners who had recently commended him for his words spoken with such grace? 
God is a God of love, he abounds in love, in fact he is love. If we look at this scripture correctly, it gives us a wider picture of the love of God. Here Jesus is speaking to his listeners with prophetic words. He is foretelling of his rejection by many of his own people, the Jews, and the opportunity that will be given for all people to know and receive God’s favour.

One of the pitfalls of being God’s chosen people ‘the Jewish Nation’ was pride and feelings of elitism; God was their God, not the God of the Gentiles. Beware; the same pitfalls can lay before the Christian, pride comes before a fall. The widow of Zarephath and Naaman both lived among the Jews but where not Jewish themselves. God knew their hearts, and poured out his favour on them. Jesus knew the hearts of those around him, as he knows ours. He knew he would be rejected by many of them, though some of them did receive him. He also knew that their rejection would result in him going to the cross to save all people.

God is not a God who pours favour on people because of their nationality, religiosity, status or theology. He seeks those who seek the truth and will come to simply put their trust in him. For those who will, he will pour out his favour, and that may well include miraculous healings. Have you put your trust in him? 

Luke 4 v 28-30
When all the people in the synagogue heard these things, they became very angry. They got up, forced Jesus out of town, and took him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built. They planned to throw him off the edge, but Jesus walked through the crowd and went on his way.

Notes 
The people in this reading who became very angry were from Jesus’ own nationality and culture. He had just spoken to their hearts, by prophetically speaking that God would pour out his love on all people, not the Jews alone. Jesus’ challenge was too radical for many of them. They where brought up to think of the Gentiles (non Jews) as unclean, and themselves as God’s chosen people. How dare they be classed as unclean like the Gentiles? Their hearts become angry, their anger turns physical and they force Jesus out of town to lynch him. 

When convicted of the truth, the heart has two options, either to accept that truth and allow change and growth, or to throw up defences and go into denial. It’s extremely hard to hide either condition when a real truthful challenge is put before you. Our reaction is a real barometer of the state of our hearts. 
Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. 

Have you come across angry and defensive people in the Church when challenged that it needs to be more accessible to all people, as God’s love is? I certain have. Love them and pray for them. But don’t forget to look in the mirror or check your own barometer first!

Luke 4 v 31-35
Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and on the Sabbath day, he taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue a man who had within him an evil spirit shouted in a loud voice, “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!”
Jesus commanded the evil spirit, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” The evil spirit threw the man down to the ground before all the people and then left the man without hurting him.

Notes 
“What do you want with us?”, the evil spirit shouts distractingly. Jesus’ concern was not for the evil spirit at all, but to teach the people and to liberate the man bound by the spirit. The evil spirit was an annoying distraction. Jesus simply speaks to the spirit with authority, commanding him to come out of the man, not allowing the spirit to detract him from his work. And of course that is exactly what happens, the spirit comes out, because Jesus is Lord over all, and has authority over all creation. 
Jesus knew his calling and without creating a big fuss would have continued in his task. But a direct result of this demonic interruption, that Jesus so perfectly dealt with was that the devil’s scheme to disrupt backfires and the encounter ends up bring glory to God.

Please don’t get preoccupied with evil spirits, Jesus never did. He dealt with them when confronted, but he never purposely sought them out. Don’t let interest in them distract you from what is really important.

But remember, that whatever spiritual opposition may come up against you as a child of God will have to bow to the authority of Jesus, and the Lord can take the situation and use it to His glory and to further his will.
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes