Sermon Notes — January 26, 2025
Luke 4:14-21
A Gift for Today
January 26, 2025
Dr. Craig Goff
As we continue our worship series on the Gifts of Faith, this morning we are going to be looking at the gift of Scripture.
Our call to worship this morning is based on the 8th chapter of the Book of Nehemiah and a time when Ezra the priest read the law for hours to the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem. It was a big party. They ate and drank and took food to those who couldn’t be there. They believed that Scripture was a good gift from God that would help them rebuild their nation and become the people God would have them be.
If it’s okay, I would like for us to read our call to worship again together. You can find it in the bulletin or on the screen:
Come, let us gather together as one people, with open hearts and attentive ears, to hear the words of God's law as Ezra read to the people in the days of Nehemiah, for this day is holy to our God. Let us not mourn or weep, but rejoice in the gift of God's word.
The people in the time of Nehemiah believed that God’s word is a good gift and Jesus believed God’s word is a good gift.
As you probably know, Jesus preached a lot. He preached what is probably the most famous sermon in all the world, the Sermon on the Mount, unless of course, you are in the Gospel of Luke, and then it is the Sermon on the Plain.
His first public message we have a record of took place as part of a rather ordinary typical event in ancient synagogue life. It is found in our text today from Luke chapter 4.
It was the custom in those days that on the Sabbath, a preacher, not a rabbi or some other formal religious authority, but a person known as a darshanam, a “speaker” or a “teller” would read the assigned Scripture reading for that day from the scroll and comment on the verses. It was similar to what early Methodists called “exhorters.” Sometimes the exhorters spoke before the regular sermon and sometimes afterwards almost as an invitation to discipleship.
Jesus was a darshanam in his hometown synagogue on this particular day. A synagogue leader handed him the scroll, he found the place where the reader from the week before left off and he read these word from the prophet Isaiah.
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 he read those words, Jesus rolled up the scroll and handed it back to the attendant. The congregation then waited to hear how he would interpret those ancient words of God’s promise to send a Messiah.
Some may have wondered if he would talk about the Roman occupation they were living under, or the oppression they were facing as a people unable to govern ourselves in their own land. They may have wondered if would he talk about his own ministry which was gaining incredible attention and influence throughout that region.
It was clearly a typical, ordinary occurrence in the life of that little synagogue, but given Jesus’ reputation they were probably more eager to hear what Jesus had to say than they would have been to hear the usual darshanam.
They were probably really wondering what he had to say.
He could have referred back to the past. He could have preached on the great wisdom of the prophets who had come before him and their ancient vision of a world of justice, freedom and healing. The fullness of abundant life in a land of milk and honey as God covenanted with Moses.
He could have also elaborated on the world to come saying “We, along with Isaiah, await the fulfillment of this glorious promise I just read to you. One day the poor will be lifted up, captives set free, and the blind will see! Oh, how we long and pray for that day which seems so slow in coming.”
In other words, he could have appealed to the congregation’s sense of Biblical nostalgia — how great Isaiah was, how great Moses was — or he could appeal to their fragile hope for a better future “the kingdom of God will come!”
But he didn’t do either, what he did do was to speak to the power and relevance of God’s word for that day.
What he did say was “today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
I don’t know about you, but I can understand how that would have been a hard word for them to hear.
I can imagine them thinking, is he really saying “the captives are being released today? Is he really saying the oppressed are being set free today? Is he really saying the blind are receiving their sight? Can he not see what is going on?
Last time I checked the Romans are still pretty brutal. The last time I checked we were being held captive in our own land.
Although Jesus is THE greatest preacher who has ever lived, they did not like what they heard.
They were furious and tried to throw him over a cliff.
I am not the greatest preacher who has ever lived, but no one has ever tried to throw me over a cliff after I’ve preached a sermon.
Doesn’t the reaction of the people seem a little strong, a little over the top?
What was going on? Why were they so furious?
One thing that seemed to be happening is that they did not see God’s word to be the kind of gift that it is.
I wonder, if we do?
Do we really believe God’s word is here changing things now?
Looking back at what God has done hundreds of years ago, a thousand years ago, might be kind of nice, but it doesn’t really impact my life.
Trying to imagine what things will be like someday far in the future when God’s justice and rule fills all of earth and heaven is inspiring, but it doesn’t necessarily change how I live now.
But to say that God’s word says God’s kingdom has come, I might have to live in a new way.
Jesus said “today God’s Spirit is upon me,” but that also meant that God’s Spirit was upon the people, so that serving God was about more than celebrating the past or looking forward to the future but looking for God in the present.
So what if we were to hear these words of Jesus quoting the prophet Isaiah as God’s word for us today?
They might sound something like this:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and you because he has anointed us to bring good news to the poor. He has sent us to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. To let the oppressed go free and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
God’s word really is a gift for us. Above and beyond everything else, it points us to the One who is the living Word, through whom, all the captive and those who are oppressed can be set free and that is good news for today.