Jesus Comes to Worship in Nazareth.

From my morning Bible Reading and prayer

“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….'” — Luke 4:16-18 NRSV.

“Verse 16. To Nazareth], where he had been brought up. It is likely that our Lord lived principally in this city till the 30th year of his age; but, after he entered on his public ministry, his usual place of residence was at the house of Peter, in Capernaum.

“As his custom was]. Our Lord regularly attended the public worship of God in the synagogues; for there the Scriptures were read: other parts of the worship were very corrupt; but it was the best at that time to be found in the land. To worship God publicly is the duty of every man, and no man can be guiltless who neglects it. If a person cannot get such public worship as he likes, let him frequent such as he can get. Better to attend the most indifferent than to stay at home, especially on the Lord’s day.

The place and the time are set apart for the worship of the true God: if others do not conduct themselves well in it, that is not your fault, and need not be any hinderance to you. You come to worship GOD – do not forget your errand -and God will supply the lack in the service by the teachings of his Spirit. Hear the saying of old Mr. Herbert: —

“’The worst speak something good:
should all want sense, God takes the text,
and preacheth p-a-t-i-e-n-c-e.’

“A man may always profit where the word of God is read.

Verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord]. This is found in Isa. lxi. 1; but our Lord immediately adds to it Isa. xlii. 7. The proclaiming of liberty to the captives, and the acceptable year (or year of acceptance) of the Lord, is a manifest allusion to the proclaiming of the year of jubilee by sound of trumpet: see Lev. xxv. 9, &c…. This was a year of general release of debts and obligations; of bond-men and women; of lands and possessions, which had been sold from the families and tribes to which they belonged. Our saviour, by applying this text to himself, a text so manifestly relating to the institution above mentioned, plainly declares the typical design of that institution.

“He hath anointed me]. [That is:] ‘I have been designed and set apart for this very purpose; my sole business among men is to proclaim glad tidings to the poor, &c.’

“All the functions of this new prophet are exercised on the hearts of men; and the grace by which he works in the heart is a grace of healing, deliverance, and illumination; which, by an admirable virtue, causes them to pass from sickness to health, from slavery to liberty, from darkness to light, and from the lowest degrees of misery to supreme eternal happiness….

“To those who feel their spiritual poverty, whose hearts are broken through a sense of their sins, who see themselves tied and bound with the chains of many evil habits, who sit in the darkness of guilt and misery, without a friendly hand to lead them in the way in which they should go—to these, the Gospel of the grace of Christ is a pleasing sound, because a present and full salvation is proclaimed by it; and the present is shown to be the acceptable year of the Lord; the year, the time, in which he saves to the uttermost all who come unto him in the name of his Son Jesus. Reader! what dost thou feel? Sin — wretchedness — misery of every description? Then come to Jesus — He will save THEE — he came into the world for this very purpose. Cast thy soul upon him, and thou shalt not perish, but have everlasting life.” — Adam Clarke (1762-1832), Commentary on the Whole Bible.

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A PRAYER

Lord God of Israel,
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
You are the Source of all grace
the Creator of peace,
the Hope of the poor and the outcast,
The God of Justice
The God of Compassion.

You bring Good News to the poor.
You bring release to the captives.
You pierce the darkness in out lives,
with the light of the Gospel of Christ.

Strengthen my resolve to to worship.
Strengthen my resolve to hear Your Word.
Open my heart to all that is right and true.
I lay down my pride and hard-heartedness,
So, that I might hear Your Word anew.

May the Spirit of the Lord be upon me
The Spirit of Compassion
The Spirit of Peace and Understanding,
The Spirit of Justice,
The Spirit given to us by Christ,
The Spirit that exalts Christ — and Him alone.

May I move at the impulse of Your Spirit today.

I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ,
Our Messiah, prophet, and great High Priest. Amen.