Jesus’ Ministry
January 27, 2019
Scripture Reading: Luke 4:14-21
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.’ –Luke 4:16-21
Change all starts at home. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. Most of us invest a lot of energy in changing other people but not enough in changing ourselves. Faith based groups work hard at changing other groups or people without understanding that they will make more progress in meeting their goals by examining themselves and identifying what they might be doing that is counter productive to the attainment of their desired outcomes.
Getting on the same page regarding what our desired outcomes are might be a good place to start. Jesus had a very simple prime directive to help people love God and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It remains the prime directive for those groups founded through the Abrahamic faiths and closely matches the purposes of many other faith groups.
I do not think it is possible to make anyone love anyone else. It certainly is not possible to legislate love. I do not think anyone would want to be loved because someone was made to love them, particularly God. I doubt many have ever taken the time to even determine what it means to love God or to love our neighbors or to love ourselves. I like the definition of love as wanting the very best for another. The problem arises in who gets to decide what the very best for another person is or even what the best is for ourselves.
Love is primarily a verb. Jesus modeled love as simple, straightforward, and immediate responses to the needs of others. His driving force was his dedication to meeting the immediate love need of God that all God’s children love one another. He never took the time to discern who qualified as his neighbor; he did take the time to address the needs of those who required the answer to that question.
Prayer: Lord, help us to look inward to find how we love you and how our love of you is reflected in how we love one another. Amen.