Jesus understands what God wants him to do
From the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4, verses 14-21.
God filled Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit. This made Jesus able to teach and preach and to heal people. Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus traveled to many places. Everywhere he went, he told people about God's love for them and about their place in God's beloved community. And he touched them and prayed with them and made them feel like they really mattered.
Word began to spread about how good a teacher Jesus was, and how very kind he was. People began to realize that when they were with him, they felt especially close to God. And so they began to sing his praises everywhere!
One day, Jesus visited Nazareth, the town where he had grown up. The people in his home town had heard about all the things that he had been doing and saying. Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath to worship with the people he had known his whole life.
Someone asked him to read from the holy scriptures. And so Jesus stood up and began to read words first spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
"God's Spirit is on me. God has chosen me to bring good news to the poor and to anyone who is feeling trapped. God wants me to help people see things clearly. God has chosen me to reassure everyone who is feeling weighed down or battered now that one day soon they will be free. God wants me to announce, 'This is God's year to act!' "
Then Jesus sat down. Everybody in the synagogue - including Jesus - was quiet as they thought about what they had just heard. Before too long, everyone was looking at him.
And then, in a sure and steady voice, Jesus said to them all, "Today these holy words have come true. You have heard it with your own ears."
Questions to ponder:
I wonder what it feels like to be filled with God's Holy Spirit?
I wonder how Jesus felt to be back in the place where he had grown up?
I wonder what it was like for people to be with Jesus?
I wonder what it is like for you to be with Jesus?
I wonder if you have ever felt trapped, or weighed down, or confused? How did God help you get through that hard time?