Ministry Business

Luke 4:16 - 30.

Jesus goes to the synagogue on the sabbath just like he was raised to do.

Its his turn to speak and he is handed the book of Isaiah, he turns to Chapter 61 verses 1 - 2 and reads it.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,"

He then tells the people that what they have heard has just come to pass.

They are surprised and ecstatic. "This is Joseph's boy?!"

Jesus, they kid they all grew up with just told them he was chosen by God to do great things.

Jesus then tells them that they will ask him to go places and do things for them, but he will not do what they ask. Jesus said he could not do everything, only the things that God tells and allows him to do.

As soon as they heard him say that they got very angry and were filled with wrath. They pushed him out of the synagogue and brought him to a cliff, intending to throw him off. Jesus had other plans and passed through the middle of the crowd and went on his way.

It seems to me that everyone was excited to hear that Jesus was the new local hero. Eager to see what he could do for his hometown. But as soon as he told them that he would be leaving, everyone freaked out and got angry. They wanted to keep him there to help the people he grew up with.

People today might be jealous or angry when God blesses and tells a person to leave and do work for him. They may wonder why God would not want that person to stay and help locally. We don't need to plan out how God can use that person for our benefit, that is selfish. We need to make sure we give blessings, not criticism when someone is called off by God. We should be thankful that we know that person and be supportive of the ministry that God has called them into.