Today's Scripture
Good News to the poor: Matthew 4:14-28
TODAY’S READING SCHEDULE: Matthew 4 Luke 4-5 John 1:15-51 (CEB)
14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
16 Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been raised. On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue as he normally did and stood up to read. 17 The synagogue assistant gave him the scroll from the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to liberate the oppressed,
19 and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.[e]
20 He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the synagogue assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him. 21 He began to explain to them, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.”
22 Everyone was raving about Jesus, so impressed were they by the gracious words flowing from his lips. They said, “This is Joseph’s son, isn’t it?”
23 Then Jesus said to them, “Undoubtedly, you will quote this saying to me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we’ve heard you did in Capernaum.’” 24 He said, “I assure you that no prophet is welcome in the prophet’s hometown. 25 And I can assure you that there were many widows in Israel during Elijah’s time, when it didn’t rain for three and a half years and there was a great food shortage in the land. 26 Yet Elijah was sent to none of them but only to a widow in the city of Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 There were also many persons with skin diseases in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha, but none of them were cleansed. Instead, Naaman the Syrian was cleansed.”
28 When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with anger. 29 They rose up and ran him out of town. They led him to the crest of the hill on which their town had been built so that they could throw him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the crowd and went on his way.
What does this passage mean to me/us
Jesus comes back from his victory against Satan, and ‘filled in the Spirit’ he proclaims the good news!
He shares the promise of God, how the broken ways will be restored.
What a glorious sight? What a way to start his public ministry.Instead of people being all excited about the ways and the promise of God is fulfilled, what happens? They reject Jesus.In his patience, Jesus does not condemn them, he just says, “I assure you that no prophet is welcome in the prophet’s hometown” (v. 24).When God is doing something in our lives, do we by any chance reject God’s way, because it is not done in the way we thought of envisioned?Remember, even though we reject God’s plan, God is patient of our rejection. But at the same time, God waits for us to see God’s plan to be realized, so we can be part of it.
Prayer
Lord, help us to see you plan and your will to be done in our lives. Instead of rejecting, help us to be part of your plan. In Christ name, we pray, AMEN.
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