Isaiah 61

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor". 

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Jesus stood up in synagogue and quoted this scripture. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. As all eyes were fastened on him. He began by saying “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

 

At first everybody was amazed. They wanted to see him perform all those mighty acts. Then, of course, Jesus said He wouldn't.  He said  “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown".

This didn't go over well. The people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They kill Him...throw him off a cliff. But...He walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

All those folks knew Isaiah 61 referenced their coming Messiah. They had no difficulty cheering Jesus as that Messiah as long as He played the role according to their expectations. When Jesus demurred they turned on Him.

Things aren't different today. I can't begin to estimate how many times I've heard people say they no longer have an interest in God because "He didn't come through". The reasons are legion but have a common theme. "I needed something, I asked God, and He didn't answer. I quit!"  What they really mean is..."Things in my life aren't going the way I want them to go...who needs a God who doesn't give me what I want?".

This is a huge misunderstanding of God's plan. The plan was always two parts. First, come to explain what God requires...Next, come back to implement what God requires. But...we all need a little time to adjust/respond to the message of first trip...which was "repent!"

That would be...NOW.

The glory of the first trip is that, in explaining what God requires, Jesus delivered an inoculation against the consequences of the second trip...

Ray Stedman reminds us to note carefully where Jesus stopped reading. He did not go on to read, "and the day of vengeance of our God," because when He first came He introduced "the day of God's favor,"  the day when God withholds his judgment. So...for 2,000 years we have been living in "the day of God's favor." God is still giving people the opportunity to follow Him. And, people continue to reject Him. But...God is loving and patient. He will not usher in "the day of vengeance of our God," until everybody has had the opportunity to follow Him.

Now, we can reject Jesus becuase He doesn't resemble the kind of Messiah we prefer or...we can look at the mighty miracles as evidence Christ's bona fides. The thing we can't do is insist on "just one more and I'll believe".

Live boldly out there today...