GENTILE DA FABRIANO, Nativity, 1423
Luke 4:17-21
“17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”
Can you imagine being there when the long-awaited Messiah came and announced this scripture fulfilled as He read it from the scroll? This scripture is one I find to be comforting and encouraging. I wish I could have been there when He said it with His own lips! But if we read further here we find that right after this announcement, Jesus reminded the people that when people reject God’s prophets, God sends them elsewhere. And the people actually became angry and desired to throw Jesus down a cliff.
Not the way I would like to imagine the beginning of a ministry to play out for myself…or for Jesus.
I’m so thankful that we are blessed to be at the point in history where we can see clearly what God has done. We have more scripture and we know more fully what Jesus was announcing here. Not only that but, if we are in Christ, we’ve experienced what He was announcing!
We’ve heard the good news and believe it.
We were once held captive to our sins but now we have been forgiven of all of them.
We were once spiritually blind but He has given us eyes to see spiritually.
We have been freed from the oppression of sin and Satan and are now free to live for Christ.
We have been blessed with the merits of Christ…making us fully acceptable, loveable and able to receive answer to prayer on account of Christ’s merit and all that is ours in Him.
These gifts will never fade or be taken away. They are never disappointing and are always useful. These are the gifts we receive from Christ….the gifts of Christmas!
To do right now: Meditate on the above verse. Thank Him for fulfilling scripture and for the gifts of Christmas mentioned above. Write a prayer or journal your thoughts. Listen to the song: Son of God .
