In my discussion with the young men of Jeremy's youth group two weeks ago, I explained that Jesus clearly stated the essence of His mission and ministry in His hometown by quoting/paraphrasing Isaiah 61:
4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
19 and that the time of the Lord's favor has come."
Our pastor is preaching through the Gospel of Luke, and he preached from this passage a few weeks ago. One of the themes of this study of Luke is, "following Jesus into strange places". After Jesus quoted Isaiah 61, He told them that this Scripture was fulfilled in their presence. But they were skeptical. So Jesus responded by giving examples from the ministry of two of the most prominent prophets in Israel's history: (1) Elijah took care of a gentile woman in Sidon, and (2) Elisha healed a gentile military officer from Syria suffering from leprosy.
As I've been thinking about how to follow Jesus into strange places, I think it starts with being willing and open to have conversations with people that might be awkward. It means being open to interact with people. My dad is really good at that.
Heavenly Father, please help me participate in the ministry of the body of Christ. I want to be useful and engaged. Please help me see how you are trying to get me engaged. I love you, Lord.
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