FRIDAY 23rd MARCH 1984

DID YOU SEE GOD THIS WEEK?

READING:  Luke 4:18-21                            English - Monica   Chinese - Raymond

18  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19  to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
20  And he closed the book, 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."

COMMENTARY                                         - Vivien

Probably the most revolutionary thing that Jesus said in this church service was not the reading he made.

After all, many preachers and teachers before him must have read these verses from Isaiah.  The new dimension which Jesus brought was in his statement "These Scriptures came true today!"

It was not so much that Jesus was claiming that these verses referred to him.  Rather, the revolutionary idea came in the concept that God was acting right in the very middle of this church service.

The church of Jesus' time had lost its relevance as a centre for worshipping God.  It had become a place in which people taught and debated.  Many of our churches today are much the same.  We come together to improve ourselves, to learn, to grow, to think.  There is nothing wrong with that, unless that is the total of what we should be doing in church.

Jesus stood up in the church and talked about God here and now, and that was uncomfortable.  Somehow it is much safer to talk about Jesus as if he were a historical figure.  It is easy to debate what the gospel writers meant, or to study the Old Testament prophets, or to think about the God who will come at the end of time.

But if we only have a God of yesterday, or a God of tomorrow, we have no God.  Jesus said TODAY this Scripture comes true.  This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice, be glad in it, and look for His actions.  Our God is alive - right now!

NEWS

PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we pray for your actions in our lives today. In Jesus' Name we pray.  A-men