Monday 26th October 2009

Luke 4.16-17

16 And He went into Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and He went into the synagogue, as was His custom on the Sabbaths, and He stood up to read.

17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and opening the book he found the place where it had been written:

Perhaps a lot of people have an affection for the place where they were brought up and spent their childhood and formative years. Going back to such a place can often lead to a nostalgia that might lead to some feelings of being homesick. There are both pros and cons in returning to a place where we used to live. We only read of one occasion when Jesus returned to His home town. It was to be an occasion where He received a mixed reception.

He enters the synagogue, where, we can assume, He would have been well known and where He would have received His education. Going to the local place of worship and Bible teaching is essential whenever we go to another place, especially if we are going to live there. When we moved to Sutton-in-Ashfield, one of the first things we knew that we needed to do was to find a Church where we could worship and serve God and enjoy the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Jesus.

Jesus is handed a scroll which contained the book of the prophet Isaiah; then He appears to deliberately look for the particular scripture that we find in verses 18 ff. In the purposes of God it was on this Sabbath that Jesus was invited to read and it was the book of Isaiah that was the chosen book. In God’s purposes things don’t just happen. With Him events and circumstances are never random. The times we are living in and our being placed within them are not by accident. Each one of us has been placed where we are at this time to advance the Kingdom of God in this place. The short time Jesus was in Nazareth was to be a time of personal agony, but, as we shall see, it was in the purposes of God. Let us rest in the knowledge that our Father leads us either to remain where we are, or to move on. Whichever it happens to be we are where we are to accomplish His purposes.