“Jesus stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘the Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ Then he rolled up the school, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, ‘Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’.” Luke 4:16-21

[We trust God will speak to you as you read this week’s devotionals originally published in Jan. 2019.)

Jesus knew his mission. He knew why he was here. He knew what he was here to do. It was utterly compelling and joy-giving for him – something he was willing to give his life for. 

And it’s been utterly transformative and compelling to the rest of the world for the past 2000 years. 

Good news to the poor. Freedom for the prisoners. Sight for the blind. Oppressed go free. The year of the Lord’s favor rings out with good news for people in the margins and who are often overlooked in society. 

Jesus’ original hearers would have likely felt an intuitive connection with this passage. The book of Isaiah was a favorite and well-known piece of scripture. Most of the people Jesus was addressing lived a subsistence lifestyle, impoverished by today’s standards. And they had been an overrun, occupied people for hundreds of years - in prison as a nation by one foreign emperor, then another. 

As we read Jesus’ mission statement, author Frederick Buechner has a fantastic quote worth pondering: “Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world's greatest need.”

What are your joys? What are the needs you see around you? How might those joys and needs meet in your life in a new way the rest of this summer and on into fall?