"When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:
'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,
and that the time of the LORD's favor has come.'
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. 'The Scripture you've just heard has been fulfilled this very day!'" (Lk 4:16-21).
Such a wonderful proclamation in the weekly gathering of the faithful in Nazareth provoked amazement, but it also produced severe skepticism...
"Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. 'How can this be?' they asked. 'Isn't this Joseph's son?'" (Lk 4:22).
In the eyes of the world and in the sight of the community where He grew up, Jesus was simply Joseph's son. He was a former apprentice and now the local carpenter. There is no denying this partial truth. So let's not deny the same truth about ourselves. The very same potential to fulfill the word of the Lord as spoken and recorded by His servant and prophet Isaiah is in us today because...
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20a).
Aren't we just like Jesus, seen and understood imperfectly by the people we encounter every day? Don't they see us as average Joe's and common Cathy's? They know us as mom, dad, brother, sister, neighbor, friend, co-worker, teacher, student, pastor, etc. What is the secret to turning sermon truth loose in and through us to profoundly transform us and our circle of friends and family? What is the key to unleashing the healing, saving, delivering, sanctifying power of truth implanted in our hearts and minds as we read and meditate on God's word daily in our lives, and through us, into the lives of others? How do we and those we encounter experience the Scripture you've just heard has been fulfilled this very day, every day?
It's all about how we see ourselves. It's about what we believe about ourselves. Paul got it, as the Holy Spirit revealed and he believed the truth about who he was in Christ...
"And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20b).
When we start believing the whole truth about who we are in Christ, the transforming power of His word is fulfilled in and through us in God glorifying and honoring ways just as it was in the life of the son of Joseph the carpenter.
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