Jesus' Manifesto

Have you ever wondered about what Jesus was like as a child, as a teenager, or as a young man, growing up in Nazareth? As the promised “Prince of Peace,” how did he act, what was there about him as a twenty-something that was different?

We will never know because the Bible is silent on this subject and there is no sense speculating, although I sometimes do. We know so little about his upbringing, his family, his training or his work, but there is a good chance he worked either as a carpenter or stone mason like his father Joseph.

We know his mother Mary outlived him, but we don’t know when his father died or what happened to any brothers or sisters, except his brother James. We do know he was raised in the Galilee region, an area where conservative Jews chose to live after leaving their exile residence in Babylon.

Luke 4 tells us the story of Jesus’ “coming out party” and it is a remarkable story. After learning very little about his early life, Luke tell us that Jesus, as a thirty-year-old, was asked by the leaders of the Nazareth synagogue to read from the prophetic scrolls, which was a standard part of Sabbath worship.

By the way, this episode is the oldest known account of a synagogue worship service and most scholars think that it is unlikely that there were designated readings during the synagogue service, so either Jesus or the synagogue leader may have chosen the reading from Isaiah.

We don’t know how much Jesus read from Isaiah that morning, but Luke tells us that Jesus focused on some key passages and used these passages to describe his ministry. Luke records this part of Jesus’ reading that morning:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

(Luke 4:18-19)

The passage from Isaiah that Jesus read described the coming of the promised Messiah, the “Prince of Peace,” and Jesus amazed everyone that morning by identifying himself as the one Isaiah was talking about. It was a bold declaration, a manifesto, a statement of purpose, and it clearly linked Jesus to hundreds of years of Old Testament prophecy. It was a re-statement of the “peace pictures’ of the prophets who promised that the Messiah would bring good health, ample food, freedom from oppression, and security. It was the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise of peace, of Shalom in all its many facets, both spiritual and physical.

This was Jesus’ “mission statement” and he intended it to be a summary of what his ministry on earth would be. Three principal themes were emphasized: he intended to preach the good news of God’s offer of salvation, to exercise social justice for those who were suffering, and to show compassion for those who were treated as “outsiders.”

This bold declaration by Jesus almost cost him his life. What a beginning to his public service! In fact, his public service lasted only three years and he was executed as a common criminal, despite never committing a single crime or illegal act. Like many peacemakers in history, he died because of opposition from evil people, yet he showed us how to live a life of purpose, a life of significance, despite how others around him chose to live.

Jesus’ instruction to us is to make the choice to live like him, as a peacemaker – one who proclaims the “good news,” works for social justice, and is compassionate toward those who are marginalized in our society. What a challenge!

So What?

• Does this episode in the Bible give you any new insights about Jesus? If so, what have you learned?
• Do you have any heroes who are peacemakers? Can you think of anyone who chose to live out these teachings of Jesus and what has been this person’s legacy?
• If we want to live lives of significance, lives that make a difference in our broken world, following Jesus’ example should be our goal. What are the biggest obstacles preventing you from following his instructions?

For Further Study:

If you are interested in learning more about this episode in Scripture, I would encourage you to read chapter three (“Mutiny on the Sabbath”) in Doug Greenwold’s book, Encounters with Jesus. Information on this book is available at http://Preserving BibleTimes.org.

A Surprise Birth

The God of the Bible is a God of surprises.  The God of the Bible is not predictable and rarely does things the way I would do them!  I have learned this lesson many times during my twenty years of work in Russia.

In fact, when God directly intervenes in history or in our personal lives, there are usually lots of interruptions and unexpected changes.  This was clearly the case with the surprising birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

For hundreds of years, the prophecies concerning the Messiah were passed down from generation to generation.  Although the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were destroyed and its citizens exiled – and this was surprise to the Jews who thought they were a “chosen people” – they were eventually freed from captivity and allowed to come back to Palestine and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the temple.

But this restoration was not what the Old Testament prophets had predicted.  Even during the period of Jewish independence under the Hasmoneans from 166 – 63 B.C., the “Kingdom” which had been prophesized by Isaiah, Micah and Ezekiel, among others, was never realized.  The Jews went back home, but to their surprise, they were still weak and vulnerable.  Then another surprise – more foreign occupation, this time by the Romans.

After 400 years of silence, in what the Bible describes as the “fullness of time,” God dramatically intervened in human history in a surprising way – he sent his Son to earth in the form of a baby.  The Christmas story, that is very familiar to some of us, is recorded in the Gospel of Luke, chapter two.  Take note of the emphasis in this birth narrative on the “Prince of Peace” and his work while on earth.

The angel Gabriel proclaims “the good news of great joy” and refers to the newly born baby as “the Lord,” a term usually reserved only for God the Father, but now applies to this Messiah, his Son.  When the host of angels appear, they highlight one result of Jesus’ birth for which God is to be praised: “on earth peace (shalom).”  Of all the things that could have been said about the effect of the surprise birth of Jesus, it is shalom that is emphasized.

Luke’s meticulous record of Jesus’ birth and life underscores the point that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the hopes of Israel.  Jesus is the one who would bring “the gospel of peace.”  God has acted as he promised and, while the long wait did not make many Jews very happy, Jesus’ unexpected birth in a small obscure town in Palestine is indeed “good news.”

In posts that follow, we will wrestle with the question of what peacemaking means, what “the gospel of peace” means, as we look at Jesus’ actions and teachings.  Stayed tuned!

So What?

• Have you experienced God’s surprising intervention in your own life?  I sure have.  When Marge and I were 32 years old, Marge’s sister died of breast cancer and then 9 months later her husband, our brother-in-law, died on the night of a wedding rehearsal for a re-marriage.  As a result of these totally unexpected events, we inherited six children and a French poodle.  Looking back on this experience, Marge and I can see God’s hand in this crisis and how God helped us through these difficult times.  When God intervenes in our lives and major surprises happen to us that we never expect, it puts our faith to the test.  If we maintain our trust in God during these surprising times, we grow stronger as a result.
• Did you ever wonder why God’s Son was made human in the context of a small obscure village in Palestine, the son of a young Jewish girl?  Why not the son of a king, like powerful King Herod?  Why not placed in a home where he would get the best education available?  Why not in Rome, capital of the world at that time?
• We need to constantly remind ourselves that God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).  If we put our faith in God, we will often be surprised when we least expect it, surprised – but also blessed!