Today's Readings: New Testament -
Matthew 20:17-34
Hebrews 12:14-29
Old Testament -
Proverbs 29:15-27
Isaiah 59-61
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Focus Verses: Isaiah 61:1-3
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn...
Insight:
What does the favor of God look and sound like? Healing for the brokenhearted. Freedom for captives. Light instead of darkness. Comfort for those who mourn. Beauty where there was once only ashes. Gladness replacing sorrow. Praise overcoming despair.
Isaiah spoke these words nearly seven hundred years before the time of Christ. Those were bleak and difficult years for the nation of Israel, marked by destruction, exile, captivity, poverty and political struggles. Through it all, the people held on to Isaiah's beautiful words of hope and promise for Zion.
After half a millennium of hoping and waiting, this prophecy must have seemed more like a dream than a promise. When Jesus began his ministry, he stood up in the synagogue of the town where he grew up and read from the scroll of Isaiah. Imagine just how radical it must have been when he then declared himself to be the very one who would fulfill this prophecy and bring good news to the world.
Response & Action:
Jesus is good news to me. I believe Jesus is the promised one brings the favor of God to my broken world. I believe that healing, forgiveness, hope, beauty, joy, and stability are found in him. My purpose in life is also found in him. As I follow Jesus, I will participate in his mission of favor and his message of hope. More than simply receiving blessing from him, I want to be channel of blessing for him. I have heard the Good News, and so I want to be messenger of the freedom and restoration that are available in Christ.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
Resources:
Living the Story: Biblical Spirituality for Everyday Christians
by R. Paul Stevens and Michael Green
