What most would make you mad or upset you?
What Jesus Christ stands for
According to the Bible, God doesn’t get too excited about cosy, comfortable people – other than getting annoyed by them! The Bible is for people who want their lives to be changed. Because it shows us what God really cares about. It shows us that justice matters a lot for God. He wants care for the poor and disadvantaged. It shows us that God is interested in working through people to help the downtrodden and release people from worldly, dark and selfishly oppressive forces.
Jesus Christ shows us what God is really like. He also shows us what God wants. This can be unsettling for people who want to keep things just as they are. When Jesus started His ministry, He read out His manifesto:
"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 favour." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4, verses 18-21)
• Read what comes after this, in Luke 4.22-30.
Why do you think Jesus provokes the people in this way?
What’s the real problem
Why do you think Jesus provokes the people in this way?
What’s the real problem
800 years before Jesus one the prophets, or messengers from God, was Isaiah. At that time, God was really angry with the politics and economics of the Hebrew people, and the type of religion that came with it.
• Read the Prophecy of Isaiah, Chapter 58. What’s God’s problem with His people? What does He want them to do? What will happen when they do it?
God’s method
We’ve seen that God wants to work through people. He doesn’t just wade right in there and force everybody to do it His way. He’s entrusted the world to people and He takes that seriously. So He sets about sorting things out through working with a people, shaping them to be His proxy on earth.
But what does He want His people to be like? When we look at Jesus we begin to realise that God’s way of getting things sorted is really different from what we all might expect! He doesn’t enable Jesus to be a world president with huge powers and armies. Instead, He causes Jesus to appear in the world in really humble circumstances, and to totally puzzle and confuse the power hungry political and religious rulers. What is it about him that cause this?
• Read the Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 2, verses 5-11.
What’s unusual about Jesus, as He’s described here?
Are there any clues in this passage that help explain how people found it hard to recognise that Jesus as God's special representative?
Discuss this together with some other people.
What’s unusual about Jesus, as He’s described here?
Are there any clues in this passage that help explain how people found it hard to recognise that Jesus as God's special representative?
Discuss this together with some other people.
