Sunday Worship Service October 1, 2023

Call to Worship Isaiah 61:1
Hymn JBC # 513 Walking in sunlight, all of my journey
Prayer Time
The Lord’s Prayer
Offering
Scripture Luke 4:16~30
Sermon “To proclaim good news to the poor”
https://youtu.be/9GOSrku-0Nk
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 26 We praise you, O God, our Redeemer
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction


Today we are hearing God’s message from a passage in ‘the gospel of Luke’ in the New Testament.
The gospels record the birth of Jesus Christ, the works (miracles and others) that he performed while on earth, and what he taught to people..
While the gospels of Matthew and Luke record Jesus’ birth, none of the gospels have much written about Jesus’ childhood.
The only passage in the gospels that speaks of Jesus’ childhood is what is written in the end of Luke Chapter 2, when Jesus was 12 years old and traveled from His home in Nazareth to Jerusalem with His family to celebrate Passover.

On their way home from Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph noticed that their son Jesus was not with them, so they returned to Jerusalem. There they found Jesus sitting in the synagogue among the teachers talking and asking questions.
Today’s passage is the story that happened right after Jesus began his publicly ministry (sharing about God’s kingdom) when he was about 30 years old.
However, in the first verse of today’s passage (4:16), we can learn a little about what Jesus’ upbringing (how he was raised) may have been like.

16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom He stood up to read,

Jesus had already traveled to several synagogues and preached, and His reputation had begun to spread, so there were already people who respected Him (4:14-15). In today’s passage Jesus returns to Nazareth, where He grew up.
There, it states that Jesus “on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was his custom He stood up to read.”
“As was his custom” meant that on each Sabbath (which was on Saturdays for the Jews), it was Jesus’ habit (custom) to go to the synagogue to worship.
Why was it Jesus’ habit to go to attend worship? Just as Joseph and Mary brought Jesus with them to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover once a year, it is likely that they also brought Him with them to the synagogue each week to worship as a family.

In other words, Jesus was taught of the importance of the Sabbath and worshipping God on that day as a faithful custom, and that was well instilled in his mind from childhood.
As the Son of God, Jesus too learned about God’s Word from when He was little through regularly attending worship at synagogue and at home.
If this is the case, we can understand just how important it is for us Christians to prioritize going to worship and other church gatherings.
At worship- we listen to the words of the Bible (the words of God) together and share them. We listen to God’s words which we should listen to today (we are allowed to do that)

Let’s participate in worship together with expectations for what God will teach us. And we would like to make our attending worship services a faithful custom for us that come with joy.
In today’s passage, Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, and then stood to read the scriptures. Jesus took initiative in listening to the scriptures, in other words God’s Word, and shared it.
Normal people in Jesus’ time did not have books like we do today, so if they wanted to listen to scripture, they had to go to the synagogue and listen to it being read aloud.

　Now we are able to have our own bible, and not just a bible, but many other messages are easily available for us to read (or listen to) on the internet.
Since we have easy access to the words of the bible and messages based in the Word, it is possible for us to listen to them even not attending church. However, it is still important for us to gather in church.
Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, we had to think about church gatherings more than we have ever had to think about them before. (we are still being made to think about it)
However, after all, being able to listen to the Word together at the same time (and sharing from the Word), is a great source of joy and grace for us.
When I was young, when I listened to the radio (do young people even listen to the radio these days?), I always felt happy when music or songs that I liked were played.

Even though I could listen to the music I liked any time on a CD (young people these days don’t really listen to music on CDs anymore, do they?), I still felt happy hearing these songs on the public broadcast of the radio.
One day, I stopped to think about why hearing my favorite songs on the radio made me happy.
The reason I was able to think of was the fact that “many people (far away) I didn’t know were listening to the song that I liked at this same moment” made me feel happy.
I think that the feeling of connection and solidarity through listening to the song I liked at the same time as many other people I didn’t even know made me happy.

If hearing a song I liked made me happy like that, then how much wonderful should listening to the Word of God together (at the same time) be?
If you believe that God is now speaking not just to me, but to those beside me at the same time, then that will be a great joy in faith.
In this way, we hope to be a church in which the word of God is heard and shared, and we rejoice in that.

Jesus took the scroll of Isaiah and read the following in verses 18-19.

18 “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,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
　God’s grace is written about here in Isaiah. These are God’s words of comfort. He promises “good news to the poor”, “freedom to prisoners”, “recovery of sight to the blind”, and “freedom to the oppressed”.
In verse 20, Jesus gives the scroll back to the attendant, then returns to his seat. Then everyone in the synagogue focused their eyes on Him.
At the time, someone among those who participated in the worship at the synagogue would normally read the scriptures, then give a message.
The people in the synagogue were waiting expectantly for what Jesus would teach them from the passage that He had just read.
　There Jesus says something surprising. In verse 21 Jesus says the following:

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
　Jesus does not say, “This is what this passage that I just read (from Isaiah) means. This is what it teaches us.” Instead, He states that this scripture that they had just heard was fulfilled right then in front of them. In other words, He is stating that He himself is the one who makes that passage reality.
Jesus Christ is not a teacher to explain scripture for us. He is also not just someone teaching us things that are useful for our lives (things that benefit us).
It’s not that Jesus does not have these aspects at all, but we must understand that what the central message of today’s passage is, more than anything else, that Jesus Christ Himself is the fulfillment of the scriptures (God’s heart).

　Do all of you truly believe this? Not just that Jesus said some wonderful things, or that Jesus’ teaching is useful and moving, but do we actually believe that Jesus Christ is God, and that He is the fulfillment of God’s word?
Today we are being challenged whether we actually believe that Jesus is Lord. We are being asked if we have the resolve to honor Jesus as Lord and live in obedience to Him.
In today’s passage, it is written that the people who heard Jesus speak synagogue were moved by at the gracious words that He spoke (verse 22).
Everyone that what He was saying was wonderful. However, at the same time some thought, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

　At the time, Jesus was in the synagogue in Nazareth where he grew up. Because of this, many of the people in the synagogue may have known Jesus since he was little.
However, what came from the mouths of the person (Jesus) who they knew from when he was little were truly words of God’s grace. God’s words have the ability to comfort people and convict them of God’s grace.
However, amongst them were also people who doubted. They were people who despised him even the words of God were spoken.
They said, "Is not this the son of Joseph? ". In other words, they said, "We know his father Joseph, too. He is the son of a carpenter. How can the gracious word of God come from such a man (a mere human being)?”
It is possible that we too, no matter how graciously we hear the biblical Word, the powerful Word of God, our own stubbornness, arrogance, or lazy nature can get in the way of hearing such a Word of God, and we can refuse to do so.
Nevertheless, God became man as Jesus Christ　and preached the word of grace, the gospel, to us poor.

Knowing well that we human too often reject God's grace because of our sinful nature, God still sent Jesus into the world as His Son.
God continues to speak His Word as He does at this time. For this gathering in which we gather in the name of His Son Jesus Christ is a very special gathering, sanctified (set apart, called out) by God.
Let’s rejoice that we are blessed with the grace of the Word of God, which remains unchanged even now and let’s rejoice that we can hear and share the Word together. It is our hope that we will continue to live each day of this week by the gospel (good news).