He Knew His Purpose

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“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. 21He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”"  – Luke 4:20-21

His mother was Mary and his father was Joseph.  They were from Nazareth, in Galilee, and were known by the Jewish leaders of the day.  His father was a carpenter and was known in the villages around the Sea of Galilee – Tiberius, Capernaum and others.  His mother was likely known amongst the women of the villages and surrounding cities as she was seen carry for her children including Jesus.  There are records of their trip to Jerusalem during the Feast of the Passover when Jesus was 12 (Luke 2:41-50), and Jesus was observed studying in the temple with the elders and teachers.  This boy was known in and around the area.

I picture in my mind, Jesus running through the streets of Nazareth, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Tiberius playing with the other boys.  I can picture him playing with a stray puppy in the market, laughing and giggling as they would wrestle.  I imagine him skipping stones at the Sea of Galilee, while his parents shopped in the marketplace, and I see him lying on his back in a pasture of green staring up at the soft puffy clouds as they float by on a bright summer afternoon.  Jesus was a boy from Galilee who studied alongside the other boys and learned the Torah (first four books of the Bible) from the elders in the Synagogue of Nazareth.

I picture Jesus as a strong, well defined young man working alongside of Joseph in the family business of making furniture from wood.  Sweat upon his brow, calloused hands, covered in sawdust and dirt from the day’s work.  I picture him coming into his mother’s home, sitting for the evening meal and tending to the chores of the home as necessary in those days.  He grew up in Nazareth, was known by the people in town, the leaders of the Synagogue and the Pharisees of the day.  He was no stranger in Galilee by any means.

At some point He came to realize His true identity as the Son of God.  Did He realize this fact since His birth?  Did He come into this knowledge through a revelation from above or from His mother?  We don’t know.  What we do know from scripture though is that His ministry started around the age of 30 and lasted but only a few years.  As we discussed yesterday, He came into the calling of His Father in Heaven and was baptized by John in the river Jordan where God acknowledged him as the “My Son….”  We pick up in Chapter 4 with Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness for 40 days.  If we were to focus on Jesus’ responses in that dialogue alone, we could solve many of today’s problems.

Then we watch as Jesus separates Himself from the village of Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30), having been rejected by the elders there for claiming to be the fulfillment of the prophecy from Isaiah 58:6.  He knew His purpose on this earth and spent His final two years of life pursuing nothing but that purpose – to bring salvation to the world.

Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, came to the earth to bring salvation for the lost.  He did not come to bring peace or to reign on earth, but to provide a way for mankind to be redeemed once again to the intended right standing with God the Father.  Many still chose to reject Him because they knew Him as the boy from Nazareth, the son of Joseph.  Even, today there are many who reject Him for that same reason, and ask – “Why would God choose to save the world through the son of a carpenter?”  There is only one way to answer these skeptics; “Because He is God and you’re not.”



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