Do Something Beautiful - A 5 Day DevotionalНамуна

  JESUS’ ROLE IN THE STORY OF EVERYTHING

Providing bounty to people who have none is how we provide an awe-inspiring wonder. Perhaps that’s why Jesus placed so much emphasis on the down-and-out, the marginalized, the sick, the demon possessed, and the shamed. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He chose an ancient quote from the book of Isaiah to announce His own role in the story of everything.

Jesus found that particular place in this long, dense, ancient book and chose it as self-declarative, saying that it had been fulfilled in the hearing of the people that day. Jesus chose these words to declare what His own role was in the story of everything. The presence and power of God Himself was made manifest through Jesus’ self-declaration. What happens immediately after this in the story of Jesus is that He goes on to proclaim good news to the poor; He heals the blind and delivers those imprisoned by demonic spirits. Jesus goes on to freely provide a wide variety of good things in large amounts to many peoples—His power at work in the lives of those who suffer establishes the bounty of righteousness. He did all these things to display His power and to ultimately point to Himself as the one capable of freeing people from the captivity of sin!

Jesus shared this to show how the story of God is something beyond justice; it is a righteous story of bounty for all peoples that demonstrates grace, hope, and love through embrace. God willingly and fully embraces us but we must never ignore the cost that He paid in order to make that embrace possible. Jesus Christ made possible the very idea of this one wonderful, earth-shattering concept— embrace. Through Him we are embraced by God and empowered to embrace others around us. This is what Jubilee is ultimately about. This was not such good news in His synagogue at the time, for while those in attendance were momentarily amazed at His words, immediately after Jesus spoke to them He was escorted out of town by force. The people of Jesus’ own hometown tried to kill Him by throwing Him off a cliff because Jesus explained that the embrace of God was intended for all peoples, not just the Jewish people. The story of Jesus is a story of a God determined to embrace us, seek and save the lost, and offer His life as a ransom for many.

Note from the Publisher:  We hope that you have been challenged and encouraged by this 5-day devotional from York Moore.  You can pick up a copy of his book Do Something Beautiful at moodypublishers.com