This week was are beginning our journey through the
month of February examining the issue of racism from the prism and lens of the
claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. Yesterday, we started by
defining racism. Racism simply put, is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against
someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is
superior.
Racism is the
belief that your race is the superior race, regardless of what race you are.
Racism gives preferential treatment to a particular race based on the belief
that a particular race is superior. So, by this standard and accepted
definition of racism, any culture, any race, by definition can be racist. If
you are white and believe that whites are better than blacks, you are
exhibiting racism. If you are black and believe that blacks are better than
whites, you are exhibiting racism. If you are Hispanic and believe that
Hispanics are better than whites or blacks, you are exhibiting racism. Racism
is the belief that your race is the superior race, regardless of what race you
are.
We talked about the reality that the issue of racism
is not a new problem; and the issue of racism is not a white problem. Instead
the issue of racism is a human nature problem that has existed across
continents and culture throughout human history. But, where does racism come
from? And what drives us to the temptation to exhibit racism?
To find the answer to these questions, I would like
for us to look at an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of
an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. And it is in
this event from history that we will see Jesus reveal for us the timeless answer
to the question “where does racism come from?” So let’s look at this event from
history together, beginning in Luke 4:14-15:
And Jesus returned to Galilee
in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the
surrounding district. And He began teaching
in their synagogues and was praised by all.
Luke brings us into this event from history by providing
for us the context in which this event from history took place. After
successfully resisting the temptations of the devil after spending 40 days in
the wilderness, Luke tells us that Jesus returned to Galilee, which is located
in what is today northern Israel, in the power of the Spirit. And here we see
Luke reveal for us the reality that Jesus lived His earthly life by the power
of the Holy Spirit.
You see, Jesus shows us what it means to be truly human.
Jesus provides for us the example of how we are to live our lives here on
earth. As followers of Jesus our lives are to be controlled, influenced and
empowered by the Holy Spirit so that we would reveal and reflect Jesus to
others as we live in relationship with God and others.
Luke tells us that as Jesus taught in the synagogues of
Galilee, news about Him spread throughout the surrounding district. News began
to travel about Jesus doing the miraculous. And as Jesus showed up at Jewish
religious gatherings throughout northern Israel, the sermons that He was
preaching were powerful and word about His preaching spread throughout the
region. And as Jesus traveled, His travels led
Him back to a town called Nazareth, which was His hometown. Luke records for us
what happened when Jesus arrived in His hometown in verse 16-20:
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been
brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and
stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He
opened the book and found the place where it was written, "THE SPIRIT OF
THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.
HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO
THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR
OF THE LORD." And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and
sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
Luke tells us that after arriving in His hometown of
Nazareth, Jesus attended synagogue on the Sabbath. Notice that Luke uses the
phrase “as was His custom” here. You see, Jesus made gathering together with
followers of God a priority in His life. As part of that priority, as Jesus
traveled, He found the local synagogue and attended on Sabbath. And as part of that priority, Jesus actively
engaged in what was happening in the synagogue by reading and explaining
portions of the Old Testament to the crowds that were gathered for worship.
On this particular Sabbath, as Jesus volunteered to read
during synagogue, one of the leaders handed Jesus a scroll that contained a
letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the
book of Isaiah. Jesus then opened the scroll to a section of the book of Isaiah
that we know today as Isaiah 61. In Isaiah 61:1, the prophet Isaiah predicted
and proclaimed that when the Messiah arrived, He would live a life that was
controlled, influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit. And as He lived a
Spirit filled life, the Messiah would preach the gospel to the poor. Now the
word gospel literally means good news. And this good news would be proclaimed
to the poor, which refers to those who were of low status and who were viewed
as outsiders who were far from God.
In addition, the prophet predicted and proclaimed that
the Messiah would proclaim release to the captives. In the Jewish culture of
the day, this was a word picture of the release that comes from the forgiveness
of sins. Isaiah also predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah would proclaim
the recovery of sight to those who were blind. The Messiah would restore the
sight of those who were physically blind and give sight to those who were
spiritually blind. And Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that the Messiah would
set free those who are oppressed. The
Messiah would proclaim good news that would provide an opportunity for people
to be released from the debts that surrounded and overwhelmed them.
Jesus continued to read the first part of Isaiah 61:2,
where the prophet Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that when the Messiah
arrived, He would proclaim the good news about God’s grace that the Messiah
would extend towards humanity. And then, in the middle of Isaiah 61:2, Jesus
abruptly stopped reading and sat back down. Luke then tells us that all eyes
were fixed on Jesus. Everyone waited with anticipation to hear a great sermon
from Jesus that they had already been hearing about.
Now a natural question that arises here, and probably
arose at the time, was “why did Jesus stop there?” We discover the answer to
that question in the sermon which Jesus gave, which Luke records for us in Luke
4:21-22. Let’s look at it together:
And He began to say to them, "Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And all were speaking well
of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips;
and they were saying, "Is this not Joseph's son?"
Jesus gave a one sentence sermon: "Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." In other words, Jesus
basically said to them “God’s promise of a Messiah has been fulfilled today as
you hear Me speak. I am the Messiah. I am the Promised One who is anointed by
the Holy Spirit to proclaim the good news of God’s rescue from selfishness, sin
and rebellion that will usher in the beginning of God’s kingdom”.
The reason why Jesus stopped at the first part of Isaiah
61:2 is because the second part of Isaiah 61:2 refers to Jesus 2nd
coming, where He will execute God’s right and just response to the selfishness,
sin, and rebellion of humanity. Jesus was fulfilling the first part of God’s
promise to humanity by entering into humanity in order to provide all of
humanity the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with
God that they were created for.
Luke tells us that the crowds in the synagogue responded
to Jesus one sentence sermon with glowing approval. The crowds were extraordinarily
impressed with the winsome and attractive words that were coming from Jesus.
The crowds also recognized that Jesus was one of their own: "Is this not
Joseph's son?" they said.
You see, the crowds believed that because Jesus was one
of their own, because Jesus was Jewish like they were Jewish, that the result
would be that they would benefit from an extra dose of God’s favor because of
their close connection with Jesus as Jews. The crowds believed that they would
receive some spiritual brownie points from God because, as Jewish people, they
were insiders with Jesus when it came to God.
And the crowds believed that their insider status as
Jewish people would provide them with insider privileges when it came to their
relationship with God and when it came to their relationship with the people
and nations around them. You see, the Jewish people expected to experience
“Jewish privilege” because after all, they were God’s chosen people. And as
God’s chosen people, they must be superior people to the other races that were
around them, otherwise God would not have chosen them. However, the crowd was
not prepared for what Jesus had to say next. We will look at what Jesus had to
say next on Friday….
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