eMeditation on the Bible 

Question: What was the special work that God sent Jesus to do? 

Story (Luke 4:14-21, summarized and paraphrased) 

After Jesus had been baptized and then tested in the desert, he announced his special work for God by going to a synagogue (a place of worship and teaching) on a day that people gathered to learn about God. Since he had already begun to teach people about God and was becoming famous, he was invited to read to the people from the Bible and teach. Jesus read from one of the great promises of God to send a special servant to bring the kingdom (rule) of God to the human family. According to God’s promises, from the beginning God planned for humans to become a community of social harmony, justice and flourishing well-being. The promise of God that Jesus read to the people on that day explained that God’s special servant will bring good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, and liberation from exploitation and oppression. Then Jesus sat down to teach. He looked into the eyes of the people and told them that he was the special servant sent by God to accomplish God’s plan for the human family. Jesus said, “Today this promise of God is coming true as you listen.” 

Background 

Jesus’ announcement in the synagogue at the beginning of his career revealed God’s goal for the human family: to bring an end to everything on earth that is contrary to the God’s core values, which are based on self-giving love. Thus, through Jesus, God began to fulfill God’s promise to defeat self-centered competition for power and control that produces the exploitation, oppression and violence of terrorism; wars, poverty, and corruption; and all the many evils that afflict the human family.  

General Principles 

We learn important lessons about God and a relationship with God when we meditate on the fact that Jesus was the special servant God sent to bring the kingdom/rule of God to the human family. We learn that God does not defeat evil by coercion, force or overwhelming power. Instead, as God’s special servant, Jesus brings the rule of God’s love to human hearts by:  

(1) showing us what God’s self-giving love is like though his life and teachings;  

(2) providing forgiveness of all our faults through his sacrificial death on the cross; and  

(3) inviting us to enter God’s family as sons and daughters of our heavenly father.  

Personal Application 

When we follow Jesus as God’s authority over our lives, we are enabled to live according to God’s self-giving love through the power of God’s Spirit deep within us connecting us to God. As God’s family grows throughout the world, the power of God’s love transforms more and more hearts and the rule of God increasingly overcomes evil. Ultimately, the final victory of God’s love will transform the human family into the community of social harmony, justice and flourishing well-being that God planned for humanity from the beginning. 

Respond by Growing 

God invites you to partner with God in the Divine Plan for the human family to become a community ruled by self-giving love. The liberation of the human family from self-centeredness can continue with you. Live in harmony with heaven: (1) follow Jesus as God's authority over your life; (2) study his life and teachings in the Bible; (3) and live according to God’s core family values, which are based on the self-giving love that Jesus revealed to us.