Jesus didn't look down on the people he met.
15 He was teaching in their synagogues, being acclaimed by everyone. 16 He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.
As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written:
18 The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” 22 They were all speaking well of Him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from His mouth, yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?
It seemed that everybody was liking Jesus at this early part of his ministry, people were coming from all around to see what this new teacher had to say, everybody wanted to see him for themselves.
Jesus stood up to read and somebody handed him the scroll that was from the prophet Isaiah, maybe somebody was out to test him and see if he could handle a scroll that most of us would have avoided. Jesus spoke and the people were responsive, they complimented him and were amazed at his gracious words.
Jesus was the smartest guy in that synagogue and yet he didn't bash anybody over the head with his superiority. Jesus spoke gracious words, that's a big deal because Jesus had every right to speak with judging words or condemning words, he could have used big, lofty intellectual words but Jesus chose gracious words.
Imagine if you were the smartest guy in the room, be it work or school, no matter where you went there wasn't anybody that could keep up. I am pretty sure that it would be difficult to keep my attitude in check, but the truth is that nobody would care how much I know, they only want to know how much I care.
I need to care about people the way that Jesus did, he had every right to tell us how it is or to point his finger and condemn us, but instead he chose to extend grace, he gave us the ultimate example of loving our enemies and demonstrated restraint in judging people. Jesus told us to live the same way. (Luke 6:27-42)
Thank you Lord for extending grace to us, for demonstrating grace to us rather than lording over us and showing us how right you are, your grace is truly amazing.
Jesus stood up to read and somebody handed him the scroll that was from the prophet Isaiah, maybe somebody was out to test him and see if he could handle a scroll that most of us would have avoided. Jesus spoke and the people were responsive, they complimented him and were amazed at his gracious words.
Jesus was the smartest guy in that synagogue and yet he didn't bash anybody over the head with his superiority. Jesus spoke gracious words, that's a big deal because Jesus had every right to speak with judging words or condemning words, he could have used big, lofty intellectual words but Jesus chose gracious words.
Imagine if you were the smartest guy in the room, be it work or school, no matter where you went there wasn't anybody that could keep up. I am pretty sure that it would be difficult to keep my attitude in check, but the truth is that nobody would care how much I know, they only want to know how much I care.
I need to care about people the way that Jesus did, he had every right to tell us how it is or to point his finger and condemn us, but instead he chose to extend grace, he gave us the ultimate example of loving our enemies and demonstrated restraint in judging people. Jesus told us to live the same way. (Luke 6:27-42)
Thank you Lord for extending grace to us, for demonstrating grace to us rather than lording over us and showing us how right you are, your grace is truly amazing.
