Luke 4:16-21

What's your job description as a Christian? That's a little bit of a dicey question, isn't it? Most of us have job descriptions that we agreed to when we accepted our current role. Certain tasks we need to perform and certain levels of accomplishment we have to meet or else we get shown the door, right? We Christians often feel as if we have a job to do, and it's pretty common for people to take this section of Luke 4 as their Christian job description. After all, it's what Jesus said He had come to do, so shouldn't we do the same?

The people who think this way end up exhausted, burned out, and resentful. Thinking of this passage as your job description misses a crucial point: Jesus has fulfilled His job description. In other words, He did His job and did it so well that it no longer needs doing, and it certainly doesn't need doing by the likes of us!

So as we go about this life, let's be honest about who is poor, who is held captive, who is blind, who is oppressed. Sure, it's the people on street corners, the people in Third World countries, but it's also the people to the right and left of you. The people in your house. The preacher at your church. Everyone you see as you walk down the sidewalk. You. But know, always know, that on that day, all those years ago, Jesus unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 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. 

Jesus' job is finished. Forever.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,