Prepare for Easter

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” “...Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:18-19, 21 ESV

There it is in a nutshell! The “Father’s business” in two sentences. The Scripture he read defined his work for the next three years. The Triune God appeared to the people in Nazareth. The Son, set apart by God, anointed by the Spirit. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity was speaking.

They must have heard these words from Isaiah hundreds of times with great anticipation, but now their own hometown boy was declaring that he was the one for whom they had waited. They were the poor, the downtrodden, the ones bound by the iron hand of Rome, the physically sick and needy! But they could not believe that the one standing before them was the promised Messiah. In his own home, he was rejected!

The Scripture he read held huge promises and one would think they would receive it with excitement, but instead they were outraged at this words, and he left them in turmoil.

Though they rejected him and his amazing message, Jesus went on to fulfill it to the utmost. No wonder that he shouted out on that first Good Friday, “It is finished!” God’s business was extensive, three years of intensive work! And he did everything he and the Father had planned.

Father, we praise you for everything Jesus was, for everything he did, for all his finished work. Thank you. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator