Jesus’ first sermon was a disaster. His home church in Nazareth was the setting for His first sermon and the launch of His public ministry. Things looked promising at first:
“They were all speaking well of Him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from His mouth” (Luke 4:22).
By the end of the sermon,
“…e veryone in the synagogue was enraged. They got up, drove Him out of town, and brought Him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl Him over the cliff” (28-29).
It was a failure to launch in front of His friends and family … disaster. I would have been tempted to abort the mission and find an easier way to make a living.
Thirty-two years ago, I preached my first sermon at my home church of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, and it went far better for me than it did for Jesus. I had a very supportive crowd on that Sunday night. That youth-led service was destined for success because we had a fan in every pew.
Why was Jesus’ church family so unreceptive; even violently opposed to His message? Jesus was a man on a mission—to fulfill the role of Messiah. They were OK with Jesus as a healer and teacher, but not as the Savior of the world. We see Him clearly lay out His life’s mission from Isaiah 61, which He claimed to fulfill personally. This clearly set them off. That message still sets some people off because of its bold claims about Jesus.
Jesus’ life mission and message have not changed since that original sermon. Neither has our mission changed since it is directly tied to His.
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, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61:1-2).
