THE SCROLL OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH
A SERMON BY PASTOR CHICO MARTIN
Lections: Neh 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Ps 19; 1 Cor 12: 12-13; Luke 4: 14-21.
“And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And he began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.” When you hear these words from Luke’s Gospel, what does your mind register? Do you see a series of images, perhaps a dusty, rock-strewn path, in a late afternoon light, the mountains washed of color in the distance, and close up, the rugged green of scrub? There is a solitary figure of a walking man, whose short and wiry frame you recognize, despite the dirt caking his cloak and shawl, which he wears over his shoulders, exposing the matted hair on his head and full beard on his face; for this road goes to Nazareth, the man’s boyhood home, and you will soon hear that he has returned to Galilee from 40 days in the wilderness, where he went to fast and pray, immediately after he was baptized by John in the Jordon. This explains why he seems “in the power of the Spirit,” for even in his tired state, you see through to his elation; Jesus is ecstatic. Continue reading