Freedom For The Prisoners

FREEDOM FOR THE PRISONERS

a prayer to open

Open my eyes and help me to see you.

Open my heart and help me to know you.

Jesus, my Lord and my God.

[Jesus] was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry.

Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’”

Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give it all to you if you will worship me.”

Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the LORD your God

and serve only him.’”

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you.

And they will hold you up with their hands

so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’”

When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.

Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

When he came to the village of Nazareth . . . he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me,

for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” . . .

Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

We see two stunning pictures of Jesus in today’s passage. First, he faces down Satan, the enemy of the human race and the father of lies. Then Jesus stands up in a synagogue—the very center of first-century Jewish life—and declares himself the fulfillment of a prophecy made hundreds of years earlier. Imagine standing in that synagogue, a Jewish person who had heard about the coming Messiah since birth and whose family had been awaiting this coming Savior for hundreds of years. What would you have been thinking and feeling?

• What would it have been like for the people to listen to Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah and hear him say that he was the fulfillment of that Scripture?
• What might it mean for you when you are in the midst of your greatest temptations—those things that threaten your freedom, cause you to distance yourself from God, and convince you to seek your own desires above all else—that Jesus overcame Satan?
• What does today’s passage reveal to you about Jesus?

Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that by him and through him I am able to have freedom, forgiveness, and purpose. This old life, the one I seek to leave behind, is full of sin and selfishness. Help me, Lord, in the midst of my temptations and doubts to keep my eyes fixed on you. Help me, by your grace, to stand on your words and promises in the face of those things that threaten to turn me away from you, seduce me into seeking my own glory, or cherish what fulfills a temporary need. Amen.