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In the Broadway musical “Wicked”, there is a song “I’m Not That Girl”. The singer (Elphaba) sings about the girl Prince Fiyero falls in love with:
“Blythe smile, lithe limb
She who’s winsome, she wins him
Gold hair with a gentle curl
That’s the girl he chose”
But the character Elphaba points out that she in not that girl.
At the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, He points out that He is not the Messiah that the nation of Israel is expecting. In His earthly ministry, Jesus is not a military or political leader. Jesus came to be the sacrifice for our sins. He came to be our Savior, not our military leader. This scripture reference finds Jesus at the synagogue in Nazareth, He asked for the scriptures to be handed to Him, and He reads from chapter 61 of the book of Isaiah. This scripture was a prophecy of the coming Messiah who was going to come and restore the Nation of Israel. Luke 4:18-19(NIV) “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.”
As Bernhard W. Anderson writes in his article “The Role of the Messiah” for Bible Review: “The term “Christ” (Greek christos) is equivalent to “Messiah” (Hebrew mashiah), which was used for a reigning monarch: David, for example, spoke of King Saul as “Yahweh’s messiah” (1Samuel 24:6, 10). Eventually the term came to refer to God’s agent who would liberate the oppressed and introduce a new era, the Reign of God. The word literally means “Anointed,” reflecting the ancient practice of anointing and thereby consecrating a person for an office, such as prophet,(2Kings 19:16), priest (Exodus 28:41) or king (Judges 9:15 in Jotham’s fable). The emphasis falls not upon the “nature” of the anointed one but upon his function or office.
But then Jesus went on to claim that He was the Messiah, and took the idea of “Messiah” beyond the role of an earthly king, and elevated the idea of Messiah to be a heavenly Savior who comes to reconcile God to man: Luke 4:21(NIV) “He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The reaction of the audience in the synagogue was rage. They dragged Jesus out of the Synagogue to throw Him over a cliff. Let us understand why the people who heard Jesus’ words were so angry. If we look at the history of Israel, we see that the nation or Israel had suffered defeat and captivity multiple times; first by the Assyrians and then by the Babylonians.
A lot of the people of the day had the idea of the Messiah as a warrior king. But Jesus came as a servant king that would lay down His life to save us from sin. The people of Israel wanted to bring all of their ideas about the Messiah. Essentially, they wanted to bring all their “Stuff” with them in order to be saved. It’s like they were saying God you could save us, but we want to bring all our stuff with us.
This is very similar to how we see God today. We think in terms of all of our stuff. We have political systems, and information technology, and money so, in order for God to do a work in our lives, we bring all our “Stuff “with us. This is what we say to God: “God, can’t you use the stuff I have to save me? Let me even go so far as to help You? God, you can maybe do a little bit in your way, and I can do a little bit my way, because you know I got ideas.”
God‘s got a different way. God needs to work His way not our way. We need to throw away all of the preconceptions that we put between us and God and come before God and repent. 2Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
What does this mean to us today? We have to set aside our preconceptions and let God be the Lord of our lives. We have to open our hearts to what God is doing right now. Every day, we look for God to deliver us again, and again. We are blessed beyond measure because Jesus came and died for our sins so that we might have eternal life!
Imani Milele Choir, “Because He Lives | Jesus, Friend of Sinners | Nothing but the Blood”
https://youtu.be/-WNSmNhMOW4?si=RJv2s8W9XZJeZEkQ
We Love You,
Pastors Willie and Rochelle McIntosh
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