The Right Word at the Right Time

Text: Luke 4:14-21
Title: The Right Word at the Right Time
1/31/10 Clarksville

He’d been there before, but not exactly. It was familiar and brand new at the same time, kind of like going to your favorite restaurant with your wife the night you drop off your last kid at college. You’ve been there before, lots of times - anniversaries, date nights, or when there was something to celebrate, but at the same time this is a new experience. This time it’s not just a night out without any kids, it’s the first night when you will come home to no kids. It’s the same restaurant and you might even get the same meal you’ve ordered dozens of times. It’s familiar but it’s brand new at the same time.
It’s like that when you go to a ball game or watch the super-bowl like we’re going to do next weekend. In one sense we’ve been there before and know what to anticipate. New commercials, lots of hot-wings, and a half-time show we actually watch. We’ve been there before. But at the same time it’s going to be different. New teams, new plays, new stories, new memories. It’s familiar but at the same time it’s brand new.

We don't know how many times he had been there before, but it was a day kind of like that for Jesus. He experienced something familiar but brand new at the same time. In the words of Luke, Jesus was at the synagogue “as was his custom,” which means that Jesus made a habit of being at the place of worship every week. It was his habit, his rhythm, part of the cadence of his life that every week on the Sabbath he was at the synagogue. No questions asked, not “are we going to go this week?” It was his custom. (Hint, hint!) He was at a familiar place doing something he had done who knows how many times before, and something new was about to happen. At some point in the order of worship, He was asked to read Scripture. The rabbi handed him a scroll of the book of Isaiah and when he did, Jesus went to a specific place -Chapter 61. For some reason the Spirit (who does that sort of thing) directed him to this particular passage. So Jesus found it The fact that He knew right where to look says something about how familiar he was with the Word - he knew right where to look. He spend time in the Word, learned it, loved it, lived it. The Scripture was important to Him, (hint, hint!). He turned to ch. 61 and read… read text.

That day in the synagogue, a familiar text became the source of a brand new experience. Today, Jesus said, is a different day. Today we don’t just hear about this happening. Today it is being fulfilled. It might have been interesting yesterday, but it was powerful today. It might have been familiar last year, but was life-changing today. Who knows how many times he had read it before. It was familiar to Him. But today Isaiah 61 is brand new. Today it is fulfilled, and in Luke’s Gospel, it becomes a kind of life-verse for Jesus who sees His purpose expressed in Isaiah’s words. That’s why we read in Luke 4:42-43 “At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent”. Isaiah 61 was a familiar place. He knew right where to turn. It was a scripture He had read before. But today it was creating a new experience. This was the right Word at the right time and He knew it. He read it, received it, and owned it in a way that was different than it had ever been before. Scripture is like that. Something we’ve read a dozen times all of a sudden takes on new meaning, finds a home somewhere deep in our hearts. It’s the stuff that life verses and personal missions are made of and it doesn’t just happen to Messiah’s who are asked to read Scripture in a synagogue. God seems to have a way of giving us the right Word at the right time.

He had been there before, but not exactly. It was familiar and brand new at the same time. As a teenager he memorized Philippians 4:19. “”And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” It became a familiar Word. A few years later, when he was a college graduate with a wife and newborn baby but without a steady job, the Spirit directed him to a specific Scripture. It was a familiar text that would be source for a brand new experience. Philippians 4:19 came to life in a way that it never had before. When the “without a job” part lasted 12 months, this Scripture became the right Word at the right time. True to His Word, God used old job acquaintances, a church family, and others to meet their every need. There were no missed meals or calls from debt collectors. This right Word at the right time became so ingrained I guess you could say it turned into a life verse. Years later in 2009 when the family was now 6 instead of 3, there was another season, this time 4 months, without a job and there wasn’t any sense of panic because years before the right Word at the right time had left an indelible mark on his life. An old Word and a new experience. The right Word at the right time that is still making a difference .(Terry Hartsock)
She had been there before, but not exactly. It was December, 1977 and she was expecting her first son. He was due 01/05 so to say the least, she was great with child. She had gone from 110 lbs to over 140 lbs, it was cold, and the fear of the unknown loomed over her.
Every Advent or Christmas for as long as she could remember, she had been to this familiar place in Luke’s Gospel where the story of Jesus’ birth was told. In church services and family times she had read and heard, Joseph “went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him, and was expecting a (KJV great with) child…” (Luke 2:5). That December in 1977, an old Word took on a new meaning. It came alive. It breathed something new that left a life-long mark on her spirit. It was the right Word at the right time. She wrote, “During that time and probably every Christmas season since, at some point I think of that and think of what Mary felt and the dire situation that our Lord came into for us. That simple phrase made the birth of Jesus more real and more human for me. It is the basis for everything we believe, that He became human for our sake.” An old Word and a new experience. The right Word at the right time that is still making a difference more than 30 years later. (Freda Ficklin)

He had been there before, but not exactly. It was familiar and brand new at the same time. He had heard the story before of when Jesus told Peter to throw out the nets after an all-night failure of a fishing trip. It had been a worthless night of catching zero fish and Jesus was telling him to give it one more try. While it didn’t make any sense to him, Peter said, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Dan Mort says, “I discovered… God's call to serve wherever I went… from scriptures like Luke 5:5 (where Jesus told Peter to do something totally outrageous) and Peter's trusting response was simply, "Because you say so, I will." Everywhere I have been, military or otherwise, I have always discovered that "Because you say so" has always been the best response to a prompting from God to do something I truly did not feel capable or worthy to even try to do.” An old Word and a new experience. This became for Dan the right Word at the right time that has had an every-day impact for years.

Do you know what Jesus, and Terry, Freda and Dan have in common? Every one of them was in the Word. God gave the right Word for the right time but in every case it wasn’t something that was brand new. It was a familiar Word that took on a deeper meaning that lasted more than the moment. With Jesus, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor…” because His manifesto. “And my God will supply all your needs” became a life verse for Terry. “And she was great with child” not only brought Freda to a deeper connection with the story, it created an encounter with the grace of God that has been revisited every year for more than 30 years. And “because you say so” formed the foundation of a life of service for Dan Mort that is continuing to bear fruit this very day. The right Word at the right time. I love seeing and hearing how God uses His Word to hit home in new ways, deep ways, ways that leave a lasting, even-life long effect on us. If you need just the right Word, He has a way of saying it… right when we need it.

Communion We come now to another familiar place. We’ve been here before - many times. But we come today anticipating a new experience of Jesus, who was the ultimate right Word at the right time. Jesus Christ was the Word made flesh who was crucified dead and buried, resurrected and ascended, and who is with us even now. He was the living Word, who “at just the right time, when were still powerless… died for the ungodly.” When it came to our salvation, Jesus became God’s ultimate right Word at the right time, and we come now to celebrate the life we have in Him.

Benediction: May our great God, who became for us the right Word at the right time, bless and keep you, make His face to shine upon you, and give you peace.