{"id":1344,"date":"2012-11-13T19:13:07","date_gmt":"2012-11-13T23:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dustoffthebible.com\/?p=1344"},"modified":"2015-09-23T19:07:02","modified_gmt":"2015-09-23T23:07:02","slug":"the-mission-of-jesus-christ-the-spirit-of-the-lord-is-on-me-because-he-has-anointed-me-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/2012\/11\/13\/the-mission-of-jesus-christ-the-spirit-of-the-lord-is-on-me-because-he-has-anointed-me-to\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mission of Jesus Christ: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to….”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

One of the things that I love about the Catholic Church (which I am not a part of) is their relentless desire to promote the social gospel. No, I do not mean that they are good at witnessing over Facebook. What I mean is that they take Jesus’ mission to the poor, sick, and outcast seriously.\u00a0When I look at the things that the Protestant Church takes serious I see a much different picture.<\/p>\n

\"Jesus<\/a>
21st century Jesus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’ve been to Baptist churches that take paternal leadership more serious than whether or not the single mother in the back row, who fought for an hour or more to get her kids dressed and in the car, is going to be able to feed her children and pay the rent. I’ve been to modern churches that spend more money on the stage props and backdrops than they did in local charity. I’ve seen people shun members who get divorced without one concern for the hard-fought internal struggle that that person dealt with when they had their hopes and dreams ripped apart.<\/p>\n

When I read the gospels from start to finish I always end up reexamining my own life and if I am being loyal to Jesus and His mission.<\/p>\n

After Jesus returned from the dessert, being tested for 40 days by Satan himself, He began His ministry by entering the synagogue in Nazareth and quoted these words from Isaiah 61,<\/p>\n

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
\nbecause he has anointed me
\nto proclaim good news\u00a0to the poor.
\nHe has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
\nand recovery of sight for the blind,
\nto set the oppressed free,
\nto proclaim the year of the Lord\u2019s favor<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is interesting that Jesus opens His ministry with the declaration that He has been\u00a0anointed\u00a0 by the Spirit to bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. In the modern mission I often feel as though we spend so much time trying “win” people to the gospel that we often forget that humanity is much more than just fallen out of grace with God, they are in need of the physical requirements of this world.<\/p>\n

James, the brother of Jesus, said of this matter:<\/p>\n

If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? (James 2:16 NIV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because of our human nature we tend to focus less on meeting the needs of others. There is no praise for helping the poor, only for making the highest profit, for preaching to the largest crowds, or for being being the most famous.<\/p>\n

We seek to change people rather than meet them where they are. We can’t help that person because they will become dependent (as if we are not dependent upon anything). \u00a0Emphasis on\u00a0dogmatics\u00a0overtakes the need to embrace the broken-hearted and outcasts of society. Wearing the right clothes has become more important than making sure the families of our very own cities and towns have enough to eat and sustain themselves.<\/p>\n