JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
Luke 3 and 4
And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
This is, in a sense, Jesus’ public introduction to the world: a man baptised in water, symbolising repentance, receiving the Holy Spirit, and affirmed by God as his Son: Son of man, Son of God.
When you think about it you will see that this is the picture of what we experience when we become a Christian as we respond to Jesus in faith. We repent, we receive the Holy Spirit, and God receives us as his children.
However, from that point onwards, what Luke impresses on us is how the Holy Spirit is a dominant part of his life. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, led by the Spirit and he ministered in the power of the Spirit.
All this is summed up in the passage in Isaiah that was quoted: “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.”
The question we need to ask ourselves is whether the Holy Spirit fills and leads us, and empowers us as we walk on this earth as God’s children so that others can see Scripture fulfilled in us.
“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”