The Anointed Servant

Bible passages:
Isaiah 61:1-7
Mark 4:14-21

We probably struggle with the idea of ‘anointing’. We have few ceremonies in life that contain the symbolism of a mark of ownership being put on a person’s life.
In the Old Testament, the act of anointing with oil was especially linked with kingship. It was a tangible sign of being marked for service for God.

It was a highly significant moment, enduing the anointed with the mark of service, but also with the means of power to do the job.
‘God does not call the equipped, He equips those He calls.’(Smith Wigglesworth). How should this encourage you and me?

(Read Isaiah 61:1-7)
Perhaps you feel like a person for whom no one cares? This is what the people of Jerusalem were nicknamed, when it was destroyed (Jeremiah 30:17).
But God can heal, restore, make whole - and this is his will, for you!
Do you believe that God can, and wants to do that in your life?

These verses foretold the coming of the Messiah, the King of kings and of his anointing.

Notice, it is not his power, authority and might that are emphasised, but his service, giving and compassion. Which pictures in these verses speak of this work of God?

What does this mean for our FREEDOM?
What does v1 say about our bondage, confinement, as human beings? Why do most not recognise this state of imprisonment? What are the different forms of bondage we can be in?

What does this mean for our COMFORT?
Verse 2-3 We often think of ‘comfort’ as being a rather vague, intangible concept. What in these verses suggests that the comfort from the Messiah is powerful, transforming and real? What do you think it means to be ‘broken-hearted’, can this be treated? Is this your experience?
(Look at how Paul underlines this fact 2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

What does this mean for our RESTORATION?
Verse 3b-7. Identify all the different images in these verses of the restorative power of the Lord. Can you identify pictures from a coronation, a garden transformation, a rebuilding of ruins, an equipping for ministry, an inheritance of blessing?

Can we say of ourselves,’I am a person for whom no one cares’?
Who feeds us that kind of self-image?

Wesley preached his first open air sermon on these verses in Bristol in April 1739. Imagine you were to give a message based on these verses – what would be the basic message you would want to express?
Have you applied it to yourself?

(Read Luke 4:14-21)
Jesus inaugurated his public ministry with quoting Isaiah 61:1-2 at Nazareth.
Imagine what it would have been like to have been there and heard Jesus say v21.

Why do you think that the people reacted so negatively towards Jesus as we read of it in v24-30?

What does this have to say to us about what it means to truly recognize Jesus as the Anointed One and what is involved when we put our lives under His service?

The Anointed One had no self-interest, no self-glory, no self-pride. How prepared are we to have that mark over every area of our lives: who we are, and what we do?
Do we seek the anointing of the Lord upon us?

‘whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ (Mark 10:43-45)