“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”
~ Isaiah 61:1
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you wish that your dad and ma had lots of money? Do you wish that you had lots of money? Do you wish that every guy, gal and kid who is living on planet Earth had lots of money? Do you think that having lots of money is good? Do you think that it is bad to not have lots of money? Do you think that it is bad to be poor? What does it mean to you to be poor? Your grandmaa and grandpaa lived for ten years in Bolivia and have lived for six years in Guatemala. Bolivia and Guatemala are underdeveloped countries. An underdeveloped country is a country where a good percentage of the guys and gals who are living in the country are surviving by subsistence living. To live by subsistence living is to live hand to mouth from off the land. How would you like it if the food that your ma uses to fix meals for you to eat comes from her garden, from crops that your dad grows in his fields, from fruit trees in your yard, from animals that your dad raises, from birds and wild animals that your dad shoots and from fish that your dad catches? Your grandmaa and grandpaa know families in Bolivia and Guatemala who are surviving by mostly subsistence living. Manuel lives with his wife and their seven kids in Chochís, Bolivia. When your grandpaa was in Chochís – which was about every six weeks over about a two years period, your grandpaa would sometimes go to Manuel’s house to visit with Manuel and his family. Your grandpaa really enjoyed the meals that Manuel’s wife fixed. Manuel was one of the Christ-follower leaders in the Christ-follower fellowship of guys and gals who lived in Chochís. Manuel was also an active leader in Chochís. When your grandpaa knew Manuel, Manuel was about as old as your dad is now. Manuel lived with his wife and their kids in a house that had mud walls, a dirt floor and a very sagging thatched roof. Manuel was a hard worker but . . . how would you like to grow up in a house which has mud walls, a dirt floor and a caving in thatched roof? How would you like to grow up in a town where most of the guys, gals and kids who are living in the town have to get on a train in order to get to the next big town? How would you like to grow up in a town where you have to walk or ride a donkey or horse to go to where your dad grows his crops and keeps his chickens and livestock?
As your grandpaa one day was visiting with Manuel in his house, your grandpaa saw two nuns walking up the dirt path to Manuel’s house. Do you know what a nun is and does? Nuns are gals who help out in Catholic churches, Catholic schools, Catholic hospitals, etc. Nuns do not have husbands. Nuns wear an outfit called a habit. Have you ever seen a nun? A Catholic church is what most guys, gals and kids who live in Latin America – which is where Bolivia and Guatemala are located, would say is their church. Guys and gals who believe in Catholic traditional beliefs have different beliefs than what your grandpaa has. Guys and gals who believe in Catholic traditional beliefs, believe that Jesus’ ma – who was a virgin until after her son – Jesus, was born, is able to help them. Guys and gals who believe in the Catholic traditional beliefs, believe that when a communion wafer is eaten and some wine is sipped from a goblet, that they are actually eating the body and drinking the blood of Jesus. Guys and gals who believe in the Catholic traditional beliefs, believe that they are making penance to or that they are making it right with God when they tell a Catholic church leader – called a priest, what they did that they know was something that was wrong for them to have done. When the two nuns who your grandpaa saw walking up the dirt path to Manuel’s house knocked on Manuel’s house’s door, Manuel’s wife went to the door of her house to greet the nuns. After Manuel’s wife greeted the two nuns – who she obviously knew, your grandmaa saw Manuel’s wife give the nuns a bag of fruit and some vegetables. As the two nuns walked back down the dirt path away from Manuel’s house, your grandpaa asked Manuel why he was giving the nuns some food. Manuel told your grandpaa that the nuns were not being taken care of by the guys and gals who attend the Catholic church that is in Chochís so . . . Manuel – and all of his family, fully understood that they had been born again when they made a decision of faith to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Manuel knew what the Catholic traditional beliefs are – which do not lead a guy, gal or kid to want to make a decision of faith through accepting what Jesus Christ did on a crude cross to defeat sin and death. This was not stopping Manuel and his family from caring for guys, gals and kids – like the two nuns, from wanting to give food to them even though they themselves were surviving each day hand to mouth.
About 700 years before Jesus was born as an incarnated guy on planet Earth, Isaiah wrote down a message from God that God expected him to pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem. Isaiah 61 is a chapter of future hope. Isaiah scribed in verse 1 “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” The me in this verse would be Jesus – who would come to planet Earth to preach a message of hope – which poor guys and gals, hurting guys and gals and guys and gals who are in prisons would understand. Your grandpaa never looked at or thought of Manuel and his family as being poor; your grandpaa saw and remembers Manuel and his family helping and encouraging other guys, gals and kids who clearly appreciated Manuel and his family. Manuel and his family had rich relationships with other guys, gals and kids with their wealth coming from knowing Who Jesus is.
Isaiah 61 (335)