Jesus proclaimed His mission

Jesus needs to fulfil his commission in spite of misunderstanding and opposition. He begins in Galilee (in Hebrew Galil) which means 'circle'. It is so called because it was encircled by non-Jewish nations. 

Jesus walks into the synagogue - the centre of religious life. There was only one Temple where sacrifices were made. There were many synagogues all over the country. It was mandated that whenever there were ten Jewish families a synagogue be built.

Picture the scene. It is the Sabbath Day, the day of worship. Jesus walks in just as the elders are looking around for someone to read from the scroll of the prophets. One of them spots Jesus, son of a carpenter who has been travelling and teaching the people. He has become somewhat of a celebrity. The scroll is handed to Jesus. He takes it, moves to the front and begins to read from Isaiah.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."

He rolls up the scroll and hands it to the attendant and sits down. It was customary to stand while reading the Scripture, but to sit while teaching. All eyes focussed on Him. He adds, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  They are astonished by this claim. In actual fact Jesus is saying, "The principle of the year of Jubilee and the promise of the coming of the Deliverer are found in a Person. That Person is Jesus. The Deliverer or Messiah has come and is sitting right in front of them!

The words of Isaiah are still echoing in their ears. He has not come to usher in the Year of Jubilee. He has come to usher in an age of Jubilee.

The people are stunned and confused. They are amazed at His teaching, full of grace and truth (John 1: 14). But they know him as the son of the local carpenter.

Jesus turns to them and speaks

"God's Spirit is on me:

     he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,

Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and

     recovery of sight to the blind,

To set the burdened and battered free,

  to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

(Luke 4: 23-28). The Message.

This is too much for the people. "How can this be - son of a carpenter becoming the Messiah, the One whom they have been looking out for? He must be out of his mind. Let's get rid of Him."

Clearly it has been demonstrated, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown" Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem; he was brought up in Nazareth in Galilee. “. He went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: 'He will be called a Nazarene.' Nazarene was virtually a synonym for 'despised'. Recall when Philip told Nathaniel about Jesus whom Moses wrote about, Nathaniel responded. "Nazareth, Can anything good come from there?" Don't we all have our prejudices! 

Let's look at the message of Christ. It describes His mission at that time and still is today.

First, To preach the gospel to the poor. He cares about the poor. "But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed." (Luke 14: 13-14). He was poor himself. "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head." (Matt. 8:20) But Jesus did not come to make us materially rich, owners of cars, condominiums, credit cards, country club memberships. He did not come to end poverty or balance the social economic classes. Yet He did come to free us from poverty. Many people do not see themselves as living in poverty.

This verse is not primarily refer to material deprivation.  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven  (Matt. 5: 23) To be poor means to have nothing. It implies hopelessness and helplessness. In the Message Eugene Peterson puts it this way, "You are blessed when you are at the end of your rope." Have you reached the end of the tether yet?

Salvation begins when we realize we are sinners. We have offended God who is holy and righteous. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" Rom 3: 23 "The wages of sin is death." (Rom. 6:23) We cannot do anything for ourselves and are totally dependent on God. The message of this Lenten season is this. Jesus suffered and died on the cross for our sins and opens up heaven for us to spend eternity with God. We all must come to the point of praying the sinner's prayer of repentance and faith.

Jesus came to set us free from our poverty by recovering our vision for life as God has intended for us. Jesus said in Luke 12: 15 “…a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Our wealth consists of things that cannot break, rot or stolen.

Jesus came to reconcile us to God, to restore that relationship between man and God. But we are more concerned about friendship with this world and how much we can get out of this life. If we believe we are wealthy enough with earthly goods, we are blind to the wealth of heaven. But if we see our poverty with God, the good news is that God wants to give Himself and His eternal blessings to us. “God who did not spare his own Son but gave Him up for us all- how will He not also, along with Him, graciously gave us all things." Rom. 8: 32 If God gave of the supreme gift of His son to save us, He will certainly also give whatever is necessary to bring to fulfilment the work begun at the cross.

Second, He came to free us from our prisons. “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and the recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.  Luke 4: 18-19 We are all prisoners, some of us are able to hide our prison bars better than others. The convicted criminals are put behind bars in prison. The rest of us whose prison bars are less obvious either deny or don’t realise we need to be set free.

We are behind the prison bars of fear, anxiety, regret, guilt, self-righteousness or insecurity. These bars are real and they isolate us, imprison us and isolate us from God and from people. Jesus comes to set us free. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8: 31. God’s truths are the keys that can open up the prison doors of our lives.

Jesus comes to give us freedom – free from the slavery of sin. Accept him and you will be able to join the ransomed in singing,

"My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed thee."

In freedom I rejoice! Thank You Lord for giving me this freedom in Christ.