So Jesus had returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; and word of Him
went around throughout the region, and He began to teach in their synagogues,
and was praised by all.
Luke 4:14-15
When Jesus rose up out of the water at His baptism, the gospels tell us that He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit led Him out into the desert to confront Satan. Luke reminds us that the Holy Spirit remains with Jesus as He now begins his ministry in earnest.
Every town and village had a synagogue, and Jesus became an itinerant preacher, going from synagogue to synagogue to teach. Jesus’ message rang true to the people and they were very favorably impressed with the words He had to offer. His fame was beginning to spread through the neighboring territory.
Then He went to Nazareth, His hometown; and in keeping with His custom, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath. He got up to read and was handed the book of the Prophet, Isaiah; and when He had unrolled the scroll, He found the place where it was written:
”The Spirit of God is upon Me;
Because of this God has anointed me,
God has sent me to preach good news to the humble;
To restore those whose hearts are broken;
To proclaim deliverance to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind;
To bring freedom to the oppressed; and
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Sovereign…,”
Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
Everyone in the synagogue was watching Him, so He began to speak to them:
“Everything you have just heard in this scripture has been fulfilled today.”
Luke 4:16-21
Jesus went back home–to the place where He had grown up, and in keeping with His Jewish faith, Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. The worship service generally consisted of three parts: prayer, scripture reading, and a teaching. During this latter part of the service, a congregant would be invited to address the group.
Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1 to 2:a, and Jesus also added part of 58:6: …To bring freedom to the oppressed... Luke doesn’t specifically tell us whether the scripture reading was assigned by the congregation attendant, or whether it was chosen by Jesus, but the words spoken by Jesus were very significant. The word Messiah in Hebrew means Anointed One. In the way that He read those passages of scripture, Jesus told the congregation that He was the Messiah, and, in case they missed it, He spelled it out for them: “Everything you have just heard in this scripture has been fulfilled today.”
It is interesting to note that while the King James’ translation relates that Jesus read the verses shown above, other translations–the New International Version, the New Revised Standard Version, and the Jerusalem Bible among others–do not include To restore those whose hearts are broken. Note further that the line shown as …And recovery of sight to the blind… can also be translated as, and in some translations indeed appears as: release for the prisoners.
The differences between translations as shown above are significant to us, in that they alert us to the fact that one can’t always accept what one reads in scripture at “face value.” Passages that speak to us in very significant ways should always be researched and tested to try to determine what the authors really meant. For example, we find this especially true when it comes to passages that supposedly address and/or condemn homosexuals or the transgendered. Research, both biblical and extra-biblical, proves that none of the passages, which appear to address homosexuality, as we know it today, actually do so, nor are the passages, which speak to transgendered persons condemnatory. It is especially sad when churches choose to uphold tradition at the expense of the truth.
Jesus explains exactly what His ministry is about: Jesus will preach the gospel–the good news to people, especially to those whom the world considers lowly or poor–not only those who were poor materially, but also the poor in spirit. There are people whom most of the world look down upon. Jesus would lift them up. Jesus would mend broken hearts–bringing hope to the hopeless, to those crushed by grief, to those who felt rejected by the rest of the world. In the original language the word for broken was suntribo, and means, to crush completely, to shatter or break in pieces. Jesus would heal (not just help) broken hearts.
Jesus would bring deliverance to the captives. The word in the original language was aichmalotos, and refers specifically to prisoners of war. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Jesus would break people out of jail. It isn’t a cage that imprisons people–it is the damage that is done to their souls. Bodies can be imprisoned, but souls cannot, unless the soul just chooses to surrender. Also, there were (and are yet) people who were imprisoned by their own bodies–restricted from living a full life by disabilities of all kinds–the lame, the deaf, the demon-possessed. Jesus touched them and healed them.
Jesus would bring recovery of sight to the blind. Not only would Jesus heal those whose eyes could not see, Jesus would heal the spiritually blinded as well.
Jesus promised to bring freedom to the oppressed. The word in the JKV is bruised, and in the original language the word was thrauo, and it means to crush or bruise. Oppression occurs when people’s spirits are crushed by abuse of power, either by authorities or by those who assume authority over their victims.
As we review this list we see that Isaiah indicated that the energies of the Messiah–the Anointed One–would be directed toward the welfare of those whose spirits were bruised, broken, captive or blinded by whatever causative influences. And Jesus emphasized His concern by adding Isaiah 58:6, to repeat and emphasize that He would bring healing to all who were oppressed. It is a sad commentary on the world that so many have the tendency towards exclusivity–towards finding ways to exclude those they deem unworthy. Jesus would have none of that. It is especially significant that in stating His mission and ministry, Jesus made a specific point to include the passage about bringing freedom to those who are oppressed. Jesus’ ministry would reach out to outcasts.
This is the year, Jesus was saying, that everything would change. In the Jewish calendar, every fiftieth year was called the Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:8 ff.). God called the people to …proclaim liberty to all the inhabitants of the land…to not take advantage of each other…to help the poor…cancel debts…free slaves…This is the year, Jesus was saying, that God’s grace would bring freedom from guilt and sin.
When Jesus finished reading the scripture and sat back down, that did not mean that He expected to be through. It was the custom in those days for the designated speaker to do so seated. That’s why everyone was watching Him. They were waiting for an explanation of the chosen passages from Him. His explanation: “Everything you have just heard in this scripture has been fulfilled today.”
The people were astounded at what He had to say, and they found grace in the
words that He spoke. They began to say, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” So He said to
them, “Surely you can quote to me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ All
that you have heard that was done at Capernaum do also right here in your home
town.” And He told them, “Truthfully, I’m telling you that no prophet is
acceptable in his home town. And I also tell you in truth, there were many
widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when heaven was shut up for three years
and six months with a great famine over all the land; but Elijah was not sent to
any of them except a widow woman in Zarephath of Sidonia. And there were many
lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet, but none of them were
made whole except Naaman the Syrian.”
When they heard these things, everyone in the synagogue was infuriated; and they
got up and kicked Him out of the city. They led Him to the top of the hill on
which the city was built with the intention of throwing Him down head first, but
He just passed through the midst of them and went His way.
Luke 4:21-30
At first, the congregants were amazed at Jesus’ words–Jesus, the supposed Son of the humble carpenter, Joseph. Most likely, the people had known Him all their lives; knew that He was not educated, but was One who worked with His hands–a laborer. So to begin with, they were pleasantly surprised by Jesus, but soon after, they began to reconsider. This young man was claiming to be the Messiah! Jesus understood their thoughts. You want me to prove myself, don’t you? Jesus asked. You want me to give you proof by doing miracles like I did in Capernaum. Jesus was most likely referring to the healing of the nobleman’s son.
Jesus acknowledged the adage that “familiarity breed’s contempt,” by saying that prophets are not accepted by the people in their hometowns. The KJV takes this concept further by translating the passage to read that prophets are not accepted in their own country.
Then Jesus made reference to two stories recorded in scripture: the story of Elijah, the prophet, and the widow of Zarephath, and the story of Elisha, the prophet, and Naaman the Syrian. Both the widow and the Syrian were Gentiles. Told in 1 Kings 17:7-24, Elijah had nothing to eat, so God sent him to the widow. She was starving herself, but she fed him anyway, and God blessed her with enough food to survive. She had chosen to trust Elijah’s words and was saved. 2 Kings 5 tells the story of Naaman, the leper, and Elisha. When Elisha told Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan, he did so and, again, because of his trust in the prophet, was made clean. Both the widow and Naaman swore allegiance to God. Jesus said there were suffering widows and lepers in Israel during those times, but God wanted to make a point! God’s grace would be given to believing Gentiles also, so the Gentile widow and Syrian, both were healed. They had heeded the prophets sent to them and had been saved.
Jesus had been contrasting the faith of the widow and Naaman with the prevailing attitudes of the Nazarenes who would be wanting a miracle from Him if they would be expected to accept Him. The Nazarenes were infuriated! To be unfavorably compared to unworthy Gentiles? How dare He!!! Apparently, they grabbed Him, pushed him out of the synagogue, out of the city and up to the top of a hill to throw Him off a cliff, when He gave them their miracle. He vanished from their midst.
This ends our study for today.
Points to Ponder