Luke 4:16-30—Many
today are seeking self-identity. They are seeking to understand who they are
and what their purpose in life is. Many do not have a reason for living. They
are confused because they are aimless. They have no goals for life. As
Christians who follow Christ in all things, our purpose in life should be the
same as Jesus’ purpose. Luke tells us where Jesus came from – He came from God
to fulfill God’s promises. He tells us who Jesus is – He is the Messiah, God’s
servant – commissioned and called. He tells us what Jesus was to do – preach
the Good News.
It was on a Sabbath that Jesus arrived in Nazareth
(See also Matthew 13:54-55; Mark 6:6:1-2) Customarily, the synagogue worship
was divided into three parts. In the worship part, prayers were offered. The
reading of Scriptures consisted of lessons from the Law, usually read verse by
verse by seven persons, and lessons from the prophets read three verses at a
time. Teaching formed the third part of the service. On this occasion Jesus was
both reader and preacher.
The quotation from Isaiah 43 is a beautiful Messianic
prophecy. Jesus speaks of His endowment and of the purpose for which He came. “Because” He was anointed by God with the
Holy Spirit, He is filled with the Spirit and thus set apart for His holy
office.
The ancient synagogue regards Isaiah 61:1-2 as one of
three passages in which the mention of the Holy Spirit was connected with the
promised Messiah. “To the poor” those
in utter spiritual destitution, the consciousness that precedes entrance into
the kingdom of God and that cannot be relieved by one’s own efforts but only by
the free mercy of God. He preached the good news of that free mercy. We know
from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount his opening words, “blessed are the poor in spirit.”
“To the prisoners” properly, prisoners of war (see
Isaiah 42:7) to Israel both as captive and exile, as prisoners of Satan’s
spiritual bondage He proclaims release.
“To the
oppressed”, (literally those broken in pieces” see Isaiah 42:4 He proclaims
freedom. To one and all in spiritual bondage, blindness, poverty, and
oppression He announces the arrival of
an era in human history that God regards with favor and in which He grants His
blessings in abundance, when salvation and the free favor of God abounds. It is
the first day of the “year” of
Jubilee, a fixed period of time wherein liberty is proclaimed throughout the
whole land.
A prayer for newness of life in Christ – Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness and put upon ourselves the armor of life, now in the time of this mortal life, in which Your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility, that in the last day, when He shall come again in glory to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal. [2]
[1] Schnorr
Von Carolsfeld woodcuts “Ezra Reads the Torah” copyright © WELS permission
granted for personal and congregational use
[2] A
collect for newness of life in Christ, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis
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