Elder Brian Haferkamp preaches on Luke 4:16-21, exploring Jesus’ mission and how believers have benefited from the perfect completion of his work.
Luke 4:16-21
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
This was Jesus’ coming out. He was beginning his ministry and letting those around him know that he was the Messiah and that he came to proclaim liberty, set the oppressed free, and to publicly proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Let’s walk through verses 18 and 19 of the passage together.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
Because Jesus has been anointed the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. The Hebrew word that we translate Messiah means “anointed” or “one anointed with oil.” This passage from Isaiah that Jesus read and attributed to himself was long understood to be a prophetic passage pointing to the Messiah.
Along with this anointing comes the Spirit of the Lord. This phrase is quite common in the book of Judges. Everyone God raised up as a judge to free the people of Israel received the Spirit of the Lord. This is also a phrase that we see associated with kings Saul and David. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Micah, It was the Spirit of the Lord that carried Philip away after he taught the Ethiopian eunuch. Our verse above is quoted from Isaiah 61, but we also see the Spirit of the Lord mentioned in relation to Messiah in Isaiah 11:2 and Isaiah 59:11.
When Jesus connects himself to the Law and the Prophets like this--when he connects himself to the prophecies of the Messiah--he is also helping people understand what is coming next. It is meant to be a sign and a comfort for John the Baptist:
Matthew 11:2-5
2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
to proclaim good news to the poor.
Both the prophecies about Jesus and the words of Jesus in our passage today confirm that He came to proclaim, or herald, good news to the poor.
Matthew 5:2-12
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The version of the Beatitudes in Luke 6:20 starts this way:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Isaiah 66:1-2
Thus says the LORD:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
2 All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the LORD.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
Jesus did not come to court the favor of the strong. He came for the sick, the lost, the poor, the oppressed, the broken, the lame, the blind. But as we see in the Beatitudes it was not that he only came for those who were poor in money or land. He came for those who were poor in spirit. This means the humble, the broken, the contrite. His message is not liberation for only the poor of this world. It is for all men and women.
Romans 3:21-26
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
We are all the poor in spirit. We are all impoverished. When the Pharisees tried to put on their facade of perfection, Christ knew the truth. They were in need of a savior as much as the poor people they despised. They were just as filthy on the inside as the beggars in the streets were on the outside.
The good news Jesus came to proclaim was bound up in the Beatitudes:
A Kingdom in Heaven
Comfort
An inheritance
Satisfaction
Mercy
Sight
Being a son of God
The poor in spirit, the poor in this world, the rich in this world. Which of these things do we not all long for at some point? Who doesn’t long for comfort? Who doesn’t long for satisfaction? Who doesn’t long for mercy or to be able to see clearly?
Christ came to proclaim good news to those who are poor in spirit, who are contrite and humble, to those who are looking for salvation.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
The Romans began their occupation of the eastern Mediterranean in the 60s BC. By the time of Christ’s birth, Rome had stepped up its occupation of Judea, including Jerusalem.
The Jews had often been conquered, destroyed, and taken back to the conquerors’ homeland, but they had never seen anything like this. They were conquered but retained their homes and their land. They were even able to practice their faith freely. But they were definitely not free. Rome had put a puppet king in charge of Israel--Herod the Great, a Hellenized Jew, given power in 40 BC. So the Jewish people were oppressed in the truest sense of the word. They were not just held captive, they were held captive in their own land.
The message of Christ and the prophecy of the Messiah would have been music to the ears of a first century Jew.
Liberty to the captives: check!
Liberty to the oppressed: check!
Year of the Lord’s favor: check!
If at any time they needed a savior, it was in the first century.
The word we translate captives in this verse can be properly understood to be prisoners of war. Those who were once free but have been captured in some sort of siege or act. Is this not a perfect description of our spiritual predicament?
We were created in freedom to live in a perfect relationship with the perfect God. Then Adam and Eve sinned and that perfect freedom was exchanged for captivity. Mankind has been held captive by the Enemy of God since then.
The Romans represented a political captivity that mirrored the spiritual condition of the world. Oppressive, stifling, exacting payment, punishing harshly.
The Apostle Paul describes this world in Romans 1:
29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
This is the world we are bound by. This is the kingdom of the Enemy. These attitudes are reflected in Satan, not God.
Liberty is good news for the oppressed. It’s interesting to note that Jesus did not come to proclaim that liberty for the oppressed is coming. But God sent him to proclaim liberty in the active sense.
The verse is translated “proclaim liberty” I assume to match up with the wording in the OT. If we look at just the Greek words used, this could also be translated:
He sent me to forgive or pardon those captured in war.
When Christ talked about liberty to the captives he was speaking about something other than being freed from the oppression of Rome--or any other earthly power. The Apostle Paul assures us in Ephesians that the battle is not against flesh and blood:
Ephesians 6:10-13
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
There is a power much greater than the oppressive governments of the world. There is an enemy much worse than the ones who want to destroy your life and livelihood. There is a fate worse than the captivity of a cell. That is the captivity of the heart, blindness to the truth, an insatiable desire, a life without love. This is our captivity and it was the true captivity that Christ is referencing in our passage today.
and recovering of sight to the blind,
Just as Jesus was talking about spiritual and not physical captivity, here he is talking about spiritual blindness and not physical blindness. Otherwise, how could this message be for all mankind? The root of our spiritual blindness is found in the Fall of Man.
Genesis 3:1-7
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Satan’s promise to Eve--and consequently to Adam--was that they would have their eyes opened; they would be able to see as God saw. It is true, their eyes were opened. But in the spiritual sense they became blinded. They sought the ability to discern good and evil but ended up enshrouded in Sin and darkness.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
The offer was to have our eyes opened but the reality is that we have been blinded by our Sin. We cannot see the Light as we once could. We now grope around in the darkness seeking out the Light but finding nothing. Our eyes are closed. We are poor, wretched, and pitiable without Christ. When you see the image of the blind beggars in the gospels, you see a picture of man without the Light of Christ. This is the world we live in. People are walking around trying to live without sight.
If you are in Christ, you have sight; you are able to see because the Light has shone upon you. What did Jesus do when he encountered the blind? He asked them if they wanted to see. He offered to open their eyes. When we see the blind floundering about the world harming themselves and everyone around them, what is our response? Is it judgment or compassion?
It is often acknowledged in the scriptures that the recovery of sight, the opening of the eyes, is a great miracle. Who can do such a thing but God alone? The same is true for our spiritual blindness. Who can shine the light of Christ into the heart of a man or woman but Christ alone? The rest of that passage in 2 Corinthians goes:
2 Corinthians 4:5-6
5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Christ came to give light to those who are blind. He came to open the eyes of those who have been born blind because of Sin. They are living in a deep darkness.
Proverbs 4:19
19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know over what they stumble.
Isaiah 9:2
2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
We talked about Darkness and Light in our series in John. Picking up in John’s epistles you will find a similar focus on Dark and Light. I pray that as you read those books in the future God will give you greater understanding of this concept of blindness and sight.
to set at liberty those who are oppressed
The word oppressed here means broken or bruised. Those who have been broken. And, again, the word liberty is to set free or pardon but to do so by forgiveness.
This blindness--this captivity we are in--is no gentle one.
1 Peter 5:8
Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
If we were to take the time to show our scars we would all weep. When we see the death and destruction that the enemy wishes upon this world, we weep. When we see those around us who are hurting, broken by life, bruised in their bodies and spirits, and torn to pieces by hatred, selfishness, and pride, we weep.
In the End, when Christ comes to set all things right, those who are not in Christ will suffer an eternal punishment. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, Jesus says. The tortures and darkness of this world will go on forever and there will be no hope. Our only hope is to choose Christ in this life in faith that he will deliver us into his Kingdom in the next life.
Those who have been broken in this world have a hope. It is found in Jesus Christ. It is found in the fact that he died so that we could be set free. The Apostle Paul uses the language of the marketplace: Christ has redeemed us. Sin put a price on our heads that we could only pay with our lives. We were condemned to die. Christ’s purpose, though, was to come and pay that price for us. He has given his life in exchange for ours. That is the basis of our freedom. That is how we can escape the chains of bondage and death. Without that exchange, we are bound to death and darkness.
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Leviticus 25: 9-22
9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field.
13 “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property. 14 And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. 15 You shall pay your neighbor according to the number of years after the jubilee, and he shall sell to you according to the number of years for crops. 16 If the years are many, you shall increase the price, and if the years are few, you shall reduce the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you. 17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the LORD your God.
18 “Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. 19 The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. 20 And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ 21 I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.
The Year of the Lord is called the Year of Jubilee. This was in the Law and was supposed to happen every 50 years. By all known accounts this never happened in the history of Israel.
The Year of the Lord is a setting of all things back to their rightful places. Slaves and property owners would be freed of their debts. It would be a year of rest from the labor of work. God would provide for his people their labor. He would be their rest and provision.
The Year of the Lord has both come and is coming. Christ has set all things right through his sacrifice and opened the way for you and I to come to faith in him. He has made the way for all men--from all tribes and tongues and nations, slave or free, rich or poor, men or women--to come to him and have our lives set right. The most important being our relationship with God.
And we look forward to the hope that Christ will come again. This time, he will be the conqueror of men and lands. He will come to set injustice right. He will come to take home those who have given their lives to him in service and discipleship--who have become his Kingdom’s subjects--and punish those who have rejected his offering of forgiveness and love. They have rejected his offer to heal their blindness and bind their wounds, instead choosing Self, Pride, and to follow their Master the Devil.
Such was our lot. Each of us.
Ephesians 2:1-3
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Is that you today? Is that the life of a family member? A co-worker? A leader in your community? Pray. Pray that Jesus Christ would open the eyes of the blinded. Pray that Christ would free that person from their bondage to Sin and the Devil. Pray for their Pride which stubbornly stands in the way of their salvation.
Ephesians 2:4-10
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Brothers and sisters, if you are in Christ, you have become the benefactor of his work in the world. We were dead, broken, bruised, blinded, and Christ came to make us alive. We had no hope in the world just like the rest of mankind and he came to proclaim his good news to us and to set us free.
1 Peter 2:9-10
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
This weekend we’ve been celebrating our political freedom. Yet there is a bondage that cannot be touched by our constitutions or laws or declarations. We cannot declare ourselves free from the Darkness that enshrouds us. We cannot free others by our will or our bombs or our clever negotiations.
Christ came to proclaim and bring true liberty to all men. For we are all born into a captivity that could only be broken in one way. We were not able to free ourselves.
But God..
No sweeter words exist.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. We are made alive through his suffering, death, and resurrection. The price has been paid. If you are in Christ, the Year of the Lord is both now and coming. You are free. You can live at rest.
If you are not in Christ--if you have not received the gift of freedom that he came to give--then choose him today. Put down your pride. You cannot get to God by yourself. You cannot save yourself or others. Accept that, confess that Jesus Christ can and has done it for you. Turn from your past and be healed. Walk in the ways of Christ and experience the true life that God created us for. Amen.
