Click here to watch my video reflection on our text for today, or keep reading for my written reflections: 

This week we are looking at Luke 4: 16-21.  Today we want to look at the content of Jesus’ message. we see We see Jesus pull a typical preacher trick, he pulls two scriptures together into one sermon. Can you pull some Isaiah 61, as well as an allusion to Isaiah 58. We see in this passage these words that he has been called To bring good news to the poor, release the captives, Recovery of sight to the blind, To free the oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Let’s take a look at what each of these means. 

First, we see the call to good news to the poor. In each of these statements, they can be understood both in a literal sense and in a spiritual sense. Jesus is calling us and we see in him that the filament of good news to the poor. This is a call for us as Christians to take seriously our mission to be a Ministry with and to the poor. But the word poor hear Echoes what we see in The Sermon on the Mount and that this is what often called the pious poor. The poor that are going to receive the good news is not just those that are physically poor, but those that are spiritually poor, and that understand their life is found only in God.

Then we see release to the captives. This is much like what comes later with oppression, this is a reference to both those that face physical captivity or oppression, that these individuals are great worth in spite of their condition. this is also a call to understand that the greatest captivity in our greatest oppression is not just physical, but spiritual. Jesus comes to Proclaim worth and freedom to those that are spiritually and physically captain and oppressed. They can find Freedom in many ways in Jesus, and so can we.

We see his call to the recovery of the site the blind. This is not just a statement about Jesus’ physical healing Ministry, and the importance of physical health to Jesus, but it is a call to a deeper healing of blindness. In scripture one of the main Miracles that Jesus performed over and over again is the recovery of sites of line. Did always points to the greater spiritual blindness that we have.

Finally, we see the call to the Lord’s favor. This is a reference to the Old Testament concept of Jubilee. If you’re unfamiliar with this, we’ll talk more about it on Friday. 

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