Luke 4: Part 1 (5)

Pray Psalm 146.7-9.
[He] executes justice for the oppressed,
[He] gives food to the hungry.
The LORD gives freedom to the prisoners.
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
The LORD raises those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow;
But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.

Sing Psalm 146.7-10.
(Hallelujah! What a Savior!: Man of Sorrows)
Jesus sets the pris’ner free, heals blind eyes that they may see,
lifts those burdened painfully – God forever reigns in Zion!

He the righteous loves the best; wand’rers in His grace are blessed.
Needy ones in Him find rest – God forever reigns in Zion!

Read Luke 4.1-21; meditate on verses 16-22.

Preparation
1. What did Jesus do in the synagogue?

2. What did He say about the passage He had read?

Meditation
It was Jesus’ custom to participate in the meetings of His local synagogue on the Sabbath day. Do you suppose He was always in agreement with what was taught there? Or how the people worshiped? Did He think the leaders of the synagogue were faithful shepherds of God’s flock? Well, we don’t know. But we do know that Jesus was there.

On this day, however, He did something He may not have done very often before. He “stood up to read” (v. 16). That is, He indicated a desire to read from a passage of the Old Testament. This was probably standard practice for a Sabbath day, when male members might be allowed to share a Scripture or a Psalm with the congregation (cf. 1 Cor. 14.26-31). The “book” He was given would have been a scroll, which He would have unrolled until “He found the place” He wanted to read (v. 17).

Then He read from Isaiah 61, a passage which the people would have recognized as having Messianic implications: The anointing of God’s Spirit, preaching Good News, healing and liberating, and heralding “the acceptable year of the LORD” (vv. 18, 19).

Doubtless, the people had heard those lines read many times. Some of them would have nodded affirmingly and others might have whispered an “Amen” as “He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down” (v. 20). All this was familiar. Routine. Nothing to be troubled about. What happened next, however, was different.

“Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (v. 21). In other words, Jesus said, “Today, as you heard Me read this passage from Isaiah 61, what this passage foretold has come to pass, right before your eyes.”

This seems to have pleased the people and left them marveling. But Jesus wasn’t finished. 

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
He stood up. They handed Him the scroll.
He opened the scroll and found exactly what He wanted to read.
He read it aloud, projecting with His beautiful, resonating voice.
He sat down, after giving the scroll back to the attendant.
Then He launched a truth bomb, heard round the world, into the midst of His hometown synagogue.

“But God has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed; and
to proclaim the year of the LORD (Is. 61.1, 2; Lk. 4.18, 19). I AM that Person.”

Jesus’ way was prepared by John the Baptist; but now He became His own spokesperson and advocate. His struggles with the devil strengthened Him to go forth with determination to fulfill all the things that Isaiah had said about Him. He seemed eager to throw down the truth Himself, about Himself. After all, He could have quietly sat down and said nothing about the passage He had just read. Just leave them wondering, or maybe merely church-drowsy, or hungry and thinking about lunch. Not a chance. As He said, “I must work the works of Him Who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (Jn. 9.4, 5).

How many of us would be content to just sit down and not speak up about the truth? But “Christians are called to expose the darkness of the world. We must not be shy here but bold, like the prophets of old, to say to the unbelieving world that its ways are not God’s ways and that if they persist in them, they will ultimately have to deal with Him.” (taken from ReVision at www.ailbe.org for 16 December 2022).

We have received an exceedingly great calling, and have been given Jesus’ courageous Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to help us accomplish it. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28.19, 20). And “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1.8). Sharing the unshakable truth of Jesus (Jn. 14.6).

Like Jesus, stand up, take the Word, read it, expound upon it, and live it to the full in your Personal Mission Field for God’s glory. Jesus has passed the torch to us, and told us that we are now, “the light of the world” (Matt. 5.14). As long as we are in the world, we must work the works of Him Who has sent us. And when the work is finished, then we can sit down with Him in glory (Jn. 14.1-4). To praise Him all the more. “I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore” (Ps. 86.12).

For reflection
1. What does it mean for you to be a witness for Christ in your Personal Mission Field?

2. How does Jesus’ interpretation of Isaiah 61 help us in reading the Old Testament?

3. Whom will you talk to today about Jesus?

Christ taught in their synagogues, their places of public worship, where they met to read, expound, and apply the word, to pray and praise. All the gifts and graces of the Spirit were upon him and on him, without measure. By Christ, sinners may be loosed from the bonds of guilt, and by his Spirit and grace from the bondage of corruption. He came by the word of his gospel, to bring light to those that sat in the dark, and by the power of his grace, to give sight to those that were blind. And he preached the acceptable year of the Lord. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Luke 4.14-30

Pray Psalm 146.1-6, 10.
Praise the Lord for His salvation and for the help He provides throughout the day. Call on Him to fill you with hope, that others might see the hope that is within you and ask a reason for it (1 Pet. 3.15).

Sing Psalm 146.1-6, 10.
(Hallelujah! What a Savior!: Man of Sorrows)
Praise the Lord, my soul, give praise! While I live, His Name I’ll raise
and exalt Him all my days – God forever reigns in Zion!

Trust we not in prince or man; no salvation’s in their hand.
Death shall take them, breath and plans – God forever reigns in Zion!

Blessed are they whose hope resides in the Lord, Christ at His side.
By Him heav’n and earth abide – God forever reigns in Zion!

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.