This week we are going to talk about Jesus, after his 40 days in the Wilderness, and where he enters the Synagogue in Nazareth to announce his fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 61:1-2a, which states:
The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives,
sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord. (Isaiah 61:1-2a, and Luke 4:18-19)
Now the fact that he spoke in the synagogue was not a remarkable event. The scriptures tell us that speaking in the synagogue was performed at every gathering. In fact, this dates back to the time of Nehemiah. Our scripture reading from Nehemiah 8, is an example of this very act. Listen to the words from Nehemiah 8:2-3 again:
So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the congregation, of men and women and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
This is the very tradition we carry on today with the reading of the scriptures, and of the sermon that follows as an interpretation of the scriptural readings for this day.
Now, back to Jesus and his moment in the Nazarene synagogue and what made it such an astonishing event. The reason it was so astonishing was that he spoke it with authority and from a first person point of view rather than a second person point of view. Jesus said, “The Lord has anointed ME, and the Spirit of the Lord is on Me.” If Jesus had speaking from a second person point of view, he would have said something such as “The prophet Isaiah said….”.
At this time in History, much like today the clergy or learned people of the time spoke from the opinions given by others. Even though the proper etiquette amongst the Jewish clergy would have been to say,” The prophet Isaiah said, The spirit of the Lord….., this is not the way Jesus said it.
Today we still do this very same thing, not only in the work of the church, but in our secular lives as well. For clergy they would use a statement or an opinion given by William Barclay of 1 Corinthians chapter 12,” This is a very interesting passage because it gives….”Barclay’s Study Bible: 1 Corinthians 12.
Or you might hear a clergy member say, “Well Pastor Rick Warren says, “Every church needs to state its purpose….” These are examples of how clergy today still use second person point of views to preach the Gospel.
However, Jesus did not give Isaiah the recognition of writing this passage, as much as the passage was given by God to fulfill the prophecy through Jesus. In other words, Jesus spoke these words as if he had written them himself, about himself.
There are also some very good points to be made with the words spoken. They were not just nice things to do, but more over they were tasks to be completed in order for the prophecy of the Messiah to be legitimate. They were a kind of prophecy as to who and whom Jesus was going to bring the message of the Gospel to.
Look at the list of people and what he was to do for them, bring the good news to the afflicted, proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and proclaim a year of favor from the Lord.
This first one goes back to the title of our sermon for this week. Preach the gospel. In other words, bring hope of salvation and renewal to those who are depressed and down trodden. The others could be written as follows; help others to see that they need not be held captive to their life choices. Enlighten those that walk in ignorance to the love of God, and most important of all help people to realize that God loves them, that he has given them their salvation through the sacrifice and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.
This passage from Isaiah 62, became the mission statement for Jesus’ 3 and half-year ministry in Judea. Look again at what he said he was anointed to do; bring the good news to the afflicted, proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and proclaim a year of favor from the Lord.
Can anyone think of anytime during his ministry, that he did not carry out this mission? Can anyone think of anytime in the Scriptures when Jesus did not say, I know who you are and I know what you have done, I know you are hurting, give it to God and let Him take it away from you?
I know I can’t think of a time when Jesus did not say this in so many words. Now, some people might say, “But Pastor Carl, what about the rich young man in Mark 10? He surely wasn’t hurting; Jesus turned him away didn’t he?”
Actually, Jesus did not turn him away. Jesus gave the man the good news. He expressed to the young man what would be best for him in order to gain a closer relationship with God. It was implied, that while the man was a good man, he also held his property in such a high regard that it interfered with his spiritual well-being.
You see Christ’s mission was not just for those who were literally physically oppressed, or those suffering from physical ailments, such as blindness or paralysis. It was for those who were suffering from spiritual oppression as well as blindness and paralysis. In fact, we could say that this mission, bringing the hope to the spiritually ailing was far more important than healing any of the physical needs of those in his midst.
Why might this be so much more important? Why would our spiritual well-being be more important than our actual physical well-being? For one thing, a measure of our spiritual well-being is a modern way of saying, “How is it with your soul?” In other words, if our life force or soul is ailing it will have an adverse affect upon the rest of our bodies.
Well known author and theologian, Norman Vincent Peale described the relationship between the soul and the physical body in this way.
So certain am I that there is a definite relationship between positive thinking and positive or good results that I think an invariable scientific formula is involved. Explicitly stated it is this: think positively, act positively, image positively, and believe positively, and powerful results will be yours. (Inspirational Writings of Norman Vincent Peale p.5)
In fact, Peale goes so far as to create ten “Golden Attitudes” which includes faith, positive thinking, persistence, confidence, positive imaging, prayer, affirmation, belief, love, and work. According to Peale, these need to be “employed regularly”, in order to bring about a life ‘filled with joy and satisfaction and achievement.”
Moreover, Norman Vincent Peale recognized a long time ago that if a person has a positive outlook on life then their whole demeanor and health would be affected by this positive outgrowth. They will be less prone to illness and depression, and life will even appear to be more profitable to them.
In fact, what Paul wrote summed it up best in 1 Corinthians 12:26 “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it”. Our soul is definitely a real major part of our body. When it is not well, our whole body physically and psychologically suffers as well. When the soul is in a state of emotional distress through either anger or depression, it causes the body to react in ways that may lead to physical illness.
However, there is hope in Jesus Christ because, as we read earlier, he came to bring the good news to the afflicted, proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free. Because of Jesus, our souls no longer have to suffer. I am not saying that if our souls are at peace with God that our body will not have ailments. Certainly, it will as our bodies are human and they are not made to endure forever. But, even if the body suffers, the soul can be set free because Jesus died to redeem it.
We all know that a day is coming when our mortal bodies will cease to be. But, our spirit, our souls will continue on throughout eternity. Therefore, it is just as important, even more so, for us to attend to our spiritual health and well-being as we do our physical well-being.
Regardless of what our physical bodies endure, we can have the peace of mind that our spirits have been redeemed by Jesus and that he loves us. This is the good news. This is the gospel that should be preached to everyone. This is the hope that prophesied so long ago, that Jesus brought to us so that we could bring it to others. It is the hope that there is more awaiting us if we put our trust in the Lord to be there for us from our first breath to our last breath and beyond.
In closing, I would like to leave you with these words from 1 Peter 1:20-25:
He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you. Amen.
