Bible Sunday (Luke 4:16-24)

Bible Sunday (24^th October 2010) 

Text - Luke 4:16-24

 

Today is Bible Sunday.  However, I am not going to talk about the Bible, but one particular message that we can glean from the Gospel text for today. 

 To fully understand all the significance of Luke 4: 16-24, we must first understand the Jewish synagogue system of worship. In the synagogue, sacrifice was not done. The synagogue was a place for teaching and reading. The temple in Jerusalem was the place for the priests to offer sacrifice to God, but in the synagogue, men came to learn. Another difference between the synagogue and the temple was in the temple the priests were in charge, but in the synagogue there were no priest, no preacher. Each man had an opportunity to participate in the time of reading and learning. A man would volunteer to read a passage from the scrolls of the Old Testament, and then afterwards, he would sit down and explain what those passages he read meant to him.

So on this day, Jesus was taking his turn in the synagogue to read the lesson and then to explain it. He picked a lesson that was very familiar to the Jews and contained a message that the Jews were passionate about.   The passage was from Isaiah, chapter 61, verse 2 - a passage of hope, a passage of deliverance, a passage that reminded the Jews that God was indeed still with them, still caring for them.

After he had finished his reading Jesus handed the scroll back to the attendant to put away.  He returned to his seat, and proceeded to explain the passage to them.

Jesus begins his sermon with the most amazing sentence, saying, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Jesus is saying that today he has fulfilled this scripture, and today he is God’s salvation to the world.

I think the best way to handle this passage is to first look at what Isaiah said to his people many years ago.  Isaiah 61:1-2 was written 700 years prior to the moment when Christ read it in the synagogue.  The people had returned from captivity in Babylon. They were trying to rebuild their temple, but things weren’t going very well. The people were getting discouraged: they thought God had abandoned them. Times were hard, food was scarce, and hope for the future was in short supply. The people were so desperate so full of mourning that they even covered their heads with ashes, and wore sackcloth, the garment of mourning.  But Isaiah came and said to the people, “God is here; He will deliver; He will save; He will make you a mighty nation. Through you, God will keep his promise to bring salvation to the world”.

This passage is one of hope, of freedom, of release, a passage of salvation. But up till that time it was only a message of hope.  People dreamed about the day that hope would be realized.   So when Jesus said, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Jesus was saying the same thing. Jesus is saying to the people and to us that He is the one to bring God’s salvation to the world. Jesus is dropping a bomb shell on this congregation.  He is telling them that he is God’s salvation in the world. Through him God’s deliverance, God’s promise of hope, God’s promise of freedom has come to his people. 

Jesus is also revealing something about himself; he is making clear his mission, his calling, his task as he goes about his ministry on this earth.  Jesus is setting the scope, the limits, and the horizons of his ministry. Jesus is telling them that he is the one to bring hope and salvation to all people.

We all acknowledge and believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour.  The problem is that we get so used to the terms ‘Lord’ and ‘Saviour’, that they mean very little to some Christians.  Hence, there is a need for us to listen to this message again and again.  We need to know why Jesus came into the world.  We look at verse 18 for the answers.  Jesus came into the world:

(1) To preach the gospel to the poor: To preach the gospel means to declare good news, to evangelize.  It is not just to preach at them, but speak to their hearts.  First, we are called to preach the gospel to the poor.  Note that the poor does not mean people who are without money or who have little food.  “Poor people” refers to anyone who doesn’t know the riches of life in Christ.   Sometimes "the poor" can be real hard to preach, especially those who are looking for something else to make their life meaningful.  Thus the Word has to be preached.  According to 2 Tim 4:2, we need to preach the word; “to convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”

(2)  He has sent Jesus to heal the broken-hearted: This phrase is not in the original Greek manuscript.  But as Jesus is quoting Isa. 61:1 & 2 - therefore the translators include this in the quote.  Jesus is the Great Physician not just to our bodies but to our soul as well.  There are thousands of broken-hearted people around us... most don’t understand why they are broken-hearted and they are helpless to deal with their have problems.

The question is: How can we heal them?  We are called to preach and minister repentance.  Our task is to help people know what is wrong with them, and help them to understand that the way to God is a humble spirit.  Jesus in, Matt 5:3 says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven “.  Ps. 147:3 says, “He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds”.  

(3) To proclaim liberty to the captives: Captives are not just prisoners of war.  Here they refer to people who are in need of forgiveness and deliverance: those with destructive habits and addictions, or hearts filled with anger, hatred, unforgiveness and revenge.  I tell you - if you don’t believe in Jesus, you are in the worse captivity ever.  

(4) To bring recovery of sight to the blind:  Mark 16:17: And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

Blindness is a handicap.  In those days the only means of survival for the blind was to beg for money and food.  So to be blind in those days was to be a nuisance for others, and very often blind people suffered rejection.  But Jesus accepted the blind whenever he came across them, healed them and set them free from their prison of both poverty and blindness.  And because of what he did, blind people were able to live normal lives.  

What does this mean to us today?  This a reminder of our situation right at this point.  People are not just suffering from physical & spiritual blindness.  Matt 15:14 speaks about blind leaders trying to lead the blind.  “And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."  If blind leaders want to unite the people, they will create crisis among themselves.  If blind leaders promise to improve the lives of the people, they end up being corrupt and selfish.  If religious leaders are blind they will lead people to destruction.  When people are blind and do not know the true God, they grope about in darkness.  They need their sight to be restored so that they can know the true God.   

(5)  To set at liberty those who are oppressed: Acts 10:38 speaks about how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 

As Christians we cannot be possessed by the evil spirit, but they can still influence our lives.  And I have seen with my own eyes how the Devil can control a person physically and emotionally: I can tell you it is a sad sight because the person does not even know it or admit it. 

There might be times in our lives when we have given up on our dreams, our hopes. Certainly, that has been the case at times. Jesus never quits on us. Jesus is always there wanting and waiting to set us free. This woman was broken-hearted and it seemed hopeless until Jesus’ work of liberation was realized through this case worker through whom Jesus worked. Although our circumstances might not be the same, there are always those times in our lives we look for the day or days that Jesus can lighten our burdens and liberate our spirits. Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “… where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”.  Jesus is reminding us that no matter what we experience in this world He is there for us. Jesus is God’s incarnate word in this world of brokenness.

(6)   To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD:  This is the year of Jubilee, the year when we are restored and set free.  What year is that? It is the year when you know the Lord and see the truth.  It may be right now. All these years you may be wandering in the dark.  Your prejudice with people may put you in the dark. Your anger at your predicaments may blind you. Or you may be blinded by your wealth and position and life of comfort.  This is where it all starts - the acceptable year: the year you accept your condition without Christ; the year you accept the fact that you need a Saviour; the year you accept that the blood of the perfect Lamb of God has atoned for our sin; the year you accept that your life is no longer our own but brought at a price; the year you accept that you are going to serve Him, praise Him, worship Him, honour Him, seek Him and obey Him for the rest of our life. That is your jubilee, the year of your release.   And we should proclaim it everywhere we go.

We come to Church every Sunday, just as Jesus went to the synagogue each week, to hear God’s word for our lives.  But we need to hear the message of the Bible so that we may be filled with it to carry the message of hope and grace into the world around us, and into our lives.  We are Christ’s instrument in this world, but before we can be effective instrument we have to be sharpened by the Word of God.