Purpose

Luke 4:17-21 NASB

And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,  To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."
  And He closed the book, 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."

My thoughts -

We're going to take a little closer look today at part of the passage from yesterday. Jesus here is beginning his public ministry, he is revealing who he is, and he is doing so by quoting the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah's indictment on Israel was two fold. First, Israel did not worship God and only God. Second, they did not care for the poor, powerless, and oppressed. In not doing so they had broken their covenant with God, a covenant that had been repeatedly violated during their entire history. While God's chosen people suffered invasion and conquer as a result of the violation of this covenant and the loss of God's protection God would not allow them to be destroyed. And Isaiah foresaw that God would send a Messiah to restore the people to God and make things right.

Jesus as the Messiah was sent by God to restore God's people to Him. Jesus, though, as we know, came to save all people and not just one nation. We focus a lot when we talk of Jesus on grace. We focus on the forgiveness of sins. We focus on the reconciliation that leads to eternal life. These are huge things. Important things. We have been saved from our sins and from the consequences of our sins and restored to God and are free to live in that restored relationship both here and forever.

But look at what Jesus, quoting Isaiah, says to kick off his ministry. He says he has come to preach the gospel to the poor. He says he has come to release the captives, give sight to the blind, and to free the oppressed.

We love the egalitarian nature of all being sinners and Jesus coming to save all from sin. But Christ's own words, in kicking off his public ministry, betray a particular commitment to the poor, the powerless, the oppressed, the "least of these".

Jesus likened himself repeatedly to the prophets. He did so when speaking to the religious authorities of his day. He would do so while pointing out that, by and large, the people would end up killing those God sent to speak on His behalf. He echoed God's concern for the poor, the weak, and the powerless as expressed by the prophets and in the covenant between God and Israel. They were to care for their needy. This was a huge deal.

Jesus, of course, was also put to death. We can claim this not to be the horrible tragedy it could have been by pointing both to atonement theology and to the resurrection and ascension. Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins so we're absolved. We may claim because Christ died we are saved as though we could not be reconciled any other way. Christ had to die. We had to kill him. Right?

Besides, Christ was resurrected. Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven. Jesus is at God's right hand. No harm no foul, right? It's all good.

So how have we changed since we put Jesus to death? How have we lived lives with concern for God's purpose? How have we cared for the poor, the lost, the powerless, the vulnerable, the weak, and the oppressed? How do we minister to and with them?

How do we live lives that reflect salvation received through Christ whose first words of public ministry expressed a particular concern for societies most vulnerable?