TO PROCLAIM FREEDOM FOR THE PRISONERS

Luke 4:14-30

Key Verse 4:18b

“He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.”

Today’s message teaches us what Jesus will do as the promised Messiah sent from God. He will proclaim good news to the poor and proclaim freedom for the prisoners. He will give sight to the blind and release the oppressed. And he will also proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor to men; that is the time of salvation has come. But he will also be misunderstood, rejected and even threatened with death.

In this message, Jesus earnestly seeks to save his own people through this message of good news. But they rejected him and wanted to kill him. They obviously lost the chance to be blessed by Jesus.

Part 1. Jesus came to preach good news to the poor. (14-21)

Look at verses 14-15, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.” Jesus had just been on the defensive, fighting the temptations of the devil in the desert after fasting for forty days. The temptations of the devil were great, but Jesus overcame them with the words of God, “It is written…it is written…it is written.” After he battled with the devil and won, Jesus was probably exhausted in his body for not haven eaten for forty days, not even having a gummy bear or a Slurpee to keep him going. However, verse 14 says that he returned in the power of the Spirit. When Jesus fought temptation with the word of God and resisted, the Spirit of God made him stronger.

The words, “The power of the Spirit” , show us that Jesus was fully equipped from God the Father, with all authority and strength to do the work of the Messiah. Jesus was now ready to go on the offensive and put into practice the method he used to overcome the devil by equipping the people with God’s word. Only God’s word is the source of power and strength. When we rely on God’s word, then God will give us the power of the Spirit to do his work which is a spiritual work, instead of relying on our weak flesh which will certainly fail. As he went and taught in the synagogues, everyone who heard him praised him, “Man, can this guy really makes sense!! His words are awesome!!”

Look at verse 16, “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.” Jesus visited his home town in order to bless his own people. The people of Nazareth were ordinary people, working hard to make a living and to survive. Nazareth had little reputation for being anything but ordinary and it was even despised by some people. Jesus’ going to Nazareth shows that he not only wanted to bless his own people, it also shows that he was humble because he did not ignore the common people, even from the start.

Jesus’ sole purpose to go to Nazareth was to teach the word of God instead of doing miracles. Why? Because Jesus believed in the Bible. This is why he used the Bible to defeat the devil. This is why he taught the Bible and this is why he fulfilled the Bible. The Bible is the unchanging word of God for all generations. It is the number one best seller in history. Even the Harry Potter books will never outsell the Bible. The Bible is the best seller because it is God’s love letter to us and it touches our hearts like no other book and it brings us into a personal encounter with God, right in these pages. Whenever the Bible is read and taught and obeyed, there is a great revival in the hearts of those who read it and accept it. Example of Martin Luther.

When Jesus taught the Bible he believed that it would make the people wise for salvation. He believed that it would lead them to repentance and faith.  He especially believed they would see him and accept him as the Messiah when they heard from the Scriptures about what was written about him.  So in verse 17, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. And he took it and unrolled it to Isaiah chapter 61. Out of all the books in the Scriptures, why did Jesus take the scroll of Isaiah to read? It is because it contains more prophecies about the Messiah than any other book in the Bible. Why did he turn to Isaiah chapter 61? It is because it tells specifically about what work he will do as the Messiah. So Jesus’ preaching and teaching were not randomly chosen.

Now let us look at this Scripture verse a little more carefully and see what Jesus purposely turned to in order to show his hometown people who he really was.  Look at verse 18a, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor…” Who are the poor here that Jesus will speak to? They are the poor in spirit and not necessarily those who do not have much income.  The poor in spirit are those who know that they need God. They are the ones who are truly humble and spiritually desperate. They are like the tax collector Jesus mentioned in Luke 18 who would not look up to heaven but beat his breast and said, “God have mercy on me, a sinner.” They are the ones who can inherit God’s eternal kingdom.

Jesus came to bring these to the kingdom of God with him. If we are proud and stubborn and only seek God in emergency situations, then we are not poor in spirit. Instead we need to learn from Jesus and what the Bible says acknowledging that God’s way is right. We will see as we study the gospel of Luke over the next few months that those who were poor in spirit were the tax collectors, prostitutes, the crippled and the lame and Jesus’ disciples themselves. They knew they were sinners and they wanted Jesus’ help. They knew that only Jesus could make their lives rich, that is spiritually rich, and meaningful. But the religious leaders, the Pharisees and teacher’s of the law who should have been poor in spirit because they had the Bible, were the most proud and self-righteous and arrogant people.   

This verse that he chose from Isaiah specifically depicts what he will do as the Messiah. This good news is for all the people of all generations, regardless of human circumstances. Our good news is relative. If the Terps win and beat Duke in basketball, it is good news, but if they lose it is bad news for us. Some people’s good news is other people’s bad news and other people’s bad news is someone else’s good news. Sometimes people will come up to us and tell us, “I have good news and bad news for you, which do you want to hear first?” I usually say, “Give me the bad news first. I want to save the good news for last.”   It is good news that Steve received his Phd after many years. But if you ask him he will tell you that the real good news is Jesus Christ himself. Our lives will be full of good news and bad news. If we want good news that does not change that always gives us hope, and who does not, then we need to know Jesus and what he came to do.

Look what other things Isaiah describes about the Messiah. Let’s read verse 18b, “…He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.” Here we see that Jesus will give freedom from sin to men. What are people’s idea of freedom? Freedom for some is when they turn 18 years old. They can legally leave their parent’s home and really run their own life. For some, freedom is to get their driver’s license. This is all good freedom because it teaches us personal responsibility and maturity as young men and women. Freedom is the greatest gift that God gave man. Our country, the USA is known for being “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” The words “land of the free” are very enticing words and also very important words with much meaning. We have freedom to run our own government, to make our own laws and to worship God as we want. We realize as a country that the freedom we have has been given to us by God.

But how we use our God given freedom is important. How we chose to use this freedom is important. Man from the start did not use this freedom wisely. Instead of freely following God and accepting his sovereignty in the Garden of Eden, men chose to rebel against God and listen to the devil’s tempting words (Gen.3) “It is OK to eat from that tree, because God knows you will be like him. God wants you to be like him.” When this happened, man did not become like God with knowledge and wisdom, instead man lost real freedom and became a slave to sin, a slave to the devil and a slave to the fear of death. A good example is the prodigal son described in Luke chapter 15. He didn’t realize the freedom he had living in his father’s house. He only thought that he was being restricted. He wanted freedom from his father. So he went and asked for his share of the estate, “Dad, I want my share of the estate right now! I can’t wait until you die. I want it right now!” So his father gave it to him. Then he left his father and went and spent all his money in wild living throwing parties everyday and every night.  Then he went completely bankrupt. He had  nothing and he hired himself out and the only job he could get was to feed pigs. He then realized that the pigs were eating better than him and doing better than him. He came to his senses and repented and went back to his father who graciously accepted him. So you can see his  freedom did not turn out to be the freedom that he expected. Instead he became desperate and miserable. He became a prisoner to his situation. He thought he would free, but instead he became a prisoner! How ironic.  Without Jesus there is no real freedom. Without Jesus we struggle to find the meaning of life. We only become more thirsty and empty and restless. Then we become a prisoner to despair and fatalism. Jesus’ coming into this world is the real freedom that men need. Through his life on earth, Jesus defeated the devil and completed the work of God. On the cross, Jesus said “It is finished.” Jesus was nailed to the cross and bore all our sins and shed his blood. He died on the cross to free men from the power of sin. He rose from the dead to free men from the fear of death.

While we may confess that Jesus is our Christ, we must now confess that Jesus is our Lord and let him rule our hearts, thoughts and actions. Truly following Jesus means our actions match our words. Our freedom in Christ is truly experienced when we hold to the teachings of Jesus as evidenced by our lifestyle. Jesus said in John 8:32, “If you hold to my teachings you are truly my disciples, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Look again at verse 18b. Jesus. According to this verse from Isaiah, will give recovery of sight for the blind. This is one great miracle that the Messiah will do to prove he is the Messiah. No one can open the eyes of the blind. In John chapter 9 Jesus opened the yes of a blind man. This blind man, who could now see, witnessed this powerful miracle by telling the Pharisees who were trying to deny the whole thing, “Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” How true were his words!! What a great miracle. But this miracle has a spiritual meaning besides the physical healing. This Scripture points to Jesus opening our spiritual eyes to recognize and accept that he is the Son of God. In John 6:68-69 Peter confessed, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” Wow!! What a great confession from a smelly fisherman with a 5^th grade education!!! Even the religious leaders because they were blinded by their unbelief and spiritual pride could not make such a confession. But Peter did because Jesus had opened his eyes to see. Later, Jesus opened Peter’s eyes to see the kingdom of God as all believers inheritance.

Jesus opens our spiritual eyes to see that he is the Son of God, God in the flesh. He opens our eyes to see the kingdom of God as our great riches and inheritance. He opens our eyes to know where we are going. He said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Those who came to believe in Jesus when they were much older, confessed that they had wasted much of their lives when they did not believe. They confessed that they had been blinded by their desires for money, recognition and glory. Satan blinds our eyes to see Jesus when we look to other things than Jesus. But Jesus truly opens our blind eyes to see. (Jn.9:25)

Look again at verse 18b. Jesus also came to release the oppressed. The oppressed are those who have been abused by something or someone. This gives us a picture of the Israelites who were living in oppression under Assyrian and later Babylonian rule. Spiritually speaking, the oppressed are those who are hurt and wounded from their lives of sin. They are overcome by fear and captives of the devil (2 Tim.2:25-26). Look now at verse 19. It says, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” The year of the Lord’s favor means salvation!! It is the year of the Jubilee that God told his people to celebrate every 50 years. It was time to proclaim liberty in the land. It was the time to cancel all debts, and free those who were slaves. (Lev.25:8-55) This looks forward to Jesus who came to redeem us, free us, forgive us and reconcile us back to God. The year of the Lord’s favor is the time of grace for the human race. No one deserves this favor (sins forgiven) but the grace of God through Jesus is so powerful and great. Let’s welcome Jesus as our good news, as the one who frees us, helps us to see and who releases us from all our burdens and from the hand of Satan.

Part 2. Jesus and his words were rejected. (20-30)

After Jesus spoke these living words from the prophet Isaiah that described just what his ministry would be, he sat down and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. Then Jesus said a very bold statement to add the icing on the cake. Look what he said in verse 21, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Why was this such a bold statement? Because Isaiah the prophet lived over 600 years before Jesus. And because Jesus, who looked like an ordinary man, claimed that he was that person, the Messiah whom Isaiah wrote about. When Jesus said this statement, he really wanted everyone to say, “Amen! Yes, Amen. We believe. We believe! “ But we see they did not react that way. Look at verse 22, “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips, ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son? They asked.’” The people liked what he said; that is it sounded good and eloquent. But instead of taking the words that Jesus spoke to heart and into their hearts as God’s word (From Isaiah’s prophecy) they began to scratch their heads and say, “Now wait a minute, who does he think he is? This is Joseph the carpenter’s kid, isn’t it?” Some said, “My son was on his soccer team when he was 11 years old. He was the goalie” Another said, “Yeah, he was a nice quiet kid. But look at him now, he is poor like us!”

The people of Nazareth could not accept Jesus for who he was and for what he said because they looked at him from a physical point of view. This is where many people stumble and do not see Jesus. The Jews of Jesus’ time were looking for a Messiah that would come on a white charger horse and rescue them from Rome. They wanted to see some amazing signs in the sky and have great miracles performed like Moses did. Jesus looked too ordinary to be the Messiah. These people were spiritually blind. What did Jesus say to them? Let’s read verse 23, “Jesus said to them, ‘Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.” Jesus knew that they wanted to see just a miracle. They wanted to see the miracles that they heard him do in other places. They did not really want to believe in their hearts that this person sitting right in front of them in the synagogue was the Son of God. Jesus knew that he would be rejected in his own home town, which is tragic for anyone, especially for the Son of God (24).

But Jesus did not give up hope for these people. So in verses 25-27 he gave two examples right from the Bible of those who heard from God’s servants and their words and believed and were blessed. These people were actually Gentiles and not Jews. Let’s read verses 25-27, “I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and ahalf years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarepheth in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed---only Naaman the Syrian.” In those times there were many Israelites who were suffering from a famine because of the sins of the nation that God had warned. And there were many who suffered from leprosy because of their sins. They had the great chance to call on the name of the Lord and repent, but they were quiet and unrepentant. But these two Gentiles mentioned, had faith to believe and then to obey. This is why God sent his prophets to them.

These two were poor in spirit. Salvation would come to them. It was most unlikely that God’s salvation would come to the Gentiles. But we see God shows no prejudice. Salvation is open to anyone who receives the Lord’s words and the Lord Jesus himself. How did the people react to Jesus’ words? Look at verses 28-29. They were shocked and insulted. Their pride was hurt and they still refused to repent. They rejected Jesus and even wanted to kill him. So began the sufferings of Jesus which would not end until his crucifixion on the cross. Verse 3o shows that Jesus left him because they did not want him. They could not kill him because his time had not yet come.

Jesus came to save us. He is the promised Messiah mentioned in Isaiah. He came for the poor in spirit, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed. This is especially true today. God works in the humble and the contrite. Let us welcome Jesus by what we have read and heard in the Scripture. Let us thank God deeply from our hearts for Jesus who came to bring the time of God’s favor on us.