The proclamation
This week's study is on Luke 4:16-21:
There is so much in these verses! Jesus went to the synagogue (church) and read the scroll of the prophet Isaiah (the Bible) and then proclaimed what it said. No fancy miracles. No "us versus the church people" narrative to read into it. No brand new revelations. Nothing but Jesus, and the truth being proclaimed.
There's a kind of self-righteous movement in parts of the modern church, where they kind of try to spin Jesus as anti-church. They paint the Pharisees as representing organized religion as a whole, and then they paint Jesus as their boy, standing in their midst in opposition to "religion" and condemning the church. "Us and Jesus versus the church. Take that, you mustached, tie-wearing freaks!" Except that's not what happened.
It said that Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. In other words, Jesus was in the habit of going to church! How could he be against "the church" and make a habit of going there? And why did Jesus need to go to church anyway? He's Jesus! But church is where people go when they want to meet God, and have the luxury of being able to do so without someone wanting to kill them for it.
This time, when the part of the liturgy happened where someone was asked to read Bible verses out loud for the congregation, Jesus stood up. Jesus was taking part in a ritual! ("OMG Jesus was part of dead church! What a pharisee!") He read some verses from Isaiah, which are awesome. Let's look at them:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor." That's true. The Spirit of the Lord was on Jesus, and he was anointed to proclaim good news to the poor. Why else is the Spirit on people? To sell books? To pack stadiums for conferences? To enroll people in courses? To rub it in other people's faces? The whole point of the Holy Spirit's power is to let people without hope see the hope provided by God.
"He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." That's true too. Jesus set free the people who were possessed by demons and captive to sin. He opened people's eyes to spiritual things, a whole dimension most people don't see, and to the reality of the grace God has offered all along. And he proclaimed the Lord's favor, like an eternal Jubilee year. All sins are forgiven. All needs are provided for. All deaths are reversible. Any problem can be fixed. He was sent to share that.
People get all upset about Bible verses sometimes. They're all like "The Bible is just a book," or "you can't worship the Bible," or "there are mistakes in there," or "it needs to be interpreted." But truth is truth. I don't care if these verses were written in the Bible or spray painted on the side of a train bridge. They're still true either way.
After Jesus reads the dusty old Bible verses that are somehow still relevant, he speaks in the present moment and says "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." That's also true! Even if he hadn't done all of the things described in those verses already, he was proclaiming them right there in the moment, alive, by reading them. He was basically saying "All of these things I have just read are true. They are happening right now. Consider yourselves informed."
I pray that the Holy Spirit would come on all of us reading this today. That we would proclaim good news to people who don't have it. That prisoners would be set free. That people would see things in ways they'd never been able to before. That we wouldn't be oppressed by spiritual and worldly things. That we would be able to point out and demonstrate the age of the Lord's favor that we are in. How can we be ambassadors of God's kingdom if we're not up to speed with what goes on there?
Read over the things that were written in Isaiah, things which Jesus himself proclaimed. Is there anyone you can think of who wouldn't benefit in any way from those things? Those verses are happening right now, even while you read this. Consider yourselves informed.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
There is so much in these verses! Jesus went to the synagogue (church) and read the scroll of the prophet Isaiah (the Bible) and then proclaimed what it said. No fancy miracles. No "us versus the church people" narrative to read into it. No brand new revelations. Nothing but Jesus, and the truth being proclaimed.
There's a kind of self-righteous movement in parts of the modern church, where they kind of try to spin Jesus as anti-church. They paint the Pharisees as representing organized religion as a whole, and then they paint Jesus as their boy, standing in their midst in opposition to "religion" and condemning the church. "Us and Jesus versus the church. Take that, you mustached, tie-wearing freaks!" Except that's not what happened.
It said that Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. In other words, Jesus was in the habit of going to church! How could he be against "the church" and make a habit of going there? And why did Jesus need to go to church anyway? He's Jesus! But church is where people go when they want to meet God, and have the luxury of being able to do so without someone wanting to kill them for it.
This time, when the part of the liturgy happened where someone was asked to read Bible verses out loud for the congregation, Jesus stood up. Jesus was taking part in a ritual! ("OMG Jesus was part of dead church! What a pharisee!") He read some verses from Isaiah, which are awesome. Let's look at them:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor." That's true. The Spirit of the Lord was on Jesus, and he was anointed to proclaim good news to the poor. Why else is the Spirit on people? To sell books? To pack stadiums for conferences? To enroll people in courses? To rub it in other people's faces? The whole point of the Holy Spirit's power is to let people without hope see the hope provided by God.
"He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." That's true too. Jesus set free the people who were possessed by demons and captive to sin. He opened people's eyes to spiritual things, a whole dimension most people don't see, and to the reality of the grace God has offered all along. And he proclaimed the Lord's favor, like an eternal Jubilee year. All sins are forgiven. All needs are provided for. All deaths are reversible. Any problem can be fixed. He was sent to share that.
People get all upset about Bible verses sometimes. They're all like "The Bible is just a book," or "you can't worship the Bible," or "there are mistakes in there," or "it needs to be interpreted." But truth is truth. I don't care if these verses were written in the Bible or spray painted on the side of a train bridge. They're still true either way.
After Jesus reads the dusty old Bible verses that are somehow still relevant, he speaks in the present moment and says "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." That's also true! Even if he hadn't done all of the things described in those verses already, he was proclaiming them right there in the moment, alive, by reading them. He was basically saying "All of these things I have just read are true. They are happening right now. Consider yourselves informed."
I pray that the Holy Spirit would come on all of us reading this today. That we would proclaim good news to people who don't have it. That prisoners would be set free. That people would see things in ways they'd never been able to before. That we wouldn't be oppressed by spiritual and worldly things. That we would be able to point out and demonstrate the age of the Lord's favor that we are in. How can we be ambassadors of God's kingdom if we're not up to speed with what goes on there?
Read over the things that were written in Isaiah, things which Jesus himself proclaimed. Is there anyone you can think of who wouldn't benefit in any way from those things? Those verses are happening right now, even while you read this. Consider yourselves informed.
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