Luke 4:1-21

What a moment!

Jesus did not waste words. He did not preach just because He was expected to. He wasn’t being paid by the word. He was very particular to say the right thing at the right time. When He started His ministry He turned to the portion of Scripture that defined His commission for public ministry. All these years people must have though that Isaiah was writing about himself, but no. It was Jesus.

What He did was done through the power of the Spirit. He had a five fold purpose for His public ministry:

To preach good news to the poor. The poor don’t get much good news in this world, but in God’s economy they are first in line.
To proclaim freedom for prisoners. Not all who are prisoners deserve to be, and even those who do... This is good news indeed!

To proclaim recovery of sight to the blind. Strange? He doesn’t say to heal the blind but to proclaim recovery of sight. The psalmist says, “The entrance of your Word brings light.”

To released the oppressed. What a day that will be.

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. If you read any further it goes on to say, “And the day of vengeance of our God.” That day will come but this is the year of His favor.

Then Jesus sat down and said, “What Isaiah was writing about you have just heard with your own ears because it was about Me.” What boldness! What audacity! What a moment!