January 24-Epiphany 3-St. Luke 4:14-21

‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.

‘Grace, mercy and peace will be with you, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 3) Amen.

‘And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.’ (V. 17)

Does this sound at all familiar?

It should. Think about it. What happens every Christmas Day service? Or every Ash Wednesday or every Good Friday or every Easter? Do we hear the same Gospel lessons each year? Well, yes. As you know probably better than I do, when Easter comes, you will hear about the Resurrection of our Lord. When we came up to Christmas Day, if we had had that service, we all would have heard a reading from the Gospel of Luke. It would have been the same one as last year, and the year before and the year before.

So, what is happening here? Jesus showed up in Nazareth on a specific day in the church calendar for the Jewish people. He knew what would be the reading for that Sabbath. Now, often when we hear such things as this, we are tempted to give it some supernatural reason for this particular passage from the prophet to be given to Jesus to read.

Remember though, the Jews had a set series of readings from God’s Word given to them to read from each Sabbath service. Just as with us, we have an idea of what we will hear when we go to church and that Sunday’s readings are given. There is a set group of Gospel lessons that tend to come up each year during the season of Epiphany. The Jews had certain texts that would be expected each Sunday.

There may have been something of the divine power of Jesus in action here. It is just as likely that because Jesus, in His human-ness, like us heard the same readings each church service knew what He would be given to read that day. So, Jesus chose that day to announce His ministry in His hometown.

Jesus reads the appointed lesson for the day and then He sat down in order to teach the assembled people. Now, Jesus was a visiting Rabbi, a famous one at that, He probably brought in a larger crowd of believers and unbelievers than the regular Rabbi would have. It was the custom when a Rabbi visited a congregation; it was expected for Him to teach. As Luke said, it was Jesus habit to go and teach in the Synagogue on the Sabbath. If He did not want to teach, Jesus would not have shown up.

Yet, as has always been the case in the true Church through all ages, Jesus teaches us by His attendance at services, that this is where the gifts of God are given out. This is where you and I need to be in order to receive the blessing of God and know that we will receive it. Our Savior is free to bless His children in the places of His choosing. However, we are bound to the services of the church because that is where our Savior tells us in His word that His gifts are given out in Word and Sacrament. So, Jesus goes with everyone else to the place these gifts are given out.

‘And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.’ (Vv. 14-15)

Even before this appearance of Jesus in the Nazareth synagogue, however, Jesus is already famous. He returned after His baptism and temptation filled with the Holy Spirit. And it is true of Jesus what He reads from the prophet Isaiah: ‘“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.’ (V. 18; Is. 61:1)

Just as in a different manner, the same Spirit is upon you as one of the Father’s baptized children. So in those few words, Luke establishes the pattern for Jesus’ ministry. He traveled first around the region of Galilee filled with the Holy Spirit and preaching. Jesus became increasingly famous and He used the synagogues as a means to teach the people. In this preaching the power of the Holy Spirit was in Christ like He still is in you and me. That power is described by Luke as like dynamite. We all have an idea of that. We have either seen its use in removing massive boulders or heard about it in the work of mining and road construction.

The power of the Holy Spirit in the work of Christ must have been an incredible thing to behold!

Yet, remember that there is a bit more of Isaiah in what I earlier quoted. After all, Jesus reads ‘“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.’ (V. 18; Is. 61:1) The Gospel is foremost for this group. The Gospel of the Good News of salvation is for the poor. As Matthew tells us in his account of the Sermon on the Mount, ‘blessed are the poor in spirit’ (St. Mt. 5:1-12).

It is these poor that Jesus is also speaking about. These may be poor in worldly wealth, but that is not what the prophet or Jesus is primarily concerned about. The ‘poor in spirit’ could just as easily be blessed with very great material wealth. The poor of Isaiah’s prophecy here are those who recognize their own sinfulness and need for a Savior. Considering you are all here on a Sunday morning and not sleeping in or preparing for the Viking’s game later today, you are the one’s that our Old Testament lesson and Jesus speak of.

‘He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.’ (Vv. 18-20)

Jesus gives at the end of our lesson the stunning proclamation, ‘“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”’ (V. 21) Because now in this latter half of the reading from Isaiah, we hear of the mission that Jesus is now working on. That mission, in the work of the church, continues even into today. We are still, as the body of Christ, embarked on this same task. Liberty is being proclaimed to the captives. The prophet here speaks about our spiritual state. We are being told that release out of the bondage of our sins is yours in Christ. Yet, the language that the prophet Isaiah uses here is the language of war.

Jesus is telling us that He is a herald like the patriarch Noah was before the flood (cf. 2 Peter 2:5). Jesus is now God’s Apostle to you and me and all men (cf. St. Jn. 17:3). So, now, just as with Noah, who preached a release from the sure and certain washing away of unrepentant sinners in the coming flood Jesus now proclaims to you and me our release from captivity. In other words, Jesus is telling us in the words of the prophet that prisoners of war will be released. As we pray for the release of the current POW, Bowe Burgdahl each Sunday, so you have already been released from POW status as a captive of the devil.

You have been released by the power of the Holy Spirit who created and still sustains faith in your heart. You have been released from bondage.

Finally, Jesus reads ‘to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”’ (V. 19) Isaiah is telling us about those who are oppressed or bruised. Such as these are ones that have been broken into pieces. This is in both body and heart. We all know someone who has experienced such points in life as this. You may be now or earlier in your lives experienced this yourself. This is part of Jesus mission here on this sin-ravaged planet. He came to bind up the broken hearted. Jesus came to mend those of us whose hearts have become like broken pieces of pottery[1].

‘Oh, make Thy Church, dear Savior,
A lamp of burnished gold
To bear before the nations
Thy true light as of old!
Oh, teach Thy wandering pilgrims
By this their path to trace
Till, clouds and darkness ended,
They see Thee face to face!’ (TLH 294:4)

Through the love of God in Christ, you have been set free from this. You have been healed, the love of God, the truth of God, has truly set you free (cf. St. Jn. 8:32).

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.

[1] Word Pictures in the New Testament, Robertson, vol. II pp. 55-57.