This is the context: At this point in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is “fresh off” his “baptism in the Jordan River” and his “40 day temptation” in the wilderness.
He “returns” from these experiences to Galilee. He “begins” by “stopping at various synagogues,” teaching as he goes from place to place. His teaching is “pretty awesome,” as we’re told in the text that he was “being glorified by all.” Needless to say, “word is spreading” “about Jesus, and his teachings.”
At this point in his preaching, Jesus stops in Nazareth. It’s the Sabbath Day, and Jesus does what any Jew desiring to fulfill the 3rd Commandment would be doing, he goes to the Synagogue for the Sabbath Day service. One of the customs of the day was for an established Rabbi to read from a scroll, which would have contained the “appointed reading” for the day.
Jesus reads:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
This text is a prophecy for the people of Israel about the coming of the promised Messiah.
If there “was a people” needing to be reassured “of what God was doing for them,” it was the Israelites. They were being “warned” that if they did not repent of their sin and turn to God in repentance and faith, they would be taken off into captivity, again!
It’s a message of hope for “the remnant” that remained faithful to God and his word. It told them what the Messiah “was going to do” for them.
The “good news” the Messiah would bring is that – he had come “to set them free” – free from all that “troubled them” in this life by bringing “forgiveness of sins,” “eternal life, and salvation.”
To those who were “held captive in sin,” the Messiah would set them free from “that prison.”
For those who were blinded by the things of the world, the Messiah would restore their sight to the things of God. To those who were “oppressed by the wages of sin,” the Messiah would indeed set them free.
So this is the text that Jesus reads to the people assembled in the Synagogue that day.
He hands the scroll back to the attendant, and sits down.
His “reputation as a teacher” has already preceded him, it was being said that he was being praised by “everyone.” No doubt, word had gotten back to Nazareth about Jesus. People were probably wondering: what would he have to say to us? What kind of amazing thing will he do here? This is going to be good! The suspense is killing us, already!
And what does Jesus say? “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Essentially, what Jesus is saying to those people in the synagogue at Nazareth that day is this: “I am that Messiah that you have been hearing about, praying for and waiting for.
I am the one who has the Spirit of the Lord upon me.
That’s the Good News that I have for you today!”
“Epiphany is the season of the church year” where we see through the Gospel readings Jesus “reveal to the people of his day, and to you and me,” who he is and what he came into this world to do.
Think back to the Gospel readings we have heard from the last two Sundays.
Two weeks ago, our Gospel reading had us at the banks of the Jordan River, where Jesus is baptized by John the Baptizer.
We heard “the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on (Jesus) in bodily form like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.’
Then, last Sunday, our Gospel reading took us to a wedding in Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine, showing his power over creation, giving us “a visual clue” that he is indeed someone special.
There are a lot of hurting people in our world today who need what Jesus has to offer.
Some people have been “used and abused” by others, and left alone, wondering if anyone could love them. We have the privilege of telling them about someone who loves them so much, that he gave his life for them so they could be with him forever!
To those who are “mourning the death of a loved one,” we have the promise of eternal life, for those who believe in Jesus as their savior, they will see their loved ones again in a place where there is “no suffering, grief, or death!”
For those who are “afflicted by sickness or injury,” we have the good news to them that Jesus is the “ultimate physician of body and soul.”
While he may not grant healing in this life, he will one day release us from this world of sickness, pain, and injury, to an eternity with his Father, where those things will never afflict us again! That’s some pretty good news!
That’s what Jesus is talking about in our text when he says that, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
When we hear this word, when we take it to heart we realize quickly – that he really came here to do these things for us! It is “good news, indeed!”
Amen.