Jesus stated His agenda by reading from the scroll “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, 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.” (Luke 4: 18-19; compare with Isaiah 61:1-2).
We have been following the focus “Arise Shine” anchored in Isaiah 60:1&2. It is worth reading the whole chapter to understand the various ways the shining manifests and its ultimate aim in vs 21b “Also your people shall all be righteous; They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My hands, That I may be glorified.”
Scripture has been consistently been fulfilled, even when experts of the time have been split on how this has happened. One of those fulfilments that have been contested is Jesus being the Messiah; at the time he lived on earth as a human being, the experts of the law largely did not recognize Him, except a few who were humble enough to re-examine the scriptures and correlate them with what Jesus said and did as He walked on earth.
It will not be new when experts of our time get split on how scripture unfolds in our time. It just calls for dedication at re-examining them, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and being humble to yield to his leading as and when God confirms His word to us.
Having been asked to take part in the ongoing service, Jesus is asked to take a reading from what we now know as the Old Testament, which was the written word of God then. Given the context, He chose which scripture to read, and He chose Isaiah 61: 1,2, the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah.
After a pause He rises and declares “… today as you listen, this scripture has been fulfilled.” He not only confirms the arrival of the Messiah in their midst but sets out the agenda of the Messiah, both Spiritual and Physical. Luke, subsequently narrates how the two-fold agenda happened throughout Jesus’ ministry, modeling the patterns and practices for the Disciples.
To:
- Proclaim good news to the poor
- Heal the brokenhearted
- Proclaim liberty to the captives
- Proclaim recovery of sight to the blind
- Set at liberty those who are oppressed
Proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (a reference to the Old Testament concept of the jubilee year in Leviticus 25:8-19) the year of the Lord’s favor brings relief from systemic distress and corrects what has gone wrong for whatever reason.
When the Lord is in charge salvation is guaranteed, righteousness and justice are the order of the day.(Psalms 72[David’s prayer], Isaiah 11:4-9[they will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea], Jeremiah 23:5-6[The Lord our righteous saviour], Luke 1:32-33[His kingdom will never end] and 19:12-27, Matthew 5:18) in the time of the reign of the Messiah….
The Gospel of Luke gives us a beautiful portrait of our compassionate saviour. Jesus was not “turned off” by the poor and needy; in fact, they were a primary focus of His ministry. Israel at the time of Jesus was a very class-conscious society.
The weak and downtrodden were literally powerless to improve their lot in life and were especially open to the message that “the kingdom of God is near you” (Luke 10:9). This is a message we must carry to those around us who desperately need to hear it.
In the next season our will focus (resources, prayer, attention, planning) will be:
- Churching, at least 100,000 unchurched people in Uganda per year.
- Turning, at least 1,000 churched people into disciplers per year. (in this context, discipleship will mean a process that produces people who fit the description of Isaiah 61:3&4) using the available discipleship materials for the various needs like women, men, business, transformers etc.
- Turning the churches under the Team oversight into locations of community transformation centres (creating alternative systems, alternative economies and acts of preservation) build Goshens, create space for Josephs of this generation to arise, service the upper rooms.