Preaching the Word, the Word Preached

A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on September 15, 2024

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 all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “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 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. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:14–21).[1]

After Jesus returned with his family to Nazareth, we know little of his life other than Luke’s summary that Jesus “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). This changed with Jesus’ baptism, that specific moment in time when the visible and verbal manifestation of our triune God revealed the true identity of Jesus. He who was conceived by the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb was divinely declared the Son of God by God the Father as the Holy Spirit descended upon him revealing him to be the anointed One, the promised Messiah of Israel.

From his baptismal ordination, the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness, where he fasted for forty days and was tempted by the devil, that he might “sympathize with our weaknesses…tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). But Jesus was not only tempted and tried but endured and succeeded. Led and empowered by the Spirit, he defeated the temptation of Satan and survived the trial by turning to and quoting from the written Word of God, proving that indeed “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). There were no scrolls to read in the barren wilderness—The Son of God knew the Word of God! Perhaps all those quiet years in Nazareth were filled with meditating upon the Scriptures.

Proceeding from the wilderness to the north of Israel, known as Galilee because of its proximity to the Sea of Galilee, Jesus began to teach in the synagogues throughout the region. Synagogues were like local churches that were built after the destruction of Jerusalem’s temple during and following the Babylonian exile. In these synagogues, every Sabbath the men of the local town would gather to pray, sing, and hear the Word of God read and taught. The teaching was done by different men, who were not ordained clergy but knowledgeable and qualified to teach. As Jesus was all of the above, as he traveled from town to town, he would be invited to teach, and as he did so “in the power of the Spirit,” he taught like no one had before. In fact, his teaching was so powerful that “a report about him went out through all the surrounding country” (14). And as he taught, he was “glorified by all” (15).

Up to this point, Jesus had worked no miracle. Up to this point, what was known about him was revealed by others and from above. And yet, when he taught the Word of God, the people “glorified” him, a term connoting worship. This is an important distinction, especially in an age fixated on the experiential. Jesus first revealed himself as the Son of God and promised Messiah through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God.

Preaching Scripture

Preaching close to home, as we might expect, Jesus returns to Nazareth. We might assume he enjoyed a family reunion, but we are told nothing except his Sabbath day worship. Luke reveals that it was Jesus’ “custom” to go to synagogue. In other words, Jesus was a faithful churchgoer, a fact we may also add to what we know about his upbringing in Nazareth. But Luke’s emphasis is not on Jesus’ precedent but his preaching.

Luke tells us that Jesus “stood up to read,” an indication that he was invited to read and teach as he had in the other Galilean synagogues. For his text, he has chosen the sixth chapter of Isaiah. The scroll is handed to him, and so he reads,

            “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 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).

Jesus stops here, not completing the remaining verse from Isaiah, which reads, “and the day of vengeance of our God” (Isa. 6:2). The question is: Why did Jesus read what he read and omit what he omitted?

I want to begin with what Jesus reads and return later to what he omits. Consider the reading from Isaiah: Isaiah knows and confesses that the Holy Spirit is upon him. He knows and confesses that he has been “anointed” by the Spirit specifically to preach “good news” (18a), or gospel. To whom is he to preach? He preaches the gospel “to the poor,” “to the captives,” “to the blind,” to the “oppressed” (18b). And what is the essence of this good news for the poor, captive, blind, and oppressed? The coming of “the year of the Lord’s favor.”

In its original context, Isaiah used the expression “the year of the Lord’s favor” as a figurative reference to Israel’s Year of Jubilee, a law-prescribed national celebration every fifty years, in which slaves were freed, debts cancelled, and real estate returned (Lev. 25). It was indeed an extraordinary bi-century event, unique to Israel, and you can imagine why it would be good news to the poor, captive, blind, and oppressed. But as wonderful as it was, when celebrated, the next forty-nine years would sadly include poverty, captivity, blindness, and oppression. The Year of Jubilee in all its celebration could not overcome the depravity of sin and its consequences. 

Therefore, Isaiah’s prophecy, as Jesus reads it, should be understood as pointing beyond the Year of Jubilee to a greater Jubilee to come, a day when the poor would be rich, the captive would be free, the blind would see, and the oppressed would be liberated. And when Jesus finished reading Isaiah’s prophecy, he said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (21).

Preaching Fulfillment

Jesus reveals that Isaiah’s prophecy was yet to be fulfilled until “today.” The “year of the Lord’s favor” had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. When Jesus read Isaiah’s first-person declaration, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me” (18), he claimed it as his own. He upon whom the Holy Spirit descended, anointing him for his ministry, reveals that he is the anointed one who has come “to proclaim the good news to the poor,” “to proclaim liberty to the captives,” “sight to the blind,” “to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (18). The problem is the people of Jesus’ day, like many today, anticipated that the anointed one would usher in an immediate earthly fulfillment, a Jubilee of temporal fulfillment not eternal.

What then does Jesus mean when he says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (21). First, Jesus came to make the poor rich, not by bestowing worldly wealth upon them but the riches of heaven. In our sin, we are spiritually impoverished unable to provide for ourselves or others. But the King of heaven bestows his grace upon us through faith in Christ, forgiving us of our sins, reconciling us to himself, adopting us as his own, and giving us the eternal treasures of heaven. This is good news for impoverished sinners like you and me, and yet how often do we value the wealth of this world over the riches of heaven? Where is your treasure? Here or in heaven? And “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

Second, Jesus came to set the captives free. By virtue of our sin nature we are enslaved to sin, condemned to a life of spiritual captivity, apart from God’s grace. In what sense are we set free? The word used by Luke here translated “liberty” may also be translated “forgiveness,” depending upon context. Sin is bondage, but in Christ we are set free through the forgiveness of our sins through faith in Christ. The forgiveness of our sins in Christ is the greatest liberation in the history of the world. Yet, how many of us having believed the gospel do not live in its freedom? How many of us live enslaved to habitual sins or live under the weight of the Law? The good news is that we have been freed to live in Christ, which is why Jesus would later say, “if the Son sets you free, you will be freed indeed” (John 8:36).

Third, Jesus came to give sight to the blind. Apart from God’s grace we can see neither the depravity of our sinful state nor our sinless Savior. We are spiritually blind. But when the Spirit of God opens our eyes to see our sin and gives us the faith to look to Jesus our Savior, we then can sing,

            Amazing grace (how sweet the sound)

            that saved a wretch like me!

            I once was lost, but now am found,

            was blind, but now I see.[2]

Truly our Lord Jesus is the light that “shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Fourth, Jesus came to liberate the oppressed. One commentator defines “the oppressed” as “people who are crushed in spirit and shattered by the hard experiences of life.”[3] And that’s what sin does. Promising life, it gives misery, robbing us of the glory for which we were created, crushing us under the weight of its depravity. We are fallen beings living in a world under curse, and we cannot fix it or work our way out of it. Our only hope for the oppression of sin is the good news of Jesus Christ, who in his life, death, and resurrection ushered in a Year of Jubilee that begins and never ends in Christ.

Preaching Christ

Someone may argue that I am over-spiritualizing the interpretation of this passage: Isn’t it possible that the gospel of Jesus Christ can help lift the poor out of poverty? Hasn’t the gospel led to ending slavery in many countries? Can’t the gospel lead to compassionate care of the blind and technological advancement for better sight? Doesn’t the gospel lead to alleviating oppression for many?

Yes, it can but not comprehensively. There are godly saints who are poor. Slavery still exists in third world countries and sex trafficking in the first world. Jesus healed the blind but not every blind person. And the persecuted church survives, even thrives, under the weight of oppression. But more importantly, what good does wealth, freedom, sight, and liberty do for the one who will spend eternity in hell?

To help reconcile the spiritual with the physical then, I want to return to what Jesus omitted from his reading of Isaiah. Isaiah says that he has been sent “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” and also “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isa. 61:2). Jesus read the first half of that verse, because in his first advent he could say, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (21). The Apostle John explains, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17). Salvation had come in the person of Jesus Christ in his first advent.  

But Scripture reveals that Jesus’ second advent will be distinctly different from his first, when he comes not to save the lost but to judge the living and the dead. It is imperative then that while we live in “the year of the Lord’s favor” that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and that we carry his gospel to our neighbor and the nations. For, there will come a day when God’s vengeance will be realized by all who do not believe, and on that day, there will be no favor.

For those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the spiritual and physical realities of Isaiah’s prophecy will be reconciled. In the new heavens and earth, there will be no poverty or captivity or blindness or oppression. For we will dwell with God as his people forever, and “He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:3-4). Jesus said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (21), because “all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Cor. 1:20), so let us look to him alone today, listening to his Word, and living in light of eternity.

[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).

[2] John Newton, “Amazing Grace!” Trinity Hymnal, Revised Edition (Suwanee: Great Commission Publications, 1990), 460.

[3] Philip Graham Ryken, Luke, Vol. 1 (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), 173.