Day 4 Luke Chapter 4
This
was not a coincidence for this particular passage to be the reading of the day.
The tradition of the synagogue was to have seven readers each sabbath to read
portions of the Scripture. The first orator was the priest, the second a
Levite and the following five were Israelites from the congregation. Though
many times in Scripture we read of Jesus visiting synagogues, the one in
Nazareth was the first one to mention that He taught there, hence, this was the
passage to be read that day, and the lot fell to Him.
He
reads this Messianic passage from the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah the
prophet:
“The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of
sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the
favorable year of the Lord… today this Scripture has been fulfilled in
your hearing” (Lk. 4 18-19,20).
Jesus came in the Spirit of the Lord. All the grace and giftings of the Holy Spirit were bestowed on Him in full. Prophets before Jesus had the Holy Spirit in measure and for appointed times and events. Jesus had Him the Spirit in full. Jesus was commissioned by the Spirit of the Lord to preach this Word in what seems to be the Chronos—the liturgy of the regular sabbath reading—but this was a Kairos moment; the right time for Christ to appear. The New Testament Greek Lexicon defines Kairos as a fixed and definite time; a time when the conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action; the decisive epoch waited for.
“But when the fullness of time had come,
God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the
law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might
receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4: 4-5 ESV
emphasis mine).
Jesus
came to set the captives free. He is our priest, prophet, and king. He is our
deliverer, Savior, healer. After proclaiming that He, the Messiah had arrived
to set free the captives, He immediately casts out demons and healed the
sick—setting the captives free. Though the people of the synagogue attempted to
stone Him, He went about doing what He proclaimed He was here for.
He
came to let the world know that the Holy God whom we have offended is willing
to be reconciled to us. He came to proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord; today, now—is the day of salvation.
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