God Was In Christ: An Advent Reading Of Luke 4

 Day 4 Luke Chapter 4

 The manuscript of the prophet Isaiah is one of my favorite Old Testament books. Much of it is dedicated to the coming Messiah, who will redeem God’s people. Chapter 61 begins with the Exaltation of the Afflicted. Jesus, the Word, appears in the synagogue at Nazareth to read this passage from Isaiah.   

This was not a coincidence for this particular passage to be the reading of the day. The synagogue tradition 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 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 of Nazareth (1977)

Jesus came in the Spirit of the Lord. All the grace and giftings of the Holy Spirit were bestowed on Him in full (Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary). Prophets before Jesus had the Holy Spirit in measure and for appointed times and events. 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 when the conditions are right for accomplishing 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, king, deliverer, Savior, and healer. After proclaiming that He, the Messiah, had arrived to set free the captives, He immediately cast 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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