In our Gospel, Jesus follows Ezra’s reading of the text aloud for the congregation. He likely asked for the scroll of Isaiah, and he went right to this passage – not an easy thing. I’m convinced Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do.
Jesus’ entire mission in a nutshell
In Luke 4, we have a concise explanation of the whole of Jesus’ Spirit-empowered mission:
- To bring good news to the poor
- To proclaim the release of captives
- To recover sight for the blind
- To let the oppressed go free
- To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
This, beloved in Christ, is our outline for being Christians; it is the very center, the very essence of who Jesus is and who we are as followers of Christ. This text, these scant 6 verses give us the plumb line for all we do — our work either syncs with Jesus’ mission, or it does not sync with Jesus’ mission.
These verses are some of the most watered-down, ignored, and glossed over verses in the entire Bible. But, we cannot ignore them! They tell us what to do in Jesus’ stead, empowered by that same Holy Spirit as internalized by Jesus.
And this text is meant to be interpreted broadly — for the poor, first to provide necessities, and then to lift them up, for the poor in spirit. Does Jesus only intend to heal those who are physically blind? No! That’s where evangelism and education come in! If we are not oppressed ourselves, then we work to turn systems of injustice upside down. Are captives defined as prisoners only? No! Jesus includes everyone bound by a situation or behavior that causes them to suffer or stumble.
Right here, we learn who Jesus is, of what his mission consists, what Jesus’ church will be, and our proper response to both Jesus and the church.
Mission catches us up in the life and vitality of God, for it is the Holy Spirit who ceaselessly draws us in love and compassion to God. Moreover, when we step away from mission, there’s a corresponding depletion in the life and vitality of the Church.
The fundamental common denominator for all of this work is the Holy Spirit.
Luke provides us with a Spirit-infused description of the 3 primary events that start Jesus’ mission: his baptism, Jesus in the wilderness as he defies Satan, and now as the Spirit empowers him as he sets his face to Nazareth for this encounter with his hometown. Jesus even tells the people that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. This announcement is our defining moment in the Spirit.
Jesus came to turn the world and its economic structures of exploitation upside down. Every single thing Jesus says could rightly be judged as radical, subversive, even treasonous.
And this is the God we worship, the one who is only predictable in the steadfastness of God’s love for us! Everything else is fair game for change.
Sometimes I think that instead of wearing straw hats to church, we should probably wear crash helmets with seatbelts in the pews -— for God has great, world-changing things in store, not for us to fear, but for us to relish — for they will be mighty. Let us work to turn the world upside down.
For Jesus came to turn the world upside down.
