Releasing the Captives

¹⁶When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing

On a Saturday morning, in Nazareth, the town gathered in the synagogue to listen to Jesus read and teach. It was no big surprise. He was well known in the area; it was his hometown. He was raised there. They wanted to learn from him. So when he read from the Isaiah scroll, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor” everyone understood these words to be the words of Isaiah. It is how that prophet from long ago defined his ministry.

When Jesus finished that reading he handed the scroll to the attendant and sat down. Today preachers stand in a pulpit. In that day you sat in a particular seat called the “Moses Seat” to teach to the people. So all eyes were on Jesus, waiting for him to begin his teaching. What would he say about this great prophet Isaiah? Would he emphasize the bad news? That Israel had sinned and were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Or would he emphasis the good news? That one day God would restore his people and bring them back from captivity. At different times in his ministry Isaiah had hit hard with each of these messages. “Which would Jesus remember this day?” they wondered.

But Jesus surprised his neighbors. Instead of reminding them how their ancient ancestors had sinned and faced the repercussions of that sin. Instead of reminding them of good news of what God had done to help, redeem and restore them after their downfall, he shocked them all by telling them about himself.

“The Spirit is upon me,” he said quoting Isaiah, “because he has anointed me

to let the oppressed go free…” Then sitting down in front of them he told not only that that this scripture was about him, Jesus, but that it was fulfilled in him. Jesus implied that he was THE ONE about whom it was first spoken.

And sure enough, Jesus went on to heal the blind, to bring good news and hope to the poor and to deliver all humanity from their captivity in sin.

Needless to say, for people who felt that these were the words of one of their greatest spiritual fathers, one of the great prophets of their faith and history, and who recognized Jesus as a carpenter, Joseph’s son, the grown up version of the kid that kicked around at their feet more than twenty years before, this was just short of blasphemy.

If you read to the end of chapter four, of which we just read only a few verses, you’ll remember that the people that heard these words come from Jesus’ lips, grew angry, grew violent and chased him out of their sanctuary. They drove him out of their town and were ready to stone him![2] They weren’t ready to accept what he said.

Now more than two millennia later, are we ready to accept what he said? Do we even believe its true? Was he truly the fulfillment of those verses? Did he deliver the captives? Did he give sight to the blind? Did he provide good news to the poor? Aren’t there still blind and poor folk all around us even today? How could what he have said been a fulfillment of that scripture?

Jesus was the fulfillment of those passages. Like nobody before him in history and nobody since, Jesus brought good news, not only to the poor but to all humanity. Good news about eternal life, about a loving Creator God in heaven, about a God who’s grace and mercy know no bounds.

Jesus brought not only sight to the blind and deliverance to captives and guidance through the miracles he performed in his day but also lifted the darkness of sin which obscures and darkens the sight of all fallible imperfect and lost mortals on earth event to this day. He proclaims and offers deliverance to all persons even today laid captive and in chains to sin and suffering and evil.

But he also provided something else far more lasting and valuable than a few miracles performed 2000 years ago. He provided us.

Jesus also gave one more gracious and amazing gift to us and to the entire world. One which comes not after death and after our life here on earth is done, but as we live out our days. And that gift is purpose, vision, direction and life, saying to his disciples and through them to us, “love one another as I have loved you,” “feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give water to the thirsty,” “love your neighbor as yourself” and “take up your cross and follow me, sacrifice like me for those whom God loves and make a difference like me”

Jesus’ last gift to the world was to commission us and all who would be his followers to continue his mission in the world.

Even as we fulfill that mission and live out our own particular purpose, endowing our lives with meaning, dignity and a reason for being, we are fulfilling those words Jesus quoted so long ago from Isaiah.

Yes the world is still full of blindness, ignorance, poverty, evil, sin and captivity. But Jesus devoted himself to alleviating that sin and that horror and he commanded his followers to do as he did.

We who follow Christ, his teachings, his calling and his Way are more than just folks who respect what Jesus stood for, we are his body in the world.

The church is the body of Christ. We are the branches of Christ’s vine. We are called to fulfill his purpose and his mission to all the world.

The story is told of a Franciscan monk in Australia who was assigned to be the guide and personal assistant to Mother Teresa when she visited. Thrilled and excited at the prospect of being so close to this great woman, he dreamed of how much he would learn from her and what they would talk about. But during her visit, he became frustrated. Although he was constantly near her, the friar never had the opportunity to say one word to Mother Teresa. There were always other people for her to meet.

Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to New Guinea. In desperation, the Franciscan friar spoke to Mother Teresa: If I pay my own fare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk to you and learn from you? Mother Teresa looked at him. You have enough money to pay airfare to New Guinea? she asked.

Yes, he replied eagerly. “Then give that money to the poor,” she said. “You'll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.” Mother Teresa understood that Jesus’ ministry was to the poor and she made it hers as well. She knew that they more than anyone else needed good news.

She accepted Christ’s mission and commanded those who wished to be with her as she followed Christ to do as he did, to do as he did.

No greater image of oppression and captivity exist today than that of World War II's Nazi concentration camps. Elie Wiesel, a teenager then, witnessed the death of many family members. He recalls the day when he, as well as the other prisoners, were finally liberated from Auschwitz by the allies. On that day powerful, strong soldiers broke down the fences of the concentration camp to release the prisoners. Frail, feeble, gaunt, and near death they were terrible victims of a horrible criminal evil.

In spite of his condition Wiesel remembers one solider, a strong black man who upon seeing the horror of human suffering was overcome with grief. He fell to his knees sobbing in a mix of disbelief and sorrow. The captives, now liberated, walked over to the soldier, put their arms around him, and offered comfort to him.[3]

The victims who had just been saved turned to comfort their liberator, moments ago a strong valiant hero, reduced to tears. At any moment, we who have been saved might be called upon to comfort and give hope to one another or to a complete stranger. At any moment we who have loved and aided another in the name of Christ may find ourselves on our knees seeking help and salvation from a fellow brother or sister in the body of Christ.

A man spoke with the Lord about the state of the world. The Lord said to the man, "Come, I will show what our world has become."

They entered a room where a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew that sat in the center of a big cage. Everyone was famished, desperate and starving. People could not reach the pot with their bare hands. Each one held a spoon that reached the pot, but by the time each one tried to turn the spoon around to get it in their own mouths, the thick, meaty, beautiful, hot stew would spill and splatter and fall all over the floor. None of it would get into the mouths of the hungry people outside the cage. The suffering was terrible.

After a while, the Lord said, "Come, now I will show you my father’s kingdom.”

They entered another room, identical to the first - the pot of stew, the group of people, the cage, the same long-handled spoons. But there everyone was happy and well-nourished.

"I don't understand," said the man. "Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything was the same?"

Our community should be a sanctuary, a proving ground, a test site and an avenue by which the kingdom of heaven is established, the blind are healed, the poor are encouraged and the captives are freed. We must feed each other and all others who come our way, reaching out into the beaten world to bring the good news and miracles of Christ to the captives and the poor and blind.

Once a hospice chaplain, befriended an eighty-year-old woman who was a hospice patient. He visited her many times, and he was impressed by her faith. One day, he got a call that she had taken a turn for the worse. He was told, if he wanted to see her alive, he’d better go that day. The chaplain went to visit his friend, and found her in a very deep sleep. The nurse said she really needed to sleep, she’d been in a lot of pain, so He didn’t wake her up. But just as he turned to go, she opened her eyes wide and stared right at him. She looked intently and then said to him, "O for a minute, I thought you were Jesus."

They laughed about it for a moment. The chaplain said to her, " I want you to do something." What’s that, she asked. He said, "When you arrive at the gates of heaven and finally do see Jesus, I want you to look at him for a moment and say, "Oh, I thought you were my friend the chaplain!" She smiled and said she would. Two hours later, she died, and she had that opportunity.[5]

We all ought to be mistaken for Jesus, every once in a while. God has given us a mission, just as God gave a mission to Jesus. If we’re living it out, if we’re showing his unconditional love, if we’re treating other people with caring and compassion, if we’re bringing good news to the poor, and healing to the sick, and freedom to those whose lives are being torn apart—then maybe someone will look at our lives and say—at least inside, "oh, for a minute I thought you were Jesus."

You see Jesus said, “verses 18-19” and it was fulfilled through him and it even to this day they are being fulfilled through him, through his body, through us his church his followers and his disciples.

I pray that we too can not only be recipients of that grace and the recipients of the fruits of that fulfillment. But that we might be instruments by which God continues to fulfill those promises to the world, through each and every one of us.

[1] All illustrations, except where noted, from “eSermons.com illustrations@ministersmail.com: Sermon for January 25, 2004” e-mail to Ara Heghinian, January 21, 2004

[2] John 4:28-30

[3] from eSermons.com email

[5] from eSermons.com email

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Luke 4:14-21

January 25, 2003