The Savior for All: Good News to the Poor

Luke 4 is the Savior's mission statement.

After the baptism in chapter 3, Luke shows Jesus tested in the wilderness and then returning to His hometown synagogue. There He unrolls the scroll of Isaiah and reads — and what He reads is the manifesto of His entire ministry:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor."

The Savior is for All — but Luke shows that He has a special tenderness for the people the world overlooks. The poor. The captive. The blind. The oppressed.

When His hometown rejects this mission, He moves on. The Savior cannot be confined to the people who think they have first claim on Him.

Tested in the wilderness

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returns from the Jordan and is led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.

He eats nothing during those days, and when they are ended, He is hungry.

The devil's first temptation:

"If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."

Jesus answers:

"It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'"

The devil takes Him up and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time:

"To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."

Jesus answers:

"It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'"

The devil takes Him to Jerusalem, sets Him on the pinnacle of the temple:

"If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you.'"

The tempter has learned to quote Scripture. Jesus answers:

"It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

When the devil ends every temptation, he departs from Him until an opportune time.

The Savior for All faces every category of temptation — appetite, ambition, presumption — and wins where Adam fell. He does not begin His ministry until He has proven that He cannot be moved.

Return to Galilee

Jesus returns in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. A report about Him goes out through all the surrounding country. He teaches in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

In the synagogue at Nazareth

He comes to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stands up to read.

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah is given to Him. He unrolls the scroll and finds the place where it is 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."

He rolls up the scroll, gives it back to the attendant, and sits down. The eyes of all in the synagogue are fixed on Him.

He begins to say:

"Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

The Savior's mission is not coming. It has come. Today. Right now. In your hearing.

"Is not this Joseph's son?"

All speak well of Him at first and marvel at the gracious words that come from His mouth. But then:

"Is not this Joseph's son?"

They cannot get past His ordinariness. They watched Him grow up. They cannot see who has been standing in front of them all along.

Jesus answers:

"Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself.' What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well."

Then He delivers the hard truth:

"Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown."

God has gone to outsiders before

He reminds them of two stories from their own Scriptures:

• In the days of Elijah, when there was a famine, God sent the prophet not to any widow in Israel, but to a Gentile widow in Sidon.
• In the days of Elisha, when there were many lepers in Israel, none was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian — a Gentile.

The point is unmistakable. The mercy of God has always reached beyond the boundaries of Israel. The Savior for All is doing what God has always done.

When they hear these things, all in the synagogue are filled with wrath. They rise up and drive Him out of the town. They bring Him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, intending to throw Him down the cliff.

"But passing through their midst, he went away."

His hour has not yet come. He simply walks through them and leaves.

The Savior cannot be confined to the people who feel they have first claim on Him. When His hometown rejects His mission, He moves on to those who will receive Him.

Authority in Capernaum

He goes down to Capernaum. He teaches them on the Sabbath. They are astonished:

"His word possessed authority."

In the synagogue there is a man with the spirit of an unclean demon. He cries out:

"Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God."

Jesus rebukes him: "Be silent and come out of him!"

The demon throws him down in the midst and comes out without harming him. All are amazed:

"What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!"

The Savior for All speaks, and the unseen world obeys.

Healing many

He leaves the synagogue and enters Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law has a high fever. Jesus stands over her and rebukes the fever. It leaves her. Immediately she rises and serves them.

As the sun sets, all those who have any who are sick with various diseases bring them to Him. He lays His hands on every one of them and heals them. Demons come out of many, crying, "You are the Son of God!"

He rebukes them. He will not allow them to speak, because they knew He was the Christ. Even right testimony is refused when it comes from the wrong source.

"I must preach"

At daybreak He departs to a desolate place. The people seek Him and come to Him and would keep Him from leaving them. He says:

"I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose."

The Savior for All cannot stay in one town, even when one town wants Him. The mission is for all. He moves on.

He keeps on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Closing prayer

Father, thank You that the Savior came to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed. Save us from despising Him because He is familiar. Save us from wanting to keep Him to ourselves. Send us into the wider world with the same mission He carried — and may we walk in the power of the Spirit who rested on Him. In Jesus' name, amen.