Freedom & Recovery

Today, as we continue looking into freedom, I want us to turn to Luke 4:14-21 and look at how Jesus defined His mission to the world.

Luke 4:14–21 NIV

14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

We tend to only look at this passage as spiritual freedom, but looking oat the clear meaning of what Jesus says, we find that Jesus desires freedom for people who are oppressed. We can be oppressed by our own devices and our sin that wants to control us, that is true. And, He came so that we can find freedom over that oppression, but people are oppressed in so many other ways this morning.

After Jesus returns from being tested in the desert, he goes to his hometown. In the synagogue where he grew up, he is given the scroll of Isaiah to read. He opens it and chooses the passage he wants to read: Isaiah 61:1-2. These verses were understood as being Messianic, meaning that the people of God understood that these things would happen when the Messiah - the anointed one came.

After reading the words, He sat down, which was the normal position for a teacher when he was speaking - and He basically announces to the people that He has come to fulfill the prophecy - that He was the Messiah and that this is his mission. He has come to bring good news, proclaim release and healing, and offer freedom.

Jesus came to offer salvation that starts in the here and now. As the Body of Christ, our calling is to fulfill His mission - so whatever He announces as His mission is now our mission. We are here to offer new life and freedom to those who are oppressed—including victims of human trafficking.

Jesus announces his mission as Messiah. Jesus has just returned from 40 days of being tested in the wilderness, and he begins his public ministry. This season of fasting, testing, and praying helped clarify and strengthen Jesus to go forward in the mission that His Father had sent Him to accomplish.

He had been performing miracles and people were paying attention, but the miracles were not the reason for His coming - they were not the mission. They were kind of the hook that brought people out to hear Him, and He did these miracles because He cared deeply for the people, but when He announces His mission, it is so much deeper.

Jesus came to bring good news to the poor. Jesus came in the power of the Holy Spirit to communicate, or announce, good news to the poor. There has been much debate about whether “the poor” means those who are poor in spirit or those who are materially poor, but it’s not an either/or. Luke consistently references those who are living in the margins of society. The word in the passage is ptóchos, which creates the image of someone who is cowering or bent down—like a beggar. Being “poor” was & is more than just being without money; it is also being without a voice, influence, and position. To be poor was to be downtrodden. As a result, they were powerless to change their condition and were often victims of exploitation and oppression. That is still true today - those who are poor are easily exploited by the rich and powerful. Jesus, by choosing the passage He did to describe His mission stands on the side of the weak and powerless - the oppressed and poor.

But Jesus also came to bring good news to those who are spiritual beggars—those spiritually broken and in need of a restored relationship with God. Victims of human trafficking fall into both categories. They are exploited and oppressed because they are vulnerable and powerless, so someone else controls their lives. They also need the healing and wholeness that comes through a restored relationship with God.

Jesus was sent to bring release and freedom. God sent Jesus to proclaim—to declare—that captives would be released, the blind would see, the oppressed would go free. He came to do more than talk about how things should be; he came to fulfill the words. He came to embody the year of the Lord’s favor—an allusion to jubilee, a year of freedom and release from bondage and debt. Jesus came to release us from the things that keep us in bondage. This can be properly translated as forgiveness of sin, and it also includes release from forces that oppress people in physical ways. Jesus came to restore God’s image in us—to free us to live with God-given dignity.

Victims of trafficking need forgiveness for sin—just as we all do. But in order to live as God created them to be, they must also be freed from physical bondage and oppression. We need to ask ourselves: Are there things we are doing that are keeping others enslaved? Are there things we could be doing to release others from bondage and offer freedom?