Sermon Tone Analysis

If you wanted to start a business venture in an area what would be the first thing you would do?

Go to a place where no one would recognize your abilities as a leader—your home town?

Tell the people things that would make you sound like John D. Rockefeller, Donald Trump, and Bill Gates all rolled into one?

Antagonize the leaders to the point that they would literally want to throw you out of town?

No, to us that would seem silly and a certain recipe for failure.

Yet, when Jesus began His ministry in Galilee that is pretty much what He did.

He had already been ministering and performing miracles in Judea, which in around Jerusalem, but when John the Baptist was imprisoned He decided to come to Galilee.

So why when He came to His home town of Nazareth would He not do the same things He had been doing already.

Why would He say things that would upset the leaders?

Why would He claim to be the one who they had been looking for as the Messiah?

Wasn’t he smart enough to know that His approach was all wrong and doomed to fail from the beginning?

Today, I want to start to look at the healing aspects of God by examining the primary scripture that Jesus read to confirm who He was and why He was there.

Luke 4:16-21 (NIV) He went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom.

And He stood up to read.

17 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 preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 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 and He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

NASB And He came to aNazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, bHe entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and cstood up to read.

17 And the 1book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.

And He opened the 1book and found the place where it was written,  18  “aThe 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,  19     aTo proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

20  And He aclosed the 1book, gave it back to the attendant and bsat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

21     And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your 1hearing.”

Isa 61:1-3 (NIV) 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

NASB The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners,2 To announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn;3 To place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes, To give them oil of gladness in place of mourning, a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit.

They will be called oaks of justice, planted by the LORD to show his glory.

Notice the revolutionary implications of the Messiah’s mission.

He came to deal with the enormous problems that have afflicted mankind throughout history:

Poverty.

*To preach the gospel to the poor*.

Sorrow.

*To heal the brokenhearted*.

Bondage.

*To proclaim liberty to the captives*.

Suffering.

*And recovery of sight to the blind*.

Oppression.

*To set at liberty those who are oppressed.*

In short, He came *to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord*—the dawning of a new era for this world’s sighing, sobbing multitudes.

He presented Himself as the answer to all the ills that torment us.

And it is true, whether you think of these ills in a physical sense or in a spiritual sense.

Christ is the answer.

It is significant that he stopped reading with the words *“ ...** to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”*

He did not add the rest of the words from Isaiah “ ... and the day of vengeance of our God.”

The purpose of His First Coming was to preach *the acceptable year of the Lord*.

This present age of grace is the accepted time and the day of salvation.

When He returns to earth the second time, it will be to proclaim the day of vengeance of our God.

Note that *the acceptable* time is spoken of as a *year*, the vengeance time as /a day/.

[i]

18. *Anointed.*

See on /Christ/, Matt.

1:1.

*To preach good tidings.*

See on Gospel, Superscription of Matthew.

*To the poor* (πτωχοῖς).

See on Matt.

5:3.

*To heal the broken-hearted.*

The best texts omit.

So Rev.

*To preach* (κηρύξαι).

Better as Rev., /proclaim/, as a herald.

See on 2 Pet.

2:5.

*To the captives* (αἰχμαλώτοις).

From αἰχμή, a /spear-point/, and ἁλίσκομαι, /to be taken/ or /conquered/.

Hence, properly, of prisoners of war.

Compare Isa.

42:7: “To bring out captives from the prison, and those who sit in darkness from the house of restraint.”

The allusion is to Israel, both as captive exiles and as prisoners of Satan in spiritual bondage.

Wyc. has /caytifs/, which formerly signified /captives/.

*To set at liberty* (ἀποστεῖλαι) Lit., /to send away in discharge/.

Inserted from the Sept. of Isa.

58:6.

See on ch.

3:3, and Jas.

5:15.

*Them that are bruised* (τεθραυσμένους).

Lit., /broken in pieces/.

Only here in New Testament.

Wyc., /to deliver broken men into remission/.

The same Hebrew word is used in Isa.

42:3: “a /crushed/ reed shall he not break,” which the Septuagint translates by τεθλασμένον, a word which does not occur in the New Testament.

In the citation of this latter passage (Matt.

12:20, on which see) the word for /bruised/ is συντρίβω, which the Septuagint uses for /break/.

19.

*To preach* (Rev., /proclaim/) *the acceptable year of the Lord.*

As on the first day of the year of Jubilee, when the priests went through the land proclaiming, with sound of trumpet, the blessings of the opening year (Lev.

25:8–17).

Note ver. 10, where liberty is to be proclaimed to all in that year.

Wyc., /the year of the Lord pleasant/.

A literal interpretation of the word /year/ gave rise among some of the Christian fathers to the theory that our Lord’s ministry lasted but a single year.[ii]

Luke gives this sermon prominence as an introduction to the ministry of Jesus in his Gospel, though the actual inauguration of His ministry probably occurred almost a year earlier.

Mark records this rejection of Jesus by the people of Nazareth about the end of the first year of His ministry (Mark 6:1–6).

There could have been two such rejections, one at the beginning of His ministry and one later, but as v. 23 indicates, there has been a ministry at Capernaum already.

*4:18* Jesus reads from Is. 61:1, 2 and interpolates a phrase from Is. 58:6, following the LXX.

By stopping in the middle of Is. 61:2, Jesus calls attention to “the acceptable year of the Lord,” which compares the blessings of His ministry to the ancient Year of Jubilee.

*4:19* The accuracy of Jesus and subsequently of Luke is remarkably demonstrated in a significant omission in Jesus’ quotation of Is. 61:1, 2. Jesus quotes the passage, omitting the phrase, “the day of vengeance of our God.”

The Isaiah passage is messianic; but in the First Advent ministry of Jesus, the latter affirmation was not fulfilled.

That fulfillment awaits the return of Christ.

Therefore, Jesus omitted the last phrase in His concluding remark, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (v.

21).[iii]

*19.

acceptable year*—an allusion to the jubilee year (Le 25:10), a year of universal /release/ for person and property.