10 January, 1999
INTRODUCTION
Who would have thought that Jesus would focus His ministry on the people we find Him with on so many occasions. It occurred to me when I read the words in Luke 4:18,19, that Jesus basically came to reach people that we have a tendency to avoid - the outcasts of society.
He could have hung out with the rich and famous - after all, He, too, was royalty. He could have spent most of His time with the gifted and talented - after all, He was able to do what no one else ever could.
But rather, Jesus came to a people who needed Him most and who were probably the most rejected - the poor, the blind, the prisoner, and the oppressed.
It also occurred to me that Jesus came to reach people just like you and me. You see, the reality of it all is that you and I are really not that much different from those Jesus mentions here in this text.
Background
We find Jesus beginning His earthly ministry after being baptized and spending 40 days in the wilderness. He returns to his hometown of Nazareth and, as was His custom on the Sabbath, He goes to the synagogue. It is here that He declares to the people of His hometown, to whom He would be reaching out. He makes this declaration by reading from the prophet Isaiah, specifically Isaiah 61:1, declaring that the prophet's words were being fulfilled that very day. At first the people who amazed and half-way accepting of His words, but when they understand the full implication of who He would be reaching out to, they turn on Him and try to run Him out of town. The lesson there is that doing the will of God will often get you in trouble.
The words we read here in Luke 4:18,19 gives a full account of Christ's undertaking, and the work he came into the world to do. This is why He came. This was His mission and ministry. This was His purpose statement and mission statement all rolled into one. These were the ones He came to reach with the gospel. People just like you and me.
There is a lot that we could deal with in this whole narrative that we will not take time to deal with this morning. Rather our focus will be on the kind of people that Jesus said He would be reaching with the gospel.
1. The Poor
The original meaning of the word poor is "begging." It refers to those who are dependent on others for support but it also simply means poor and destitute. It is not only the unfavorable circumstances of these people from an economic standpoint but the thought is also that since they are oppressed and disillusioned they are in special need of God's help.
In the days when Jesus walked on this earth, beggars or the poor were seen as people who would not work and who preyed on others. And even though there were those who had lost their property and wandered in great unhappiness, in general, beggars were despised. The Greeks had no system of poor relief like we do today. They did protect the rights of orphans and distributed grain to citizens but the poor had to be dependent on the generosity of others. In those days, poverty was never commended.
And it was to this class of people, the poor, that Jesus came to preach the good news. He did not come with a message that would put money in their pockets or guarantee them a successful life but He came with a message that would put hope in their hearts. He never promised them a life of financial ease but He did promise them a life of eternal hope.
And I think the reason that this class of people followed Jesus was because:
You may not be poor and may think that you are better off than this class of people that Jesus came to reach but you and I are we really not that much different.
But in a way, this is really not a bad place to be as long as we are honest about the condition we are in and are willing to repent. Because you see, it is not until we realize just how poor and destitute and needy that we are that we will completely come to Him and fully depend on Him. It is not until we realize that all we need is found in Jesus that we will come to Him in repentance and dependence.
2. The Blind
The Bible speaks of three types of blindness:
There is a sudden blindness that was caused by flies and aggravated by dirt, dust, and glare; there was a gradual blindness that was caused by old age; and there was chronic blindness. We read how Paul suffered temporary blindness on the road to Damascus when he saw the Light (Acts 9:8). And Scripture often refers to old people whose eyes "grew dim" (Gen. 27:1; 48:10; 1 Sam. 4:15). But the Bible more often refers to chronic blindness.
The Israelites were a people who had compassion for the blind. Probably because of the curse that God placed upon those who made the blind wander out of their way (Deut. 27:18).
And as we follow Jesus through the pages of the gospel, we see Jesus healing many people who were blind:
Blindness was also very often understood to be a punishment for evil-doing. We read in Acts 13 how Elymas at Paphos was stricken with blindness because he attempted to hinder the ministry of Paul and Barnabas.
But there was a another kind of blindness that Jesus came to heal and that was spiritual blindness. There were many in the days of Jesus who could see very well but they suffered a blindness that was far greater that any physical blindness. Their eyes were blind to the truth.
It's recorded in John 9:39-41 that Jesus said:
"For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?" Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."
Jesus opened the eyes of many that were unable to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. He opened their eyes to the truth of the gospel. But He also allowed many others to remain in darkness.
You may not be physically blind, but if the Holy Spirit has not opened your eyes to the truth, you suffer from a blindness that is far much worse than an inability to see. And you may not be able to see with your physical eyes and still have eyes to see.
Fanny J. Crosby, who wrote some of the hymns we sing in our hymnal lost her eyesight when she was very young. When she was six weeks old, she developed a minor eye inflammation, the doctor's careless treatment left her blind. Though the doctor who destroyed her eyesight never forgave himself, Fanny J. Crosby never held any kind of ill will toward him and considered her circumstances were "intended by the Providence of God that she should be blind all her life." She claimed that if she could have had her sight restored, she would not have attempted to do so. She felt that he blindness was God's gift so that she could write songs for his glory. She once said, "I could have not written thousands of hymns if I had been hindered by the distractions of seeing all the interesting and beautiful objects that would have been presented to my notice." (Victorious Christians You Should Know, Warren W. Wiersbe, Baker Book House, p. 22,23) In her blindness, Fanny J. Crosby was able to see God in ways we never will. God did not open her physical eyes but He opened her spiritual eyes and that was a far greater blessing.
Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind. He was the only One who could ever make a person able to see. And He was the only One who could open the eyes of so many to the truth.
There was one occasion when Jesus was walking with some of His disciples on the Road to Emmaus after He had been resurrected. These two men who had been with Jesus so many other times were unable to recognize Him as their Lord. It wasn't until Jesus opened their eyes that they recognized Him as their Lord.
Jesus is the only One who can open your eyes to see what your physical eyes could never see. And it is not until He opens our eyes to the truth that you will be able to see.
3. The Captive
The word used here for captive is used of a prisoner who was captured in war. And the prisoner of war was obviously a miserable person in special need of divine aid.
But Jesus came to proclaim release to those who were captive. The word release is a great word for it means, "pardon, cancellation of an obligation, a punishment or guilt." In other words, Jesus came to let the captive know that they could be pardoned and the guilt of their crime be canceled.
As we look through the gospels, we don't ever see Jesus breaking someone out of prison - though there were probably many people in his day who were incarcerated and waiting to be executed.
But we do see Jesus setting people free from other kinds of prisons.
There are many people in this world who are not in a prison made of brick, mortar and iron but are being held captive in other kinds of prisons.
Consider the life of the late Howard Hughes. Howard Hughes was the world's ultimate mystery -- so secretive, so reclusive, so enigmatic, that for more than 15 years no one could say for certain that he was alive, much less how he looked or behaved. He was one of the richest men in the world, with the destinies of thousands of people -- perhaps even of governments --at his disposal, yet he lived a sunless, joyless, half-lunatic life.
In his later years he fled from one resort hotel to another -- in places like Las Vegas, Nicaragua, and Acapulco -- and his physical appearance became odder and odder. His straggly beard hung down to his waist and his hair reached to the middle of his back. His fingernails were two inches long, and his toenails hadn't been trimmed for so long they resembled corkscrews. Hughes was married for 13 years to Jean Peters, one of the most beautiful women in the world. But never in that time were the two seen in public together, and there is no record of their ever having been photographed together. For a while they occupied separate bungalows at the Beverly Hills Hotel (at $175 per day each), and later she lived in an luxurious and carefully guarded French Regency house atop a hill in Bel Air, making secretive and increasingly infrequent trips to be with Hughes in Las Vegas. They were divorced in 1970. Hughes often said, "Every man has his price or a guy like me couldn't exist," yet no amount of money bought the affection of his associates.
Here was a man who had what the world thinks will give you success and security - money - but he lived a life of captivity. He was literally in a prison. And he died that way.
Some of you may be in a prison of your own - maybe even a prison of your own making. Maybe you are held captive by past failures or future fears. Maybe you have failed so many times that you have given up trying.
Maybe you are held captive in a prison of guilt and condemnation. And you are so used to feeling guilty that don't know any other way to feel about yourself. And it is that guilt and that sense of failure that keeps you locked up in your own prison.
Jesus came to the likes of each of us who are held captive to some kind of bondage. He came to tell us that we can be set free. And part of that freedom comes when we realize that we have been pardoned. That freedom comes when we receive His forgiveness and realize that our debt had been canceled.
Many of us will still struggle with habits that make us feel like we are in bondage. I don't know why some are not completely delivered from such things as others are. But one thing I do know - Jesus came to set us free from the prison of the guilt of our sin. He came to offer us a freedom from a life of darkness and bondage. He came to tell us that we no longer have to face the guilt of our crime but that we can be completely pardoned. We may never be free from all the problems that we face as Christians but we can be set free from so many other things that keep imprisoned. We may take this journey of the Christian walk with so many obstacles in our way. We may take this journey with so many hang-ups. But we can take this journey knowing that we free from the condemnation of the law. We can take this journey knowing that the law of sin and death no longer has it's hold on us.
I love the verse in Hebrews 2:14-15 that says, "since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."
Jesus came to proclaim freedom for the captive. And that is just as true today as it was the day He spoke these words. And we are certainly a people who are in need of such freedom.
4. The Oppressed
The word Jesus spoke in referring to the oppressed means to break in pieces, to weaken and oppress - all of which refers to the downtrodden. What an accurate description of the people whom Jesus came to reach. They were a people who were beaten down in so many ways. The Romans ruled them hard and sometimes expected more than they could give. The religious leaders put so many demands on them that many of them just gave up all together. The people that Jesus most often ministered to were a people who were broken to pieces. They were constantly being kicked around, not only by other people, but also by the everyday struggles of life. They were a people who were oppressed by the demands of life and other people. They were a people who were not much different than many of us are today.
There are so many of you who may look good on the outside but on the inside you're are a wreck. On the inside, you are broken to pieces, weakened, downtrodden, only a few steps away from total disaster. Kicked around by the demands of life and the demands of others - even other Christians. But Jesus came to proclaim the same kind of release for the oppressed that He offers to the prisoner. Matthew tells us in chapter 12:19-20 that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah's Messianic prophecy where the prophet declares: "He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory."
And listen to what Jesus said as recorded in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Those who are weary and burdened from the struggles of life, Jesus says, "I will give you rest." Those who have been trying to be right with God by living up to a certain standard and have come up short every time - Jesus says, "I will give you rest."
Jesus also proclaims this release from oppression by proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor. This alludes to the year of jubilee that God instituted as recorded in Leviticus, which was an acceptable year to servants, who were at that time set free; to debtors, against whom all actions were dropped.
Jesus came to let His people know that the God whom they had offended was willing to be reconciled to them, and to accept of them on new terms. It was an acceptable time, for it was a day of salvation. And there is no greater release than knowing that you are in right standing before God and that you are no longer living under the tyranny of the law and under the condemnation of God's wrath. What greater release is there than that? Finally, those who were oppressed, could and would be set free.
Conclusion
Now the truth of the matter is that you can be all of these at the same time. You can be poor, blind, captive and oppressed all at the same time. That was basically the situation with the Church at Laodacia. Listen to what Jesus said to those Christians as He spoke through the Apostle John in Revelations 3:15-19:
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm-- neither hot nor cold-- I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent
And the truth of the matter is that Jesus is the only One who can do anything about it. You will never be able to see apart from Jesus. You will never live a life of abundance apart from Jesus. You will never know freedom from captivity or oppression until you look to Jesus in total dependence.
Matthew Henry reminds us that Jesus came to heal the broken-hearted, to comfort and cure afflicted consciences, to give peace to those that were troubled and humbled for sins, and under a dread of God's wrath against them for them, and to bring them to rest who were weary and heavy-laden, under the burden of guilt and corruption.
And friend, if that is still you, maybe today, that will all change.
Let me close with an illustration that is specifically about prayer but one that I believe reminds of the attitude that we are to have in a moment like this.
Three pastors on the staff of a large church were talking about prayer in general, and the appropriate and effective posture for prayer. While they were talking a telephone repairman was working on the telephone system in their offices.
One minister said that the felt the key to effective prayer was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward in a position of worship. The second suggested that the most powerful prayer was conducted on the knees. The third suggested that the other two were misguided, and that the most effective prayer was with one's face on the ground.
By this time the phone man couldn't stay out of the conversation any longer. He jumped in and said, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, forty feet above the ground. God knew I was serious."
You will never call out to the Lord, until you realize just how serious your situation is. Maybe now you realize that without Jesus, you are poverty striken, held prisoner to the law of sin and death, and unable to see what really matters in life.