Luke 4:16-21
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.”[a]
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.”
Footnotes
- Luke 4:19 Isaiah 61:1,2 (see Septuagint); Isaiah 58:6
Why Make Going to Church Our Custom?
Luke 4:16
On the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.
Jesus went to church every week. It was his custom. We’re to be like Jesus, so let’s make gathering with the church our custom too, even if you feel like you don’t need it.
The Apostle Paul writes, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
Some people might say they don’t need to go to church to be a Christian. The question is, Does the church need you? Is there someone there you can encourage and spur on toward love and good deeds? You might not need to go to church to be a Christian, but would your faithful presence and insights there in the church help others to be a Christian?
He Found the Place
Luke 4:17
…the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written…
Can you find the place where a particular quote is written in the Bible? It’s a big book, I know, but as Christians, we need to move beyond, “I think it says somewhere…” and get to know the Scriptures thoroughly. We need to study it, memorize it, and see it both in detail and as a whole.
Jesus, our example, was able to turn to the exact passage He wanted to read and apply its meaning to His own life.
Why Do You Have the Holy Spirit?
Luke 4:18-19
“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,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Is the Spirit of the Lord on you?
Why is the Spirit of the Lord on you?
Because…
He has anointed you to proclaim His Good News to the poor. What good news can you give to the poor? Maybe that God doesn’t count them out or cast them aside. Maybe that God doesn’t need their vote in order to care about them. Maybe that by following Christ they can be not poor. Maybe that earthly goods isn’t what matters in this life.
He has sent you to free prisoners. People are chained by sin, chained by addiction, chained by fear. Proclaiming Jesus sets people free from everything that keeps them chained.
He has sent you to help the blind recover their sight. Satan’s lies blind people to the truth. You can help them see.
He has sent you to free the oppressed. People are held down in their various societies because of their gender, their ethnicity, their age, their country of origin, their economic status, their level of education, etc. “But Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3:11). In Christ, we can up raise all people groups.
He has sent you to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Aren’t you glad that every year is the year of the Lord’s favor? Now that Christ has come, every day is a day God can you use to proclaim His Good News to the poor, to set prisoners free, to help the blind recover their sight, to free the oppressed.
He has anointed you for this task. Through the power of His Holy Spirit upon you, you can accomplish it. Amen?
Luke 4:31-37
Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
How Can Your Words Have Authority?
Luke 4:31-32
…on the Sabbath he taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
Did only Jesus’ words have authority, or can your words have authority too?
A lot of preachers and teachers simply parrot what they’ve heard from others. If I go around saying, “Billy Graham once said…” or, “I read Saint Augustine the other day…”, I might be telling you interesting tidbits of information, but my words have no authority because I’m simply repeating what others have said. That’s what the Pharisees were doing in Jesus’ day. They were going around repeating what Moses said. Their words had no authority. In their case, it was Moses’ words that held the authority.
Billy Graham and Saint Augustine and Moses and Jesus’ words have authority because they were saying and writing what they heard directly from God. If you’re listening to the Spirit and passing along what He teaches you, your words have authority because you’re receiving them directly from God. And if you believe you’re receiving those words directly from God, you can speak them with authority.
Where’s the Demon?
Luke 4:33
In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit.
Notice where this man was. He was in the synagogue. He was in the church! He was part of the fellowship of God-worshipers. Can I tell you that there are people in your church who are possessed by demons? There are people in your church controlled by an impure spirit.
I wonder how Jesus knew this man was possessed by a demon. Was the demon making the man raving mad like we see in other Gospel accounts, or was he being more sly and causing disruptions and divisions among the believers gathered there?
Like Jesus, can we learn to recognize when someone is speaking and acting out of an impure spirit, even though they’re claiming to be a believer? Can we check ourselves once in a while to make sure that our own spirits are pure and that we’re not letting Satan influence or control us?
What Does the Demon Say?
Luke 4:33-35
He cried out at the top of his voice, “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!”
Jesus is the Holy One of God, so the demon is partially right. But look at what else he says. He thinks Jesus has come to destroy him.
He thinks Jesus is against him.
Doesn’t that just seem wrong to think – that Jesus would be against anyone, even a demon? In fact, the Gospel tells us Jesus was gracious even to demons. Look at this story in Matthew 8:28-32:
When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.
These demons also thought Jesus had come to destroy them, but He is gracious enough to them to let them go into the pigs when He cast them out of them – just because the demons begged Him to!
How gracious is Jesus – even to His enemies!
There are some people who want Jesus to go away from them, to leave them alone, because they think Jesus is going to come to them and condemn them for their sin. Jesus isn’t against anyone. Jesus Himself said, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).
If you have a spirit inside you saying, “Don’t go to Jesus, don’t let Him near!” that spirit is wrong about what Jesus wants to do for you. Tell it to be “Be quiet!” and let Jesus help you.
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