Prophecy Fulfilled

March 31

Numbers 35-36

Psalm 38:16-22

Proverbs 9:16-18

Luke 4:1-21

Prophecy Fulfilled

“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read.  And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.  And He opened the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The 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 to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.’  And He closed the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”  Luke 4:16-21 LSB

For 500 years, the people of Israel had been living under foreign rule.  They longed for better days.  Old Testament prophets had promised that a Messiah was coming to give them freedom and hope.  Jesus and His disciples went to Nazareth, his hometown.  While they were there, they went to the synagogue.   Apparently He was familiar to all of the people there.  He stood up and was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.  He read a passage from Isaiah 61:1-2 and then He told them that today that Scripture was fulfilled in their hearing.  Everyone in the synagogue was staring at Him and their mouths must have fallen open.  Was He saying what they thought He was saying?  Was He saying that He was the long-awaited Messiah?  We read in the following verses that they didn’t believe Him, became angry and tried to throw Him over a cliff but He escaped from them.  They saw a local boy that they had watched grow up and didn’t understand how He could possibly be their Messiah.  They were looking for a King, not a poor carpenter.  They thought He was crazy. 

            The message Jesus proclaimed was not what they expected, and really not what they wanted.  The poor He was referring to were not just those who lacked material possessions, but those who were in spiritual poverty.  They had been living in physical captivity in exile with a foreign government ruling over them, but Jesus was referring to the freedom from the captivity and enslavement of sin.  The blind referred to physical blindness, but Jesus wanted to heal them from spiritual blindness and an inability to see and understand spiritual truth as well.  The favorable year of the Lord was referring to a practice in Ancient Israel called the year of Jubilee.  Every 50th year there was a year in which all debts were cancelled, prisoners were pardoned, and property was returned to its original owners.  It was a wonderful year of celebration and jubilation.  The people expected the Messiah to bring about this type of celebration.  Throughout His ministry, Jesus tried to help them understand that He came to bring about something better than what they were expecting.  His way not only gave them freedom from the problems of this world, but it also gave them eternal freedom and security.  His message was one of radical change, forgiveness and deliverance from the oppression of sin.  Unfortunately, they refused to believe.