Telling the Good News

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me. He has anointed me to tell the good news to poor people. He has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners. He has sent me so that the blind will see again. He wants me to free those who are beaten down.” Luke 4:18

Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth and attended synagogue as was His custom. He had been teaching at synagogues throughout the area. This time things were different. I do not know if He had quoted Scripture or spoken there before, but this Sabbath He made quite an impression. Quoting from Isaiah 61 about ultimate freedom God would bring to Israel, particularly through His Messiah, He put the scroll away and sat down.

We are not told that He sermonized on the passage, so perhaps it was the particular emphasis He made as He read it that startled the people. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me…He has sent me…He wants me to free…” Whatever triggered their response, we are told that the “eyes of everyone were staring at Him.”

No He makes His comment about the passage and disrupts the crowd even more: “Today this passage is coming true as you listen.” With a mixture of wonder at His gracious words and anger at His assumed arrogance they ran Him out of town right to the edge of a cliff. Meaning to push Him over the edge, they are astounded once more as Jesus walks directly through the crowd and away from the precipice, leaving them behind.

If there were words any living soul needed, they were those spoken by Jesus that day. Yet, they also present a challenge. “Sure, I could use a little good news. And I’d like a big dose of freedom from the beating life has given me. But, could You provide it in a different package please? We’ve known this fellow since he was a teenager. If he wants to help out with the youth group or start a children’s ministry here in Nazareth, we’ll get behind the boy. But those words he spoke; how dare he apply the prophecy about our Coming Messiah, the Savior of all Israel, to himself! That sort of arrogance will get you nowhere, Jesus. We know you. We know your family. All of you are nice enough, but the truth is, you just aren’t Messiah material!”

And so the offer of good news, freedom and healing goes down the drain! I think that in any crowd there are probably the handful who are so beaten down, that they wouldn’t care if the Savior graduated last at the local Bible College and stumbled her words when she spoke. “If it is possible at all that it is God’s time to bring the promised good news, I’m ready! If the freedom God has promised is being fulfilled right now, today, I’m up for it!”

Perhaps that is why many of us never experience the depth of freedom we seek; we want to control the method that brings the blessing. If the deliverance doesn’t come through an old-fashioned, revival meeting with a three hour altar call, then I’m not sure it’s for me. Or, if they get loud, and bang that tambourine in my ear one more time, I’m going to walk out!

We have all sorts of reasons to judge the means which brings our Good News. Too young, too old, too loud, too quiet, wrong seminary, no seminary, Pentecostal, non-pentecostal; ad infinitum. I’m at the point where it doesn’t matter anymore. Jesus promised Good News and He said it was fulfilled then and there, as He read from the scroll.

Can you use some good news? There is One who promises to always bring life to our deadened existence. God anointed Jesus to tell us poor people about His good news. Life is not a dreary day-to-day existence. It can be filled with the richness of God’s sweet compassion if we will receive that Good News from Jesus.

How about the prisons of sin, the habits that handcuff us from making much progress in life? God sent Jesus to announce freedom to the prisoners. By faith in Christ, every person can know the power of forgiveness that cancels our contract with sin. We can experience the handcuffs falling off and new life beginning; freedom and liberty like a bird set free from a cage.

Does it seem impossible to see God’s work in your life? God sent Jesus so the blind could see again. Call out to Him, invite Him to capture Your heart with His perfect healing. Ask Him to open the eyes of your heart to His works of mercy. He is able to turn a life of darkness into spring-like days of color and joy.

And, if life has beaten you down. If you feel powerless to change either the circumstances outside or the sad dispositions of your own mind, Jesus brings freedom. Whether you have been abused by people, or your thinking is dominated by sadness and depression, there is no greater freedom than knowing Jesus brings the freedom you need. He will lift up your head, He will strengthen your weary body and restore your embattled mind. Let Jesus immerse the wounds in the antidote of His love.

I do not know the full answer about why some seem immediately “free” and others’ deliverance seems a step at a time. I wish with everything in me that He would take my melancholy and depressed thoughts away forever. At the same time, I think I might have succumbed to something much darker had I not know the freedom of His love.

What good news are you looking for? Come to Jesus. There is no other greater, no one richer in love, no one with more power to break down the walls that cage you in. It doesn’t matter how great the sin, His forgiveness is greater. No wound is beyond His cure. Every weakness is made perfect by His strength. Jesus, the Son of God, is the Good News for you today. Don’t pass Him by.