Jesus, The Teacher

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 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, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “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.” 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. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:31–36 NIV

Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. 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!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. 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!”

Luke 4:40–44 NIV

At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah. At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Let’s pray

Anyone here last Sunday remember where Jesus was at?

What was last sermon about?

Well it was Jesus facing the devil in the wilderness.

God’s Spirit had led Jesus to face the devil in the wilderness, in isolation.

But Jesus didn’t stay in a place by himself forever.

He stayed in isolation for forty days, then it was time to serve the people.

Just as the Spirit had led Jesus to face the devil in the wilderness, now the Spirit led Jesus to Galilee.

Galilee, if you remember, was the region where Jesus was from.

He had just defeated the devil.

In Judea, people witnessed God himself declare that Jesus was the Son of God.

Yet, Jesus never thought himself to be too good to return to his home.

He wanted his ministry to start there, and news about his ministry spread.

Jesus was good within his ministry. And that says something

Because the people Jesus went to minister knew him well. They saw him grow.

It can be a scary thing to serve people you went to school, because they know everything about you and maybe they are not likely to listen to you.

But with Jesus, news about his ministry was spreading.

Well... what was Jesus’ ministry about?

What was his role going to be?

How was Jesus, by the power the Holy Spirit, going to help the people?

Well in the text that we read, it says that

Jesus began to teach in the synagogues.

In one plain word: Jesus was a teacher.

Or, if we want to use the terms of their day, Jesus was a rabbi.

Jesus was a Jewish, religious teacher.

During the time of Jesus, there were these places of learning and community—these gatherings—these synagogues.

Within these synagogues, the Jews, the decedents of Abraham and of king David, would gather to read the Hebrew Scriptures, which is our Old Testament.

They gathered to learn and grow together.

Jesus was an itinerant speaker.

Jesus would go from synagogue to synagogue to teach.

The Son of God could’ve come as anything.

He could’ve been born as the son of the Roman emperor.

He could’ve been a military leader.

But the Son of God came as a teacher.

And we are invited through the writings of Luke to see what this teacher taught.

We are invited, if you will, into the classroom of Jesus, to one of his lessons.

In the passage we read, what did Jesus teach.

He did something that isn’t unfamiliar to most of us.

Jesus was at the synagogue, and he did what Alyda or Oscar do at any given Sunday.

He went up to the podium, he opened a scroll

And began to read.

Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1-2

But something interesting happened when Jesus read from Isaiah 61.

After he read the the passage, Jesus said that the passage he read was being fulfilled through him.

Imagine if Oscar came up here, he began to read from Isaiah 9:6, a passage where it speaks about a child being born who would bring peace.

And Oscar, after reading this passage, states that this passage, about a son being born who would bring God’s kingdom, was talking about him.

He said, this passage was fulfilled when he was born.

It would sound ridiculous that Oscar would be the child who was the prince, the eternal father, the almighty—it’d be ridiculous, no offense.

But that’s what Jesus did.

He read a passage that spoke about the Messiah, the long awaited king, and he said that this was fulfilled with him.

Jesus read, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

And we have certainly seen the Spirit empower and move Jesus.

The Spirit was present at the conception of Jesus.

The Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism.

And within the battle that he had with the devil, Jesus demonstrated that the Spirit was with him.

And according to what Jesus read, the reason the Spirit was with Jesus was that the Spirit had anointed him.

The Greek word for anointed is the word Χρίω

Χρίω was a word that meant to designate somebody, set apart somebody or something for a mission.

Jesus was Χρίω.

Maybe you have noticed the similarities between the word Χρίω and christos

They have similar meanings.

Every time we reference Jesus as the Christ, we are saying he is the anointed one.

And we can say that this passage means that God has made Jesus the Christ and Messiah.

That is, Jesus is the one whom God selected, designated, and empowered.

And according to the passage Jesus read, what was Jesus empowered, selected, anointed to do.

Jesus saw himself as the one who was anointed to proclaim the Gospel.

To proclaim the Gospel is not a task to be taken lightly.

To proclaim the Gospel is to say that God’s king has come.

To proclaim the Gospel is to say that while there appears to be just darkness, God has sent his Son, to bring peace.

Typically, back in the day, the people would proclaim a gospel whenever a Roman king was born.

And it was proclaimed to those who were part of the upper class—the roman officials, poets, and intellectuals.

But according to what Jesus read, he came not to primarily preach this Gospel of peace and goodness to the wealthy.

No, he came to preach Good News to the poor.

We have seen him, not go to the high courts of Jerusalem, at least not at first.

He first goes to small old Bethlehem.

His birth is witnessed by Shepherds who were considered to be unclean.

And now he is in Galilee.

He is preaching nobodies in a place no one would remember.

Jesus was empowered to preach to the poor.

If you were empowered to speak by God, who would you be empowered to speak to?

Maybe speaking to presidents and CEOs. And while being gifted to do that is important.

It’s interesting to see that Jesus was empowered

and he went to the poor.

The idea of being poor in Jesus’ time wasn’t just economical.

Being poor depended on education, gender, family heritage, religious purity, vocation, and so on.

Those who came from disadvantaged conditions were poor.

They were part of the lower class. They were believed to be beyond saving.

And yet, Jesus preached Good News to them.

Jesus also saw himself as someone who was sent.

He was sent by God.

As John 3:16 states, God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son.

As the passage that Jesus read states, he believed he was sent.

And why was he sent.

Why did he come from heaven above?

He came to preach freedom to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind.

God sent Jesus to set free the oppressed.

I think we need to remember why Jesus came.

The Son of God came, as a teacher, to bring freedom.

During the time of Jesus, people were oppressed, literally.

They were under Roman oppression.

And yes, Jesus came to deliver the Israelites from the rule of Rome.

But he also came to deliver people spiritually.

People were oppressed by things unseen.

People are still oppressed by things unseen.

But Jesus has come to bring freedom.

I am here to point you to the teacher, who brings freedom.

There are things that are keeping you captive—it may a habit, a sin, a way of thinking.

I’m here to say that Jesus cares about bringing you out, about bringing freedom.

Declare this biblical truth.

God sent and empowered Jesus to come to deliver humanity from oppression.

Jesus came to bring true freedom.

And Jesus came to make the blind see, both physically and spiritually.

Either in this life or the life to come.

But I pray that you may see.

Because Jesus has come to heal your blindness, you can now see a beautiful world.

As the old hymn says, I once was blind but now I see.

You were blinded by sin, by darkness, by despair, but Jesus came so that the blind can see.

And in verse 19, Jesus read and believed that he came to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

This passage is not talking about a literal year, but a period of time.

Before this year, before this time, Jesus believed that it was a time of darkness, but now because Jesus has come,

there is something to look forward too.

God is working.

God is bringing peace through his messiah, his Son, Jesus Christ.

It would’ve been crazy to hear Jesus, as a Galilean, crazy to hear that he was the Messiah.

With what authority does Jesus say this?

I mean it sounds good that Jesus is the Son of God, maybe a little weird that he is a son of carpenter in the middle of nowhere,

But can I even trust Jesus, that he really is the Son of God?

Fortunately, we can.

Jesus’ actions demonstrated that Jesus really was the fulfillment of what he read.

Anyone could say that they are the messiah, but show me the one who acts as the Messiah, as God’s anointed.

Let’s see what Jesus did.

We read a story about a demon.

Jesus was teaching, as a good rabbi, on the Sabbath, that was their holy day.

The people were amazed at his teachings because he taught with authority.

His teachings were trustworthy.

And then, a person enters the synagogue.

And it turns out that this person had a demon.

In 21st Century America, we don’t like to hear about demons.

We are empirical.

We like to be able to test things and measure things.

What matters is what is visible.

But this was not always the case.

And it is not currently the case in some places.

In Latin America and in eastern cultures, there is this recognition that there is something beyond what we can see.

There is this invisible realm.

And during the time of Jesus, it seems like the barrier between the visible and the invisible was particularly lowered or weaken, because we see a whole bunch of demons.

During the time of Jesus, people upheld that there was something beyond the material and the observable.

And I believe today that there continues to be an invisible realm that influences a lot of things in this world.

A lot of the chaos and evils we see in the news and online comes not just because of human interactions but because unseen forces.

Sometimes we do over emphasis the unseen world and blame everything on a spirit when it was just a natural occurrence or a human decision,

but we should be aware that there invisible influences that are at work in our daily lives.

Within the passage we read, we saw that one of the invisible forces, a demon, had possessed a person.

The word “demon” comes from the Greek word δαιμόνιον

Don’t think Hollywood or movies,

The idea behind δαιμόνιον is a transcendent being, that is a negative spirit.

They can speak, just like the devil.

And they have the power to possess people.

People who were under a demon were oppressed.

This demon, this impure spirit, knew who Jesus was.

He knew that Jesus was the Messiah the Son of God.

And because the demon knew who Jesus was, he feared.

He cried, “What are we to do with you?”

The demon knew the role of Jesus.

Demons are from the supernatural world—they can see what humans can’t see, and they saw that Jesus was a person of God and therefore an opponent of all forces that hurt, cripple, oppress, or alienate human life.

Jesus came to set people free.

Jesus came to set this man who was under oppression free.

He came to destroy the demon.

Jesus came to relieve, release, heal and restore lives.

The demon knew this; therefore, the demon feared.

He knew… He knew that Jesus was the holy one of God.

And Jesus did what he supposed to do—set the oppressed free.

He told the demon, not with anything fancy or ritualistic as we see in movies—he just told the demon to be quiet and for it come out from the person.

And the demon did. He left.

You want to talk about authority?

You want to talk about whether we should trust the authority of Jesus?

I think this is a pretty strong argument that Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus speaks and demons leave.

No only did Jesus rebuke demons, set free the oppressed, but he also made the blind see.

The people brought Jesus all those who were sick, and Jesus laid his hand upon each one of them (He wasn’t afraid of touching the sick).

and when he laid his hands on them, they were healed them.

And other demons came and they were expelled.

What’s interesting is that the demons would cry out a strong declaration:

They would declare that Jesus was the Son of God. That he was the Christ the anointed one.

And when the demons said this truth, Jesus told them to be quiet.

This is kinda weird.

Wouldn’t Jesus want everyone to know that he was the Christ.

Well, there would be times when he would reveal who he was, and other times, he wouldn’t.

In this case, as the following verse reveals, he didn’t because he had to go to other places.

If he had allowed the demons to go on speaking about how Jesus is the Messiah, there would be uproar.

Jesus probably would’ve been crucified earlier.

But Jesus was intelligent in his approach.

He revealed his identity to as many as he can without dying before his time.

He wanted to live.

To do what?

To gain a following?

To create a business?

A new religion?

No, he wanted to continue to proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God.

That’s why he was sent.

Jesus was sent to preach that God’s kingdom has come in him.

Order and peace and justice and love have arrived to this world that is full of the opposite.

The kingdom of God refers both to God’s saving activity and to the community and practices that embody God’s saving purpose.

The Jews were waiting for the day when God would assert himself as King over the nations.

According to Jesus, in him, God has already become king.

And therein is the authority to combat evil.

Jesus was and is the Son of God.

And as the Son of God, he was a teacher.

He taught that he was the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures, of the Old Testament.

That he has come to preach good news to the poor.

To preach freedom to the captives.

To bring healing and sight.

To set free the oppressed.

Jesus taught that he ushered in a new time period, a new age.

We can trust this man.

He is the Son of God.

And he has shown it.

He has shown his power to heal.

And his power to set the captives free.

And I pray, that today, you may experience this from our king.

I encourage you to pray,

Tell Jesus,

I know you are the Son of God.

You came to set the captives free.

Set me free God.

I hope you start a journey with our teacher, Jesus, the anointed one.

And you who are a student of Jesus, I pray that you will continue to spread the teachings of our master.

I end with the words of Origen:

New Testament III: Luke Let Every Congregation Fix Its Eyes on Jesus, the Word of God

When Jesus had read this passage, he rolled up “the scroll, gave it to the servant, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.” Now too, if you want it, your eyes can be fixed on the Savior in this synagogue, here in this assembly. When you direct the principal power of seeing in your heart to wisdom and truth and to contemplating God’s Only-Begotten, your eyes gaze on Jesus. Blessed is that congregation of which Scripture testifies that “the eyes of all were fixed on him!” How much would I wish that this assembly gave such testimony. I wish that the eyes of all (of catechumens and faithful, of women, men and children)—not the eyes of the body, but the eyes of the soul—would gaze upon Jesus. When you look to him, your faces will be shining from the light of his gaze. You will be able to say, “The light of your face, Lord, has made its mark upon us.”