Whether it was the prescribed reading for the day or whether Jesus intentionally found the relevant verses (Isa. 61:1-2) in the scroll He was given to read, it was no coincidence these verses were the text for His first public sermon. Neither is it a coincidence that the story of Jesus’ short sermon in Luke 4:16-21—“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21, NIV)—begins Luke’s record of Jesus’ public ministry.

Jesus Mission

Jesus seemed to be picking up the tune from Mary’s song of an “upside-down kingdom” and beginning to put it into effect in His ministry. Jesus—and Luke in his retelling of Jesus’ story—used the prophecy of Isaiah to explain what Jesus was doing and was about to do, but it was also another way of expressing what Mary had described 30 years earlier. The poor, the hurting, and the oppressed are the special focus and recipients of the good news that Jesus was bringing.

Jesus adopted these verses from Isaiah 61 as His mission statement. His ministry and mission were to be both spiritual and practical, and He would demonstrate that the spiritual and practical are not as far apart as we sometimes assume. For Jesus and His disciples, caring for people physically and practically were at least part of caring for them spiritually.

Read and compare Luke 4:16-21 and Luke 7:18-23. Why do you think Jesus answered in this way? How would you respond to similar questions about the divinity and messiahship of Jesus?

When Jesus sent out His disciples, the commission He gave to them was also in accord with this mission. While they were to announce that “the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matt. 10:7, NIV), Jesus’ further instructions to His disciples were to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give” (Matt. 10:8, NIV). Their ministry in His name was to reflect and enact the values and principles of Jesus’ ministry and the kingdom He invited people to. The disciples, too, were to join with Jesus in His mission to lift up the last, the least, and the lost.

Amen!(1)

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Imagine the scene: Mary had received a message from the angel Gabriel just a few days earlier. He had told her that she was to be the mother of Jesus, the Son of the Most High. She has not yet told anyone but goes to visit Elizabeth, her older relative, who also is expecting a miracle baby. With spiritual insight Elizabeth recognizes Mary’s news before Mary has a chance to say anything, and together they celebrate the promises and goodness of God.

Read Luke 1:46-55. Notice the mix of praise between what was meant only for her—“for the Mighty One has done great things for me” (Luke 1:49, NIV)—to the much more general. Why should our praise and worship to God include both personal and general emphases?

Mary’s Song

This is a remarkable song that could fit well among the psalms or in the writings of the Hebrew prophets. Mary is overflowing with a sense of wonder and gratitude to God. She has obviously seen God working in her own life, but she is also well aware of the larger implications of God’s plan for her nation and for the human race.

But in Mary’s understanding, not only is God powerful and praiseworthy, He is also merciful and seems to have a particular regard for the humble, the downtrodden, and the poor. The angel had barely left after announcing the “good news” of the impending birth to Mary before she was singing the following: “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:52-53, NIV).

Right at the beginning of the story of Jesus’ life on earth, He is introduced as a ruler (see Luke 1:43)—but as the ruler of a different kind of kingdom. As many commentators have described it, the kingdom of God that Jesus came to inaugurate and establish was to be an “upside-down kingdom” when compared to the usual social ordering of the kingdoms of this world. In the descriptions we have of Jesus’ kingdom, the powerful and wealthy of this world are the least, and the poor and oppressed are liberated, “filled”, and lifted up.

Amen!(0)

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