On Line Bible Study - For the week March 1-7, 2010

Lesson 429

Luke 4: ¹⁷The 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. . .

We began to discuss this passage in the previous study; it is important to note that Jesus chose the particular passage from Isaiah 61:1-2.

Hopefully you recall - or can refer to the passage from Luke 4:18 in front of you. (The text can be found at Luke 4.) It is interesting to note that Luke may be using another text from Isaiah in this passage:

Isaiah 58: ⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Without getting bogged down in textual difficulties and subtleties, one of the reasons for thinking Isaiah 58 may be part of the quote has to do with the fact that a line is missing in Luke from the Isaiah 61 text. Isaiah refers to binding up (healing) the broken-hearted... This is omitted in Jesus' quotation of the passage. Likewise, when Jesus quotes the line: ...to set the oppressed free ... this text is not found in Isaiah 61 - rather it is found in Isaiah 58.

This is but one of many examples of textual challenges presented to us in the Bible. While the tone of Luke 4:18 certainly captures what we read in Isaiah 61. why the change in language? One possibility is that Luke is summarizing - or perhaps even paraphrasing the Scriptures. One of the challenges to Biblical literalism is the reality of the fact that the Bible does not always literally quote itself. Luke 4:18 is an example of a New Testament Author who may have intentionally left a line out here, and inserted a line there - not for the purpose of changing the texts, but for the purpose of greater clarity with regard to the point they were trying to make.

Darrell Bock points to three important things Luke wants us to know:

1. Jesus is a bearer of the Spirit. He is not moving in his own power or under some human authority. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him.
2. Jesus is a prophet declaring good news for a future time. His message is eschatological in that it is not experienced in its fullest form in the present. What begins with his ministry on earth will be fulfilled at a future time.
3. Jesus is our freedom - our liberation. In other words, he is our messiah.
   

Jesus ushers in the Jubilee Year - when debts were canceled and slaves were set free. He is here to do God's work on behalf of the people. Do you see yourself anywhere represented in the list of Luke 4:18? And yet, the point is not only with regard to what Jesus has to offer you; it is also to make clear that those of us who claim to be Christ-followers also have to be willing to do his bidding. What the Spirit has anointed him to do we also have to be willing to champion.