March 14, 2023

YEAR OF THE LORD

Luke 4:18-19

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Encouraging Words

Jesus launched His ministry with this proclamation from Isaiah. He was not here to liberate the Jewish nation from the tyranny and oppression of the Roman empire as so many looked for the Messiah to do. He was here to liberate all of mankind from the shackles of death. Even today, we have different Christian faith practices calling out for God to liberate them from the tyrannies of this society that they are against. And again God proclaims that His Son became a man so that these blessings could be bestowed upon all of His creation and that our role as his followers is to spread His Good News to all and to not condemn them. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!