I recently had a conversation with a man whose entire life has been shrouded in struggle. From the day he was born, he had certain mental disabilities. All his life, he found himself on the outside looking in. People found him difficult to deal with. Many of his life choices only amplified his struggle and drove him further away from where he wanted to be. Most of those decisions, actions, and behaviours were driven on some level by the disabilities he was born with. No true medical solutions have revealed themselves and he finds himself frustrated.
Part way through his life, he became aware of Jesus Christ and with time, he gave His life to Him. But as wonderful as that choice was, it did not make his problems go away. Drug abuse, counselling, legal issues, and psych wards remained his reality for most of his adult life.
And so, at the end of his rope, he found himself crying out why would the God of the universe bring deliverance for some, but for others like himself, He had not. He referenced Luke 4:18-19, where Jesus famously reads from the scrolls of Isaiah and the preaching of the good news by God’s Anointed One:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
To proclaim the favourable year of the Lord.
“Where is my liberty, then?” this man passionately asked while we sat drinking coffee.
And I must be honest with you as you read this: I had no comforting answers. Jesus doesn’t seem to be speaking in deep riddles or heavily contextualizing when He tells a room full of Jewish priests and scholars that this Isaiah prophecy was coming to pass right in front of them. But what did He mean?
If Jesus came to bring liberty to the captives, where was this man’s deliverance? Was Jesus not talking about people like him, born with congenital issues that would plague him all his life? Did this man not pray the right prayers? Were we as a church somehow letting him down? Was this only liberty for the afterlife?
When I read this Isaiah passage, I want to preach it out loud for all to hear. The chorus of the Christmas hymn, “Go tell it on the mountain,” comes to mind. But how can I do that when it’s not clear exactly who Jesus is proclaiming good news to?
Here are some things I think we do know about Isaiah 61 and Luke 4. First, Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy. In other words, whatever Jesus means when He says that this prophecy was fulfilled in their hearing, we can say that liberty for the oppressed comes from Jesus and only Jesus. Second, the reason God sent Jesus into the world (in part) was to proclaim liberty to the oppressed.
Who, then, are the captives, the prisoners, and the brokenhearted? In the original context of Isaiah, it seems those who are victims of injustice are the ones in view. And so, the coming of the Anointed One means liberty and freedom for them.
Now, we need only look at what is going on in our world for five minutes to see that injustice is as alive as ever. So, either Jesus is a liar, or something else is going on in His proclamation in Luke.
If someone is born with a congenital birth defect (let’s use Down’s Syndrome as an example), is that person a victim of injustice? If so, who perpetrated that injustice? Is it possible that although the presence of Down’s Syndrome is undesirable, it isn’t necessarily unjust? God allows people to have Down’s Syndrome. I don’t begin to understand why, but my lack of understanding does not mean that God allowed something unjust to happen. God is perfect justice, and that means there is a divine answer to the problem of Down’s Syndrome.
So, what do I tell my friend? His Bible tells him that liberty for the captives comes through Jesus, but the Pastor is telling Him that the things he was born with were allowed by God and are, therefore, just. Should I just tell him he needs more faith when he prays for the liberty that Jesus has already given?
Jesus also says that He came to preach the good news to the poor. Elsewhere, He tells His disciples that they will always have the poor. That also sounds like a contradiction.
This is where I land on all this as of today. Whatever liberty and freedom Jesus promises in Luke 4, like so much of His earthly teachings, it has to point to something spiritual. Jesus didn’t bring deliverance from Rome to the Jews, He brought deliverance from spiritual death as a result of sin. Yes, Jesus healed people physically while He was on earth, but those miracles were meant to validate the reason He came which was to release us from the bondage of the curse of sin.
So, Luke 4:18-19 is a proclamation of spiritual liberty.
My prayer is that those words do not ring hollow for my coffee friend. It does not mean that God does not heal people because many of us know He does. But if we were put in a corner to choose, I would think every one of us recognizes the far greater gift of salvation in comparison to the gift of healing. If made to choose, I’d far rather live a life with a disability, knowing that the few years of suffering on earth would lead to an eternity of complete freedom.
Nonetheless, I pray that a man who has known deep suffering for his entire life will experience peace and release from His Saviour and Lord. I desire for him a firm and solid peace in light of the heavy cross He carries.