Jesus unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed meto proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:17-21, ESV
There you have it: God’s declaration of revolution. In these verses, read aloud in an ancient worship service nearly 2000 years ago and penned hundreds of years prior to that, we see God’s desire and design, even his dream for the world.
Is revolution too strong a word to describe what is being envisioned here? I think not. Prisoners are freed, the blind see, and the oppressed find liberty and justice. Ask any one of those what this was and they would say that it was a revolution, at least in their lives.
But the revolution doesn’t just end there, it is even bigger than that. It tackles the system of this world that is so broken, refusing to work within it. When God proclaims the year of his favor he is demolishing the distinction between the have and and have nots, cancelling all debts and bringing grace and healing for all, if they will receive it.
And so the revolution begins.
There you have it: Jesus’ declaration of revolution. The revolution began with the Father’s dream for the world and continues as it is enacted by Jesus, the Father’s Son. He says, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled…” That is, on the day that Jesus read those words in that ancient worship gathering, he took on his call – he committed that those words would be fulfilled by him – and moved out into the world to do exactly what they said. He gave his life, even to the point of death and beyond, to heal the blind, protect the defenseless, and to free those under the yoke of the tyranny of both man and sin.
Jesus declared a revolution right there. He declared a revolution and enacted it because he took the Father’s dream as his own…and the world will never be the same.
The question for us, however, is whether or not this revolution will capture our hearts. Will we be a people who join the revolution? Will we be a people who invest our lives and our resources in pursuit of Jesus’ revolution? Will we be a people who challenge the status quo, standing with those in need in our own church, our own community, and in our sister community of Mhlosheni, Swaziland?
As followers of Christ, I believe God is calling us to do exactly that. I believe he is calling us to the front lines of his revolution of hope and grace.
And if we do, it might just be said of us one day: “There you have it, a whole church committed to the revolution.”
Response
Spend a few minutes re-reading today’s passage, letting the Lord speak to you through these ancient yet very present words. Then pray, thanking the Lord for His dream and how Jesus took that on his shoulders. Pray also that the Lord would spark a revolution in your own heart so that you would desire nothing more and nothing less than to walk with Jesus into a world full of need, both materially and spiritually, sacrificing along the way to bring hope, love, and grace into reality.
Traveling with you,
Pastor Reed
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