“But He said to them, ‘I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose.’”
- Luke 4:43
I love this chapter of Luke! In chapter 4, Jesus’ ministry begins, but Luke presents the beginning through a collection of shorter stories that reveal the authority of Jesus as one who is against sin, injustice, and brokenness. He is a Savior with a message of goodness and promise, while also standing against the evil that exists in many forms. By His words, He counters temptation, casts out demons, and heals the sick. Jesus is the herald of good!
Against Sin:
After Jesus was baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, and before He begins His public ministry, He heads out into the wilderness. He embarks on a 40-day backpacking trip without a food bag but was surely full in a way we cannot always comprehend. While out there, the devil lays upon Jesus all sorts of temptation. Though we only have 3 recorded temptations, Jesus is the man acquainted with sorrows and knows deeply what we go through, so I imagine that his 40 days are full of many other temptations as well.
The devil targets Jesus’ identity and authority really hard. First by tempting Him to break His fast by proving He is the Son of Man by turning rocks into bread. Which, Jesus wisely refutes the temptation by quoting scripture.
Then the devil tempts Jesus to worship him to receive His authority over all the nations. This temptation is similar to Adam and Eve’s in the garden, which puts a question mark behind the word and promises of God. The Son of God will reign, and the devil is challenging that and tempts Jesus to take this into His own hands. Jesus wisely refutes this with scripture yet again!
Finally, the devil has had it, so in this final attack on Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, the devil quotes scripture and is putting on trial Jesus’ faith in God. Surely God would allow no harm to come upon Jesus, but once again Jesus wisely refutes by quoting scripture, asserting His faith in God and confidence in who He is!
Jesus knows well our temptations and even our sins, but He has shown us a way of faith and reliance on the word and promises of God! In this, He speaks against the power of sin, and renders it powerless to us! Do we still struggle? Yes, but we who are found in Christ now have the Herald of Good to call us forward out of death and into life, reflecting His own faith and reliance on God to help in times of temptation!
Against Injustice:
The Good News of the Gospel is inherently against injustice! In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus is reading from Isaiah 58:6, and speaks of Himself as being the fulfillment of the verse! It is the proclamation of good news to the poor, freedom for the captive, sight for the blind, liberty for the oppressed, and the announcement of the Lord’s favor! Context adds depth to these words as well. The poor are societies overlooked and unwanted. The captives are the forced migrant, taken from their homes. The blind can either be literally blind or those who simply don’t know the way of God. The oppressed are further despised and even hated by other groups. The Lord’s favor is the cancellation of debts and restoration of inheritance.
Jesus capitalizes on this announcement by describing how Elijah and Elisha were sent to foreigners who were hated by Israel, to minister to them rather than to Israel. Jesus is making the Good News clearly against injustices that are both on personal levels and systemic levels. The Good News of the Kingdom of God is to flip all these wrongs on their head, and shift the direction of the world towards God’s heart!
Against Brokenness:
Wrapping up this chapter are smaller stories of Jesus enacting the Kingdom’s Good News by healing people of illnesses and casting out demons. These acts of compassion stand in stark contrast to the brokenness of the world. Over both physical and spiritual evils that wreck the lives of many.
Herald of Good:
Of course, the actions are important, and the actual changes and redeeming of things are critical! Yet it starts with a word. For Jesus, it meant being so centered on the words of God (which is easier since He is the Word) that He could resist the corruptions of the world. Do we allow scripture to sink so deeply into our hearts that we can resist our flesh? Where we rely on God in the face of temptation.
Where also do we allow our voices to speak good into the bad? Rather than advocating for an agenda we speak into those same problems with the Good News. Allowing the Good News to shape our solutions and our advocacy for others. In my view, this isn’t about becoming a Social Justice Warrior, but rather it is about becoming a mini-herald of goodness, taking the Good News into the practical problems we face.
Further, where can we be speaking life into broken situations? Not only the places of spiritual blindness but also where hope is lost under the waves of overwhelming circumstances.
Final Blessing:
Jesus is the original herald of good, providing us an example of how to spread the Good News of the Kingdom! Making us mini-heralds of good news so we can stand against sin, injustice, and brokenness!
Now may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breath, and every heartbeat of your journey!
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