The Mission of Jesus

Jesus.  Was he a guru?  Was he an Enlightened Master? Was he a great teacher?  Was he a Messiah?  Was he THE Messiah? Was he Superman?  Was he God?

Many have differing views of just who Jesus was, is and just what his mission was.  Did he come to establish a new religion?  Did he come to “be the boss of everyone?”  If we’re not careful, we can begin to see Jesus as we might want him to be rather than how he actually is.  In this journey through the book of Luke we will try to see Jesus as he is truly presented, apart from outside influences, so that we might follow him with greater clarity.

Jesus came with a purpose, and His mission was “well-orchestrated” as God worked through John who came before Him. In order for us to grasp who Jesus is, it’s important that we understand why Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth.  According to Luke 1:1-4, Luke “carefully investigated” his sources to present an “orderly” account of Jesus’s life (v. 3). When added together, Luke and Acts comprise over 25 percent of the words in the New Testament. Luke 1 presents events surrounding John the Baptist’s birth and the announcement to Mary that she would motherJesus. Chapter 3 describes the ministry of John the Baptist and the beginning of Jesus’s ministry.

We look at Luke 3:1-6; 4:14-21 and learn that Jesus came to deliver the good news of salvation for all people.  This was not just Jesus’ idea, this was part of an orchestrated plan.  This WAS world politics meet God’s Truth!  Let’s look at the first passage.

Luke 3:1-6

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, God’s word came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.3 He went into all the vicinity of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight! 5 Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low; the crooked will become straight, the rough ways smooth, 6 and everyone will see the salvation of God.

To briefly summarize the history we are dealing with:

• The Roman Empire was the “superpower” of the world at that time.
• Provinces of Rome were spread throughout the world, but the Herodian family were “in charge” of the “Middle East”.
• The Romans played politics with the High Priesthood and, as we have looked at before, Annas and Caiaphas were the “religious political party” who politicked to ensure that THEY held on to power.
• Pilate was the Roman governor caught between the politics of Rome, Herod, and the political priesthood.

Against this backdrop all of the actions of Jesus are carried out.  The Roman government watched for a possible uprising or a rebellion from their provinces, their regional governments, or the populace themselves.  The popularity of a leader that might start another war, a new King of the Jews, was a matter serious enough to be immediately reported to Rome and be given official attention.  Here the religious politics steered the condemnation of Jesus to the Roman Governor, who steered it to Herod, who steered it back to Rome, who tried to allow the people to free Jesus, but they chose Barabbas.  He tried to placate the mob with a scourging, but the political religious party ultimately forced his hand into condemning a teacher whom Pilate himself had proclaimed an innocent man.  The strategies used then are the same strategies used today in politics of all kinds.

Let’s look at how Luke lays out the story.  He starts with John, the Baptizer, preparing the way for Jesus’s mission in he fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. This dates John the Baptist’s ministry beginning around AD 27. 

Luke cites that various leaders in power. Luke’s listing of these leaders (including two sons of Herod the Great), their geographical territories, and their official titles reveals Luke’s historical diligence.

Luke then tells us that  God set John apart to be a prophet—even before his birth. The function of a prophet is to speak God’s word, His message. One can comprehend it as “John was sent so that people could HEAR God’s word.  Jesus was sent so that people could SEE God’s Word.”  This puts John in line with Old Testament prophets who had not spoken since Malachi, about four hundred years earlier.

What did it mean to be a prophet?  More than just a preacher, a prophet came to “tell God’s truth” to humanity, often a humanity that has NO desire to perceive any Truth.  John was the prophet who, after 400 years after the last prophet, said (basically) Hear me and watch out!  God says God’s messiah is coming soon!

The passage describes the vicinity where John was preaching and where Jesus had his early ministry and this as in the region of the Galilee, the region where Gentiles and Jews were mixed and living together as a result of warfare hundreds of years earlier that exported foreigners from defeated countries and imported them into the area newly conquered.

John was communicating an authoritative message, a message of repentance.  More than “here’s a good idea, or an ideology to follow” John was preaching a “if you touch a hot stove you will get burned” kind of reality message centered upon the eminent arrival of God’s messiah for humanity.

Water baptism is a symbol. It is an outward act that represents a spiritual change.  It has come to symbolize a number of possibilities – a cleansing as a result of repentance, an imagery of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, and perhaps a number of others as well.  John’s emphasis was on repentance – a change of mind; a change in direction of a person’s thoughts and actions. The word picture is of a person walking in one direction, turning around and walking in the opposite direction. 

Luke’s words were that John preached baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. For indicates the purpose of repentance—the forgiveness of sins. The basic reality is that in order to be forgiven of your offenses against God you must first realize your offenses against God, change your mind, and walk a path that more closely follows God.  One can’t change one’s path until one first changes one’s mind.  We could paraphrase John’s message as Hear God!  Change your minds; change your ways;  change your path to walk more closely with God.  God’s messiah is coming and will SHOW you how this can be done.  First, you have to WANT to!

One of the great eighth century BC prophets,Isaiah often wrote of the coming Messiah (Hebrew title) or Christ (Greek title). Both terms refer to God’s anointing of a person with the Holy Spirit. All four Gospels refer to Isaiah 40:3 but only Luke includes verses 4-5. Although Isaiah’s prophecy originally focused on God’s deliverance of His people from Babylon, Gospel writers saw a further fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in the coming Messiah who would bring a deliverance from sin for all people who would believe in Him.

John’s message was to get the attention of the people so that when Jesus started teaching a number of individuals were already prepared to repent and act upon that repentance.  John prepared the people by preaching repentance to straighten a crooked generation. He also preached humility, which required lowering oneself before God.  John had become a very popular figure and accomplished his mission.

More than the other Gospel accounts, Luke focused on Jesus’s concern and teaching for everyone, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, saint and sinner alike. This becomes even more prominent in Luke’s second book, Acts.  John’s message pointed beyond himself to the Messiah who would bring salvation to all who believed in Him. Jesus is God’s salvation for all who trust Him.  How can we know?  He told us he was.  Let’s see.

Luke 4:14-19

14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity.15 He was teaching in their synagogues, being praised by everyone. 16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Jesus’ primary activity during this period was teaching.  He explained the law, he taught new perspectives of that law, he refocused the attention upon God, he did good works and healing as a part of his ministry.  Jesus had complete access to the creator AND the creator’s Holy Spirit.  That made teaching truth easier.  When you have access to Truth then you can KNOW what to say rather than having to “figure it out.“

In a town with a Jewish community when ever the population reached ten men, they established a synagogue.  Synagogueis a Greek word meaning to gather or assemble to draw out and put in motion.  It was the custom in a synagogue, just as it used to be in our churches, to reiterate their statement of faith (Hear Israel, the God that is our God, THAT God is ONE).  They would then read a passage from the Law, the Torah, and then discuss and dig into it exploring what it meant and how to apply it.  Just as the Catholic Church USED to read everything in Latin, and then translate it into the language of the people, in Jesus’ time they did much the same thing, because the Torah while written in Hebrew, the average person talked and read in Aramaic.  Aramaic was a Syrian dialect of which was used as the language of the conquered and the conqueror in the Near East from the 6th century BC. It gradually replaced Hebrew as the language of the Jewish people in those areas and was itself supplanted by Arabic in the 7th century AD.  One of the men learned in Hebrew AND Aramaic, or other languages, would read in Hebrew and then expound on the meaning of the passage in their common language.  They would also have a time of prayer and the singing of a Psalm.

Jesus lived in Galilee, a region composed of both Jews and Gentiles, as a result of the Syrian conquest and repopulation of the land.  Nazareth was Jesus’ childhood home until he began his public ministry.  The Jews day began in the evening, just as Genesis records, there was evening and morning, the first day.  Their day began at sundown so their sabbath or seventh day of rest was from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.  Jesus’ habit of worship meant going to the synagogue on the Sabbath, likely, I imagine, walking within a “sabbath’s days journey” (about 3/4 of a mile) to the local synagogue, probably during the day because they couldn’t make fire on the sabbath.

As a visiting teacher (rabbi) Jesus was invited to read Scripture from the Prophets as the scroll containing Isaiah was handed to him to read and expound upon.  Jesus unrolled the scroll, looking for a specific passage, and read from Isaiah 61:1-2 and 58:6.  In Isaiah this passage is a prophecy relating to the coming Messiah, one anointed by God and FULL of God’s Holy Spirit who would fulfill God’s plans.  This passage described the focus of Jesus’ ministry in detail.

How do you put on sunscreen?  Do you just drizzle on some drops and then let them drool around?  No, you smear it on with both hands, all over, and then get more sunscreen to smear on if there is not enough coverage.  The anointing of prophets, priests and kings was more than

a symbolic drizzle of oil on their heads as the ceremony of anointing presents.  The true annoying was a full coverage smearing of God’s Spirit upon and within the individual.  The ceremony may have been a drizzle, the reality was that enough “sun screen” was applied to fully immerse the anointed.  The ceremony is but a symbolic outward illustration of an internal action…kind of like baptism.  The Messiah would be one so fully immersed in God that one could not tell where the individual stopped and God started so to speak, because the individual was

so fully immersed in God.

It is common to think that Jesus’ primary mission was to heal, to perform miracles, to raise the dead, and to “save Israel.”  But those were but a part of Jesus’ mission.  His PRIMARY mission was to preach and teach the Gospel – the Good News – that God’s salvation is available to everyone, including the poor.  Jesus performed miracles, he healed various conditions, and he even raised the dead, but these were merely outward signs of his inward work – transforming humans lost in spiritual darkness to move towards the light of God.  Kind of like baptism, these were outward signs of an inward change.  Jesus’ message was basically, God’s salvation is available to EVERYONE.  Listen to what I am teaching you and I will point you to the way to get there.

This ability to be able to “see the light” and choose to walk a path of life always moving TOWARDS the light is liberating. No longer is one consigned to wander around in the dark doomed to chose the “easy” sinful way (which is actually a form of oppression) they can move nearer to the light and SEE the better and more righteous path to follow. The analogy of the deep dark woods and the open sunny meadow is still perhaps the best metaphor for it. When you are in the Big Thicket of East Texas and it is dark out because it is either night time, or a storm is brewing, or perhaps an eclipse as will happen on April 8, 2024, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find the “game trail” that leads out of the Thicket and into the open meadows. But in the open meadow it is much easier to see those trails. And if you keep your eyes fixed on the goal to where you want to travel even if the trail is difficult to see your attention to the goal will get you there if you continue to travel towards it.

Next we seek that Jesus claims that he is this Messiah.

Luke 4:20-21

20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 He began by saying to them,“Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

How big is a Torah scroll?  Just look at the photo at the left.  That is the length of a full Torah Scroll.  

Jesus likely followed the custom of standing to read the Scripture out loud, and then sitting to expound upon that scripture. As he closed the book (a heavy two handed scroll) and handed it back to the attendant those present attentively waited for him to give his explanation. 

During the era in which Jesus lived a number of men had already claimed to be the Messiah and some number more were thought by the people to be the Messiah. Most of these were military/political hero who people presumed, wished, or hoped would expel the Romans from their country so things could “get back to normal.” This passage in Isaiah would certainly have grabbed their attention.  Ooo he is gonna say something about who the Messiah is.

Jesus began his exposition by stating “today, as you listen, this scripture has been fulfilled” basically saying I am the Messiah and as of today I will preach God’s Gospel to the poor and proclaim that the wanderers will be released from their confusion, the blind will be able to see the light of God, the oppressed will be released from their oppression, and I will proclaim the Year of the Lord’s Favor. Referencing the Old Testament Year of Jubilee where, every 50 years an economic, cultural, environmental, and communal reset occurred when the land rested, the people rested, slaves were set free to return to their homes, Jesus was saying I am proclaiming that the time has come to place all of your dependence upon GOD and not upon the economic, cultural, environmental, and communal dependencies that you have habitually cultivated.

The Jews were looking for God’s kingdom to be restored to Israel. Jesus told his listeners that I am telling you that NOW is the time of God’s jubilee celebration, NOW is the time to rely upon God, NOW is the time to hear, learn, teach and preach the Gospel that EVERYONE CAN be restored to God’s fellowship. You want Israel to be saved from oppression, saved from conquerors, saved from politics? I tell you that NOW is that time. Now is the time to learn of God’s Good News. Hear it. Study it. Share it. Teach it. Preach it. Proclaim it. The Kingdom of God is here NOW by YOUR choice.

Jesus had fulfilled Isaiah’s words about the Messiah in several ways:

• God’s Spirit was upon Jesus from his conception, at his baptism, in his ministry, through his death, and at his resurrection and later appearances.
• God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and gave him his mission of delivering humanity from being separated from God.
• Jesus preached the good news to the poor – the economically poor, but also the spiritually poor. Both groups needed God’s good news that would help them.
• God sent Jesus to proclaim “God’s Great Reset” – the freedom to NOT choose being captive to sin.
• God sent Jesus to restore sight to the blind – the physically blind and the spiritually blind.
• While it was common to look at the “Roman Empire” as the great oppressor, the Bible points out that sin, and Satan (the opposer of God’s wishes) are the real oppressors. Jesus teaches and demonstrates for us how to live without choosing sin thus freeing us from oppression of sin.
• God Sent Jesus to proclaim the year of God’s favor. The Jews divided time into two distinct eras: the evil agedominated by Satan, the one who opposes God; and the age to come, the one dominated by the Messiah. When Jesus came to the world this initiated the last days which will conclude with his second coming. In making this announcement of the year of God’s favor, Jesus pointed to Himself as initiating that time. 

For over 400 years the Jews had been waiting for a word from God. In this passage Jesus proclaims to them that I am your word from God, NOW is the invitation of the last days, seek light and live.  Jesus’ mission is to deliver the good news of salvation from sin and to a living relationship with God. If this was his mission and we are to be his followers, then we must be about the same mission. Take a thoughtful assessment of your life and determine if you are adequately carrying out your mission. Do this by asking Jesus in your consciousness if you are adequately doing so. “Listen” for his answer and seek how to better be on mission.