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SPIRITUALLY NEEDY

Jesus was concerned about hunger, disease, and injustice, but he was more concerned about people’s relationship with God and their destiny in the world. When He read Isaiah 61 from the Synagogue at Nazareth, he quoted, “ 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 freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed, free to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (Luke 4:18-19).

By quoting this passage from Isaiah, Jesus announced his twofold mission. First, He would literally help restore sight, give comfort, and liberate those in bondage to destructive habits and addictive behaviour. Second, He would bring spiritual renewal, enlightening the spiritually blind (John 6), liberating the spiritual shackled, comforting the spiritually guilt-ridden and distressed.

While His pity took in the whole gamut of human affliction and His healing miracles provided relief, His concern was also spiritual. His society was permeated with religion, but the religion established by god for the blessing of His people had degenerated  into a legalistic straight jacket. So He denounced, with fierce vehemence, the Pharisaic traditionalism that took away the “key to knowledge” (Luke 11:52) and left its soul-empty adherents in ignorance of God.

Jesus was shaken to the centre of His being by His vision of their fate in eternity – exiled from the light, the love, and the life of God in darkness and despair forever. Again and again, He begged the crowd to flee from the wrath to come. He spoke with a heart-melting eloquence, using the most vivid imagery to jolt the complacent, the indifferent, and the unrepentant out of their apathy. Such a terrifying prospect filled Jesus’ heart with grief. Even though Jesus ate and drank with sinners, and even though He shared in the happiness of wedding feasts, He never lost sight of “the dark line on God’s face.” He had entered our world as the embodiment of mercy, willing to die in order that the lost sinners might not perish, but have everlasting life.

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