Conforming (phase 2), Who is Jesus? What quality do I long and pray for? - AtaDc (step19), session 7

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." - Lk 4:18-19

Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah, and we find this passage at the beginning of chapter 61, though our translation of it doesn't quite match. Of course Jesus is primarily going to fulfill this by releasing us from our captivity to sin, helping us see our sin clearly for what it is and what it does, setting at liberty those oppressed by sin. The parallel in Isaiah includes that he will bind up the brokenhearted, which we see him do over and over again throughout the Gospels for those whose hearts are broken in so many ways, including broken by their own guilt.

I love Jesus for this.

Plenty has been written about the phenomenon of a prophet not being welcomed in his own country, so let me move to the end (entire reading: Lk 4:16-30).

And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away. - Lk 4:29-30

When individuals with great power are opposed, their response is often severe. It takes a truly secure person of power to respond gently and peacefully to those who dare to disagree with them. We sometimes focus so much on Jesus' humanity and his humility that we forget that he had more power over the physical world at his disposal than any person who ever lived. There is much he could have done to those who dared to cast him down. But Jesus didn't come to dominate us, he came to love us. No one is ever set free through oppression, and Jesus doesn't oppress us today. When we become angry that our prayers are not answered in the way we prefer, God does not smite us, but is patient with us. He calls us, and if we resist him he passes through our midst, simply awaiting another time he has prepared for us to be more open to his message for us.

If we are conforming to Jesus, we must seek to fulfill the anointing we share with him, not through miraculous works, and not responding in anger when we are rejected for doing what we can because it isn't all that the recipient might want.