On This Day: The Breakdown of Setting People Free

   “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

      It is so interesting to revisit Luke 4 and consider afresh what it was like for Jesus to read Isaiah 61 in the synagogue of his hometown. Because I know how the visit went, it makes me consider what Jesus was doing and how Isaiah’s prophecy was “fulfilled in your hearing” (vs 21). 

   What is so notable today is how Jesus could do everything Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would do even when people would try to kill him for it. He still “proclaimed” the good news for the poor in spirit, he still “proclaimed” liberty to the captives, he still “proclaimed” the recovering of sight for the blind, and he still “set at” liberty the people who were oppressed.

   To “set at” means to send someone in a particular direction. Anyone who went where Jesus directed them would experience what was prophesied. He was sending people to liberty, to what we call “freedom in Christ”, and anyone who would go there, who would follow him into the Promised Land (so to speak), would experience exactly what was promised. 

   However, what I noticed today as the clincher was that the liberty Jesus was sending people to experience was for “those who are oppressed”. Which would mean that only those willing to admit they “are oppressed” would be open to his direction.

   And yes, that is where everything breaks down. The religious elite never experienced what Jesus came to give because their arrogance and pride resisted admitting there was anything wrong with them (narcissists in the Bible!). The prostitutes and tax collectors who came to Christ weren’t any more oppressed than the religious elite; they simply knew they were captive to sin while the religious hypocrites could never admit to such a thing. 

   I can see why God has me on this present focus of honestly evaluating how much I have experienced what Jesus came to give. The “freely you have received; freely give” work of God breaks down if I don’t freely receive for myself first! And that means freely admitting that I am just as oppressed and crushed in spirit by sin as anyone else. 

   I can still see the situation when I was twelve years old and I felt my need to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. But I can also see numerous times throughout my life where I felt utterly brokenhearted over my soul-condition and had to receive Jesus’ ministry more deeply than ever. And that’s what I encourage everyone to see, that we must admit anything in our lives that fits the description of oppressed. It applies to all of us in our sinfulness. But it can apply to each of us uniquely with ways sin has damaged us on the inside.

   Whatever the case, please learn from the negative way the people of Jesus’ hometown rejected him that it is time for us to admit our oppression so we will receive Jesus as the one who leads us to freedom. His work is still being fulfilled in the world as people make Jesus known to everyone. The breakdown of this opportunity is when people can’t admit they need him. But the poor in spirit will experience freedom in Christ no matter what deliverance is required.

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)