Jesus Came to Help Hurting People

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim 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 favor” (Luke 4:18-19 NIV).

Throughout the Gospels we see how much Jesus cared for hurting people. Just look at how he preached. He always started with a hurt—poverty, blindness, brokenness, or imprisonment. Why? Because he came to share the Good News with people who needed hope.

When hurting people approached Jesus, he did not blow them off. He never told them they should only be concerned about correct doctrine. He met their needs with compassion.

Notice the last line of today’s Scripture: “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” This refers to the “Year of Jubilee,” which God established when he created the nation of Israel. It was a year when every debt would be canceled, every prisoner would be released, every slave would be set free, and all land that had been sold to pay off debt in the previous fifty years would revert back to its original owner.

So, as Jesus read Isaiah’s words in the synagogue of his hometown, he was boldly proclaiming: “I am the Day of Jubilee when everyone’s sins and debts are wiped out.”

There are still broken people in the world today. And Jesus wants you to serve them, following his example—preaching the Good News of freedom in Christ.