(First published May 11, 2021)

In Luke 4, Jesus arrives in His hometown of Nazareth and, as is His usual practice, He goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath and is given the floor by the religious leaders to teach. What He reads is His job description, prophesied hundreds of years before by Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

As I read this passage this morning, I was struck by the lines I italicized. It occurred to me that these functions of Jesus’ purpose are all a rolling back of conditions that have brought their victims to life all-stop.

• the brokenhearted? Used to be whole-hearted.
• the captives? Used to walk free.
• the blind? Used to see (note: “recovery” of sight)
• the oppressed? Used to feel joy and hope.

Jesus comes to restore, give back, full life to those who no longer have it. Who’ve been ripped off.

Someone, some circumstance, broke their hearts, took them captive, blinded eyes, shattered joy. They live like taped-up Humpty Dumpties. No one seems to be able to put them back together again.

This reminds me of Paul saying to the Corinthians, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (2 Cor 11:3) Paul was saying, I am jealous for you on Christ’s behalf that you walk in the abundant life you started off in, but I’m afraid you’ve been ripped off. Diverted. Deluded.

Friends, did any of you used to be whole-hearted, free, clear-sighted, joyful—but now feel broken, captive, blind, oppressed? It’s HARD to live that way! Maybe you even walk as a Christian lugging a burden of brokenness or under a cloud of oppression. This is not unusual: if the enemy can’t have you completely, he’ll settle for half. He’ll take his reward as you have an anxiety attack in the church bathroom or feel numb as worshipers lift their hands in the next row. He’ll feel satisfied when you consistently live less-than.

Why? Because Ephesians 2:10. Paul tells us there that we are God’s masterpiece, made to do all kinds of purposeful good stuff that God thought up for us even before the creation of the world. If the enemy can keep us brokenhearted and blind and oppressed and captive, buying the lie that this is as good as it gets or deciding this is just our cross to bear—well, he figures he’s got a dub.

I for sure understand this one. Although when young I remember feeling joy and simple excitement about relationship with Jesus, I’ve lived a lot of my life with corners of yuck that have kept me from believing I am who He says I am and walking confidently and purposefully in what He made me to do. I’ve felt like a square peg in a round hole at times, trying to fit where God didn’t make me to fit and please people He didn’t tell me to please. I’ve let Him re-set me over the past months and though I’m still a work in progress, I feel Him putting me back where I was before the enemy scored his points. It’s actually so much simpler than I’ve been living; I think the enemy likes to complicate a whole lot of stuff. And I feel a joy I haven’t felt in a very long time.

If you’re limping along in less-than sight, freedom, joy, and whole-heartedness, ripped off and deluded and diverted, go talk to Jesus. He specializes in healing broken hearts, giving back freedom, and restoring clear vision. Reversing the rip-offs. Go!