Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 2 Study # 10
October 1, 2006
Lincolnton, N.C.
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<284> Thesis:  At the heart of "redemption" is the question of whether there is any serious willingness to admit to guilt. Introduction:  Up to this point in our studies of Luke, we have seen that Jesus is being presented as "the Consolation of Israel", "the Lord's Christ", "God's Salvation", "the Son of God", "the Redeemer", "the Savior", "Christ, the Lord", "the Horn of Salvation", "the Fulfillment of the Holy Abrahamic Covenant", "the Ruler on the Throne of David", and "a Light of Revelation" (among other things). But, this presentation has been made in the context of the true message of the Law -- that men are core-corrupted so that they are no longer the men God created them to be; but, as John claimed, they are the "offspring of vipers." In the particular context of the words before us this morning, Jesus has come into Nazareth and claimed to be the personal fulfillment of the Message of Recovery. The "outer" boundaries of the message is the announcement of the "Recovery" -- the Gospel of the Restoration of What Has Been Lost: the fantastic "good news". But the "inner" core of the message is that men are "blind" to the Light of Revelation because they are over-committed to their own self-interests: the chilling "bad news". As we have worked our way to the text before us this morning (4:23-24), we have been particularly pressed to deal with the "problem" of "blindness" and the question of "What does it take for the blind to see?" When we considered 4:20, we were impressed with Luke's emphasis upon how the physical eyes of everyone present were focused upon Jesus. Under that impression we were reminded of how the Scriptures never present anyone's sight being restored who refused to "look unto Jesus". So, we drew the conclusion that one of the first things Jesus had to do if He was to fulfill His calling to restore sight to the blind was to attract the attention of the blind. And this He did as 4:14 tells us. But, we have also been impressed by the paragraph before us with how those in the synagogue that morning remained blind even though they had their eyes "fixed on Jesus". The automatic question arises: what, then, is needful for sight beyond "looking unto Jesus"? It is this question that is addressed in our text.