Jesus Begins His Ministry

MEMORY VERSE: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.” —John 14:12

LUKE 4:16-19; 5:18-26

JESUS received the Holy Spirit at the time of his baptism by John, and in this lesson we find him in the synagogue at Nazareth explaining in part the ministry of the Spirit in his life. He read from the 61st chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

As Jesus explained, he was “anointed,” or commissioned, by the Spirit of God to do all these things. In short, this was a commission to preach the glad tidings of his coming kingdom on earth, when deliverance will come to all the “poor,” the “brokenhearted,” the “captives,” the “blind,” and the “bruised.” Jesus not only comforted the people by his messages of truth concerning the coming kingdom blessings, but in many instances he confirmed this message by the miracles which he performed to illustrate the vital meaning of his ministry.

The second part of our lesson is an account of one of these miracles. It was the healing of a man afflicted with palsy. Much faith was manifested by this man and his friends in overcoming the difficulty of bringing him to Jesus. When Jesus saw there faith he said to the man, The scribes and Pharisees were displeased with this and accused Jesus of blasphemy.

To their reasonings among themselves, Jesus replied by asking which would require the greater power, or authority: to forgive a man his sins, or to heal his disease? Then, to demonstrate that he did have power to forgive sins and to heal the sick, Jesus said to the man sick of the palsy, “Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.” The man obeyed, and thus it was demonstrated that the power of God was truly operating through Jesus.

The record states that “they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things today.” (Luke 5:24,26) Truly these things were strange, not to Jesus, but to the members of the sin cursed and dying race to whom he ministered. To them, sickness and death were inevitable, and they supposed that no one could do anything about it. But Jesus could, for he had been endowed with the miracle-working power of his Heavenly Father, the Creator, and he was able not only to comfort his hearers with his words but to restore them to health, which in many cases he did. He even awakened from death some who had died.

Our memory verse ties in beautifully with the lesson, and calls attention to an aspect of the divine plan of redemption and deliverance not generally understood. In this verse Jesus asserts that those who truly believe on him will be able to do the same works that he did, and even “greater works.” There are those who use this text as authority to practice what they call divine healing. But these do not attempt to raise the dead, as Jesus did, nor do they attempt to explain what Jesus meant by doing “greater works” than he did. The understanding of this statement by Jesus is to be found only in the divine plan of the ages as set forth in the Bible. One of the important features of that plan is the fact that Jesus will have associate rulers and blessers with him in his thousand-year kingdom. Jesus will be the great Messiah of promise in that kingdom, the “Seed” promised to Abraham which was to “bless all families of the earth.” (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:16) And his true followers will be a part of that “Seed” class. For Paul wrote, “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, … and if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:27-29) While these faithful followers of the Master today are to comfort the mourning ones with the Gospel of the kingdom, they are not now empowered to heal the sick and raise the dead. But they are being prepared for this glorious future work of the kingdom. This is the hope which is set before them in the Word of God.

In the kingdom, both Jesus and his associates will perform great works. During his earthly ministry Jesus healed comparatively few of the sick, and the number of those awakened from the sleep of death was small indeed. But during the kingdom all the sick will be restored to health, and all the dead will be raised to life. And not only so, their healing will be permanent if they obey the laws of the kingdom; and those raised from death will not need to die again, as did those whom Jesus awakened at his first advent. These will indeed be greater works!

QUESTIONS

What function of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ life did he emphasize at Nazareth?

Explain the circumstances of the miracle recorded in this lesson.

When will Jesus’ followers do greater works?

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