ODJ: the King’s speech

August 7, 2013 

READ: Luke 4:16-30 

The time of the Lord’s favour has come (v.19).

The film The King’s Speech is based on the true story of England’s King George VI. After his brother abdicated the throne in the late 1930s, the new king enlisted the help of an unconventional speech therapist to overcome his problem with stuttering. Together they worked to find the king’s clear voice and his ability to deliver a stirring speech that his nation could stand behind as it prepared to stand against Nazi aggression.
At the start of His public career, Jesus gave a king’s speech (Luke 4:18-19,21). To announce and define His kingship, He chose to read from what is now known as Isaiah 61. It’s a Scripture passage that proclaims the arrival of the year of Jubilee—“the year of the Lord’s favour” (v.2 NIV).

For the Jews, Jubilee was a year like no other. As the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land, God declared that every 50th year there was to be a year of forgiveness and a fresh start. It was a year when all debts were to be cancelled, all land returned and all slaves set free (Leviticus 25:8-13).

But the Jubilee that Jesus referred to in His speech was the Jubilee of all Jubilees! It went beyond financial debts, slavery and land ownership. And it wasn’t just for the Jews. Jesus, the true King of the world, was announcing a worldwide forgiveness, rescue and restoration of all that was broken in mankind.

Sadly, the people listening to Jesus rejected His speech. They initially liked what He was saying, until they realised His Jubilee was also for outsiders (Luke 4:22-30).

Most of us who are reading Jesus’ speech today are the very outsiders He had in mind. Let’s stand with our King and proclaim His Jubilee for all!

—Jeff Olson

› Luke 12:49-59