Introduction
In Jesus’ earthly ministry, we see a ministry marked by teaching, healing, and serving others. In “The 3 Aspects of Jesus’ Earthly Ministry – Isaiah 61:1-2,” we will explore how these three areas were manifested in His mission and how we can apply them to our own Christian walk. By observing His words and actions, we will understand how He brought deliverance, restoration, and hope to humanity, and how we can follow His example to live authentic and transformative Christianity.
The Works of Jesus’ Ministry
Luke 4:16-21 – “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and gave it back to the minister, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.“
On Saturdays, Jesus always spent part of the day going to the synagogues to praise and bless the Lord His God, as well as studying and teaching the Scriptures to the people who were there. In the verse above, we find an account of this episode. Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, and in the reading of the Scriptures, he proclaimed that the words of Isaiah were being fulfilled before those people.
In these verses read by Jesus, we find some works of Jesus’ Earthly Ministry. This list can be summarized in the following topics:
- Evangelize the poor;
- Heal the brokenhearted;
- Preach freedom to the captives;
- Restore sight to the blind;
- Free the oppressed;
- To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord;
3 Categories of Jesus’ Actions
Notice that in His ministry, Jesus was fully dedicated to carrying out three categories of actions:
Teach:
Evangelize the poor;
Preach freedom to the captives;
Announce the acceptable year of the Lord;Heal:
Heal the brokenhearted;
Restore sight to the blind;
Provide service:
Free the oppressed;
Today, many of us consider ourselves Christians. To be a Christian is to follow Christ and be like Him. However, when we learn a little about His ministry, we can see how little we are like Jesus. He devoted His life to teaching about the will of God. His message was the good news (gospel) of salvation from sin. He preached freedom from the power of sin. The message we preach today should be like Christ’s. So, our theme should be the power of the gospel to free people from the bondage of sin.
A Reflection for Our Life
Even though many of us may think we are fulfilling our role of preaching His Word, have we also modeled the other two characteristics of Christ’s ministry? Have we brought healing to people and served them?
It is not enough to simply preach His Word. This is important, but deep down we cannot summarize Christianity in just words. Being a Christian is much more than that. We must do whatever we can to bring healing to those in need. We may not have the gift of healing and performing miracles like Jesus did, but that does not mean we should look for an excuse not to do what we can to follow in Christ’s footsteps. We may not have such gifts, but we can alleviate the suffering of our neighbors, visit the sick, teach them a healthy lifestyle so that they can improve their health, and do any other task related to healing.
Healing and Helping Others
Dedicating time to healing people is something that every Christian should do. This is what happened during Jesus’ Earthly Ministry. No one needs to be a doctor to bring healing to people. Providing help when needed and teaching the right way to live already helps and alleviates the suffering of many people.
The third aspect of Christ’s earthly ministry is service to others. It is easy to call our neighbors our brothers, but are we really brothers to those who need our help? Are we taking the time to help with the daily duties and basic needs of our neighbors?
It is not always easy to carry out a ministry similar to that of Christ here on earth. It is very easy to be content with just one or two works that Jesus did, but if we want to be like Him, we need to be like Him in everything He did. We must teach, heal, and help everyone within our reach.
Conclusion
Jesus’ earthly ministry was marked by teaching, healing, and serving others, revealing the true meaning of living for God and others. Therefore, if we want to be like Christ, we cannot limit our faith to preaching alone, but must actively take action, bringing hope, relief, and help to those in need. May we reflect on these three aspects of Jesus’ ministry and commit to putting them into practice, making our lives a reflection of the love and compassion He demonstrated.
Let us meditate on these actions so that they can be the basis of our Christian walk here on earth.
May God bless the reader.
