Jesus Manifesto For The Poor

As discussed in the previous section, the concept of poor in the Lukan writing is not entirely, or even primarily, about the economically deprived, but all those who lived in an inferior status within the Jewish society. The focal point of the Gospel is the treatment of these categories of people that Luke considers to be ‘the poor’. The Gospel doesn’t only focus on the poor being inheritors of the message, but also the message of how the poor ought to be treated by those of power. This leads Scholars such as Mel Shoemaker to argue that Luke is primarily written not for the poor but to the influential and wealthy (Shoemaker 182).
Luke highlights numerous passages that echo this solidarity with the poor and marginalized. These include; Lazarus …show more content…
Jesus outlines his mission in this passage. The dictionary defines manifesto as a written statement of the beliefs, aims and policies of an organization, especially a political party. Therefore, we could argue that if this is in fact Jesus’ manifesto in the Gospel of Luke, he has clearly delivered his message to those who need to hear it most. This was delivered in the synagogue in the presence of those with power. He shows that he is called: to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free. Lucius Nereprampil argues that this passage read by Jesus from the book of Isaiah brought out the clear consciousness of Jesus and his identity ‘of being anointed and sent to bring good news to the poor’. The good news is the arrival of this kingdom of God on earth. Nereprmpil goes on the state that “the actions of Jesus clarify this through his healing of the blind, the lame and lepers. Giving hope to beggars, the hungry, the outcasts, the oppressed, the sinners, the prostitutes, the tax-collectors, the demon possessed, the captives, widows and orphans” (Nereparampil 140). Basically, all those who were rejected by