Jesus, before He began His ministry, at the synagogue in Nazareth set out the priorities of His life and ministry. This is written in the book of Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (NIV)
This scripture is somewhat the manifesto of Jesus’s whole life and ministry. His priorities were to preach the good news to the poor, i.e. to those that are lowly and in need, proclaiming the freedom from the works of the darkness and sin in one’s life, opening the spiritual eyes of the people through the truth and to set the people free from the oppressive clutches of the evil forces with the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus did all this through the anointing of the Holy Spirit on His life through His death and resurrection.
These same priorities should be the primary priorities of every believer. During our daily lives we should make it a task to look after and feed the poor, clothing the naked, helping the strangers, visit and pray for the sick and take care of those who are oppressed and marginalised in our societies.
Jesus explains this through the story of the good Samaritan in the book of Luke chapter 10. He also states his priorities in the book of Matthew chapter 25.
In the book of James, the scriptures state, that the "religion God accepts as pure and faultless is to look after orphans and the widows in their difficulties and keeping ourselves away from the lusts of this world." We at the Healing to the Nations ministries make it our duty to function in this calling.
The manifesto of Jesus should be reflected in out lives as the out-working of our salvation. This is a sign of true authenticity.