The Story of the Bible
Jesus' Ministry
When Jesus was 30, he began to minister to people, fulfilling the words of the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, empowering him to declare good news to the poor, release to the captives, healing the blind, setting free the oppressed and proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor. He healed those who were physically, mentally or psychologically sick. He even healed the disabled and raised the dead. He declared forgiveness to people for bad things they had done. All these things clearly proved that God's spirit was with him and that what he said was true.
Despite all the good that he did, he offended the religious people of the day. They had gotten so stuck in traditions and their fine-toothed interpretation of the laws given to Moses that they'd missed the whole point of what God was trying to tell them. The laws were intended to set boundaries to keep the people safe from disease, moral corruption and oppression. The religious leaders were taking the religious observances so far that they were oppressive, distracting people from developing a relationship with a God who had created them for that purpose. They got most upset that Jesus even healed people on the day of worship. In their eyes, healing people was Jesus' job, and no one was to work on the day of worship. Jesus silenced them by pointing out that just as they would untie their animals to lead them to water on the day of worship, it is so much better that people should be released from years of affliction. Luke 13:10-17
Above all, the religious leaders were jealous of Jesus. He was gaining in popularity - distracting people from devotion to their own teaching.
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