The Gospel of Luke comprises many statements that should impact the church in understanding God’s mission emanating from before creation. One of these is Jesus’ mission statement found in Luke 4:18-19. In this passage Jesus’ mission is comprehensively, yet succinctly, defined. This text sparked many questions in my mind as to why South Africa and many other countries seem to be in a depressive spiritual and social malaise. Surely there is God’s remedy in Christ? But seemingly this is not clearly understood by many church-going people today. These thoughts and concerns led to this study to seek a fresh understanding of the meaning and an appropriate response to Luke 4:18-19, especially with reference to two church congregations. This study, firstly, reports on afield research project at these two local churches that was conducted to gauge their understanding of, and response to, Luke 4:18-19. Then, secondly, the study presents different perspectives on this Lukan passage: exegetical, biblical theology, historical theology, and non-theology. The results of these two parts of the study are then correlated, taking into account the contexts of the two congregations, to produce an operative theology regarding Luke 4:18-19 for them. The operative theology provides the normative understanding of Luke 4:18-19 and the relevant practical response, and is defended based on the churches’ beliefs and the transformation vision implied in Luke 4:18-19. Then, thirdly, the study presents a strategy developed to help these two churches to successfully achieve the proposed operative theology regarding Luke 4:18-19.

Master of Theology (Mth) South African Theological Seminary December 2018