29. What title could Jesus as the Anointed One have attached to his name, and with what was it that he was anointed?

²⁹ After being anointed with God’s holy spirit at the Jordan River, Jesus could have attached to his name the title Messiah or Christ, and rightly he became called Jesus the Messiah or Jesus Christ. Months later, when Jesus was on his way back to Galilee, a Samaritan woman said to him: “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. Whenever that one arrives, he will declare all things to us openly.” Then Jesus quietly said to her: “I who am speaking to you am he.” (John 4:25, 26) As Messiah or Christ, Jesus was anointed, not with official oil poured upon his head, but with something that only God could pour out upon him as a spiritual Son. With what, then? The apostle Peter answers: “God anointed him with holy spirit and power, and he went through the land doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil.”​—Acts 10:38.

30. As in David’s case, how was Jesus affected immediately after his anointing, and why did he not lose holy spirit?

³⁰ Here we recall that, after the shepherd boy David was anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel, God’s active force became operative upon him to his doing notable things. Just so when Jesus became anointed from heaven, by God. Luke 4:1, 2 testifies: “Now Jesus, full of holy spirit, turned away from the Jordan, and he was led about by the spirit in the wilderness for forty days, while being tempted by the Devil.” Mark 1:12 says: “Immediately the spirit impelled him to go into the wilderness.” Happily, because of Jesus’ faithfulness in the wilderness under test by the Devil, he did not lose holy spirit; he did not cease to be Messiah or Christ. He proved true to what his water baptism symbolized.

31. After John’s imprisonment, Jesus returned to Galilee under what power, and what did he do there?

³¹ In the year 30 C.E. John the Baptizer, Jesus’ forerunner, was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee. So Jesus left Judea and passed through Samaria and returned to Galilee. Here Jesus applied to himself the Scriptures by means of which he could be identified as the Messiah or Christ. (Matthew 4:12-17) “Now Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee. And good talk concerning him spread out through all the surrounding country. Also, he began to teach in their synagogues, being held in honor by all.” (Luke 4:14, 15) God’s anointing upon him helped him as he taught the people the Holy Scriptures.

32. In the Nazareth synagogue, what prophecy of Isaiah did Jesus read aloud, and what was his comment thereon?

³² In the synagogue of his hometown Nazareth, Jesus called attention to the fact that he had been anointed by God in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1-3 as regards the Messiah. About this we read in Luke 4:16-21, as follows:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been reared; and, according to his custom on the sabbath day, he entered into the synagogue, and he stood up to read. So the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, and he opened the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘Jehovah’s spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor, he sent me forth to preach a release to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the crushed ones away with a release, to preach Jehovah’s acceptable year.’ With that he rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were intently fixed upon him. Then he started to say to them: ‘Today this scripture that you just heard is fulfilled.’”

33. The “good news” that Jesus was commissioned to declare was about what, and to what extent was he sent to declare it?

³³ What a beautiful course Isaiah’s prophecy foretold for Jehovah’s Anointed One! How graciously Jehovah’s active force with which he was anointed was to operate through him! All through the remaining three years of his Messianic service on earth he lovingly carried out that prophetic commission from God. The “good news” that he declared to the poor was the message of God’s Messianic kingdom. To a spiritually hungry crowd who wanted to detain him he said: “Also to other cities I must declare the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this I was sent forth.”​—Luke 4:43.

34. Who accompanied Jesus when he went preaching from place to place?

³⁴ The later record tells us: “Shortly afterwards he went journeying from city to city and from village to village, preaching and declaring the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve [apostles] were with him, and certain women that had been cured of wicked spirits and sicknesses, Mary the so-called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s man in charge, and Susanna and many other women, who were ministering to them from their belongings.” Despite the hostile attitude of those religionists, Jesus healed a helpless paralytic, and the deeply impressed people said: “We have seen strange things today!”​—Luke 8:1-3.

37. What case is reported on in Luke 5:17-26 to show that the curative power of Jesus was not weakened by religious opposition?

³⁷ Since Jesus had his anointing, not from men, but from his heavenly Father, he “went through the land doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil; because God was with him.” (Acts 10:38) Malicious opposition by religious leaders did not weaken the force that was operative for miracles. With respect to one outstanding case, it is written: “In the course of one of the days he was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come out of every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem were sitting there; and Jehovah’s power was there for him to do healing.”​—Luke 5:17-26.