For this purpose have I come.
For what purpose? The immediate context is his intention to go to the nearby villages to preach. He seemed to imply that what it was his mission to do elsewhere what he had done in Capernaum. Yet in what way does this really answer the question of the purpose he came, the purpose he chose to become incarnate and walk among us?
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (see First John 3:8).
We can understand that his purpose really was to preach and to drive out demons when we realize that in both contexts there was something happening on the surface, and something deeper being revealed. On the surface his preaching seemed to mostly be of a moral sort, talking about love of God and neighbor. On the surface, his healing power set free those bound by sickness and demonic possession. Yet his original audience could tell there was more to the story than the superficial. In his preaching, they sensed one who "taught them as one having authority" (see Mark 1:22). In his healings it was not simply the superficial ailment that was healed. The outer healing was accompanied by an inner transformation of faith.
Repent, and believe in the gospel (see Mark 1:15).
The gospel message was not merely a teaching, not merely healing, not merely hope in a Kingdom of this world. The call to conversion which was the content of the message of Jesus was more than a simple call to moral perfection. The word repent was a translation of the greek word metanoia which meant beyond-thought or above-thought. It was not first a call to change our way of acting so much as it was a call to transcend our old ways of thinking. Jesus himself, his very presence, demonstrated that our old ways of thinking were no longer adequate. Hence, though he conveyed many moral truths by his words, his preaching was ultimately more intended as a revelation of who he himself was. Only from that vantage point did his teachings make sense. Only that fact made sense of the authority with which he spoke. That he spoke with power is evident from the fact that the demons could not resist him. His words did have such power that he himself was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (see Luke 4:19).
Jesus said, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (see Luke 4:21) because in his words themselves the invitation to come to faith, the grace to transcend old ways of thinking, was present. It was by way of this invitation that the restoration of the world would be accomplished. And so it was in this sense that he had come for this purpose, that of preaching. Let's not underestimate the significance of this because when the Word who made the universe spoke he was in fact beginning to create it anew, precisely in the hearts of his listeners. Those who accepted the invitation to faith could recognize it.
Yet "this purpose" for which Jesus came can be spelled out more concretely. It was very much a response to the derelict cry of Job and those like him.
Remember that my life is like the wind;
I shall not see happiness again.
The heart of Jesus was love for his people. The purpose for which he came, the words which he came to preach, were to assure his people that they were not forgotten, that they were indeed loved. But his words were not cheap. They effected deliverance even as they were proclaimed. And though those freed from demons would one day still grow old and die, they could do so now with confidence that they were loved and not abandoned. So too does our faith allow us to faith death still confident in God's love for us, especially now that the resurrection has been revealed.
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
He tells the number of the stars;
he calls each by name.
When we've had this experience of Jesus himself, when his words and his power have revealed his heart to us, we become compelled to speak of it. We want to tell the world, "the love you desire, that seems impossible, is real. It is a person. It is Jesus himself."
If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,
for an obligation has been imposed on me,
and woe to me if I do not preach it!
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