Luke 4: 14-21 Wrote:14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “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,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”[a]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Though not included in today’s Lectionary gospel reading, this passage ends with Jesus facing rejection in his hometown of Nazareth because of the extreme nature of what he has just done. For those of us out of the context of first century Judaism, it might be a little hard to grasp exactly why, but in reading this short section from what we now term the book of Isaiah, Jesus is saying something that, if it were not true, would be very close to blasphemy - the charge that ultimately led to his crucifixion.

He is saying that he has been anointed by the spirit of God as a prophet, though Luke’s readers would know that Jesus had been anointed by the spirit at his baptism and proclaimed the son the God, not just a mere prophet. The task for which he has been anointed is threefold: proclaiming first good news to the poor, then liberation and healing to prisoners, the blind and oppressed and, finally, the year of the Lord’s favour.

There has been much debate throughout the years as to what extent Jesus was talking about socioeconomic factors, and certainly, it is clear all through the Bible that God has a special concern for the poor and, as followers of Christ, we too must do what we can for those in need. There has always been another dimension to the use of the term poor, however, and that is of those who are aware of their spiritual need. In this sense, Jesus is saying that he has come to preach good news to those who will receive it.

Similarly, Jesus is not recorded as having ever set a literal prisoner free from their chains, nor did he, as some in Judea would have hoped of their Messiah, end the oppression of the Romans. So it is clear that Jesus is talking about spiritual matters, but what do these phrases mean, spiritually?

To some extent the answer is found in the third of the three tasks, proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favour. This is a reference two things. Firstly, it refers to the year of Jubilee, the divinely appointed seventh year (or sabbath year) in which all debts were to be cancelled and slaves set free. Secondly, it refers to a great year of Jubilee yet to come, one which would last forever when all is set right again. In proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favour, Jesus is pointing to his own purpose as the one through whom all sin would be forgiven - the ultimate cancellation of debt and because we are all considered to be slaves to sin, the ultimate setting-free. Indeed, the way a slave was set free was usually through redemption, the act of one paying the price for the other’s freedom. In the same way, we talk about Jesus being the redeemer, the one who, in his suffering and death on the cross, paid the price for all our sin.

Jesus is not merely a prophet, one who proclaims these things, but the one who ultimately achieves them, who sets the oppressed free. To imply these things before an audience of men in a Jewish synagogue was scandalous. No one could do such things but God himself, yet here Jesus stood, teaching as he always did with authority and, in this case, spectacular brevity. It seems there are only two responses to such a message - belief, or rejection. The citizens of Nazareth chose one reaction, Jesus disciples, ultimately, chose the other and, in so doing, they would follow in his footsteps and do many of the things Jesus read out. Our challenge, ultimately, is to do the same, but first, we must be ‘the poor’ willing to accept our need for salvation, our imprisonment in darkness, our blindness and oppression. We must long for the year of Jubilee and then, in Jesus, we will receive it.