Luke 4:16-21
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, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “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, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 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. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Reflection
On the Sabbath, Jesus went to the synagogue to worship God as all Jewish men would have done. He read from the scroll of Isaiah and quoted Isaiah 61:1-2. Isaiah wrote about a physical Kingdom related to the release of Israelites from captivity in Babylon. But even when Israel was released from captivity, it didn’t totally and finally meet all that was prophesied by Isaiah. There must be more.
And now, Jesus is saying that the prophesy of Isaiah is being fulfilled – by Jesus!
And yet we know that even in Jesus’ time, there were still poor, still prisoners, still blind, still oppressed. And even today, we still have poor, prisoners, blind and oppressed.
So the Kingdom can’t be here in its fullness. And yet, Jesus declares that the Kingdom is good news and is near – ALREADY AND NOT YET.
What does this mean to you.
