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
The prophet Isaiah had prophesied several hundred years before the time of Jesus that a time would
come when God would restore all things. Isaiah
said that the following would happen:
1) good news would be proclaimed to the poor;
2) freedom for prisoners;
3) the blind would see;
4) the oppressed would be freed;
5) the year of the
Lord’s favor would be proclaimed.
Jesus doing what a Jewish male would have done
at the time, went to the synagogue, took His turn reading from Scripture (the prophesy from Isaiah)
and then He sat down. At that point, Jesus told
those present that all that Isaiah had prophesied
was now happening by Him!
Shortly after this, Luke tells us that the folks in
Jesus’ hometown became furious with Him and
drove Him out of town.
This prophesy sounds radical. The Jews would
have thought that this would have been at least a military endeavor, or at minimum a physical struggle for these things to be fulfilled. What do you think about as you hear this passage – what do you think Jesus is about to do and how will He do it?
