Luke 4:16-21 describes when Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah in His hometown synagogue, declaring a message of good news, healing, and freedom. He then boldly proclaims that this Scripture has been fulfilled in their hearing, revealing Himself as the promised anointed one.
Luke 4:16-21Luke 4:16-21 commentary has no obvious parallel Gospel accounts. It is possible that Matthew 13:54aMatthew 13:54a commentary- and Mark 6:1-2aMark 6:1-2a commentary describe the same event as Luke 4:16-21Luke 4:16-21 commentary.
In Luke 4:16-21Luke 4:16-21 commentary, commentary Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue of His hometown of Nazareth, declaring the fulfillment of the Scripture in their hearing, which amazes the people, though they are puzzled by His claim given that He is Joseph’s son.
After Jesus began publicly preaching and teaching in synagogues and doing miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit throughout Galilee (Luke 4:14-15Luke 4:14-15 commentary), He went to visit His hometown of Nazareth.
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; (v 16a).
Throughout Luke 4:16-22Luke 4:16-22 commentary, commentary the pronouns He and His refer to Jesus.
Jesus came to Nazareth from Galilee (Luke 4:14-15Luke 4:14-15 commentary), presumably in the vicinity of Capernaum where He established His ministry headquarters (Matthew 4:12-13Matthew 4:12-13 commentary), andHe came to His hometown of Nazareth.
Nazareth was a small town located in the hills to the south and east of the southern point of the Sea of Galilee. Even though it was not along the lake shore, Nazareth was part of the Roman district of Galilee. Though Jesus was born in the southern part of Israel, in Bethlehem, Judea, near Jerusalem (Matthew 2:1Matthew 2:1 commentary, commentaryLuke 2:4-6Luke 2:4-6 commentary), the town of Nazareth in northern Israel was where He had been brought up. Nazareth had been Jesus’s hometown since His early childhood when Mary and Joseph moved there following King Herod’s death (Matthew 2:21-23Matthew 2:21-23 commentary).
Luke continues:
and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read (v 16b).
The expression and as was His custom means that it was a typical or normal thing for Jesus to do. His custom was to enter the synagogue on the Sabbathand to publicly read a passage of Jewish scripture and then teach its meaning to everyone in the synagogue.
Synagogues were local centers of worship and teaching in the community. They were led and organized by the Pharisees. The Pharisees were influential and highly regarded experts in the Jewish scriptures and traditions. They used their synagogues to promote their interpretation and exert influence.
The synagogue of Nazareth was the synagogue which Jesus had attended as a boy. It was likely the formal setting where, as a boy, He would have been taught the Law and the Prophets, the history of the Jewish people, and the religious traditions of the Pharisees.
Pharisees would sometimes invite outside rabbis to teach in their synagogues on the Sabbath to give their communities a new voice to express familiar truths. It was considered an honor to be invited by the synagogue leader to stand and read the scripture and then teach it.
Jesus was likely invited to teach on the Sabbath by a leader of Nazareth’s synagogue. And when He did, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue where He was raised and to neighbors He grew up with.
Because it was Jesus’s custom to stand and read in the synagogue on the Sabbath, this indicates that Jesus was likely already recognized as a promising rabbi (a venerated teacher of the scriptures and Jewish law) when He visited Nazareth on that particular Sabbath. In the previous verse, Luke explicitly states that Jesus “began teaching in the synagogues and was praised by all” (Luke 4:15Luke 4:15 commentary) when He was in Galilee.
It was common practice for a rabbi to read from the Jewish scriptures before the rabbi would begin to teach the people. The scriptures were often read twice. First in Hebrew, the language in which they were written. Then the passage would be read again in Aramaic, the language of the people. (See The Bible Says article: “The Four Languages of Jesus’s Judea”).
According to rabbinic code, the rabbi was to give a reading from the Law (the five books of Moses) first and then from the Prophets. Also, according to the rabbinic code (called “the Mishnah”), the rabbi was to read no less than three verses before he should begin to teach.
Luke does not tell his audience which scripture from the Law Jesus read from, but Luke does report the exact scripture from the prophets Jesus read when He entered Nazareth’s synagogue on the Sabbath.
And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him (v 17a).
The book was a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
A scroll was a long, rolled piece of parchment or papyrus used in ancient times for writing texts—including the Jewish scriptures. Scrolls were unrolled horizontally to be read. This scroll belonged to the synagogue.
It is reasonable to presume, per the rabbinic custom, that Jesus was also handed a book/scroll of a portion of the book of Moses. But if Jesus was handed a scroll of Moses to read, either Luke did not record that He read this and the gospel writer just skipped to what Jesus read from Isaiah, or Jesus broke tradition and did not read from the Law and instead read from the book of the prophet Isaiah first.
After Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah the prophet, Luke says:
And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (vv 17b-19).
This reading comes from Isaiah 61:1-2Isaiah 61:1-2 commentary.
Observant readers may notice minor differences between the English translation of Isaiah 61:1-2Isaiah 61:1-2 commentary and commentary Luke’s record of what Jesus read from Isaiah’s scroll.
Minor differences between New Testament quotations of an Old Testament passage and the original Old Testament scripture itself are common. Usually these differences come from ancient translations of the Old Testament into other languages. That is, the New Testament authors were influenced by the Aramaic and/or Greek translations of the Old Testament.
The ancient Aramaic translations are called “the Targums.” The ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament is called “the Septuagint.” The Targums were widely used in Judea following the Jews’ return from Babylon, and Aramaic replaced Hebrew as the common language. The Septuagint was widely used by the Greek-speaking Jews spread throughout the Roman Empire.
As mentioned earlier, Jesus readIsaiah 61:1-2Isaiah 61:1-2 commentary from the Hebrew text first, and then He likely read it from an Aramaic Targum so that the people could hear the scripture in their household language. Luke seems to have quoted Jesus’s reading of a Targum.
The Original Context and Meaning of Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary In its original context, Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary is prophetic of both Judah’s return from her exile in Babylon as well as the advent of Jesus as the Messiah. Isaiah predicted Judah’s exile to Babylon about a hundred years before Judah was taken captive and almost two hundred years before Judah’s release and return from captivity. Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary was written about seven hundred years prior to its messianic fulfillment which Jesus announced while in His home synagogue.
By Jesus’s time, the prophetic events of Judah’s Babylonian captivity and return had long been fulfilled. But now Judea was suffering from the oppression of the Roman occupation and so the messianic interpretation of the prophetic message of Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary brought fresh hope to the Jews. The Jews understood that Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary specifically announced the arrival of the arrival of a figure empowered by the Spirit of the Lord GOD. This figure was the Messiah.
The Messiah is the Lord’s anointed prophet and king, the One sent by God to accomplish God’s will on earth and redeem the people of Israel. The Hebrew word for Messiah means anointed. And the Greek term for Messiah (translated from the Hebrew) is “Χριστός” (G5546—pronounced: “Chris-tos”). The English translation of “Christos” is “Christ.” So, Christ means “anointed one” and is a synonym for “Messiah.”
During the time of Jesus, the Jews were actively looking for and anticipating the appearance of the Lord’s anointed—the Messiah/Christ (Luke 3:15Luke 3:15 commentary). Jesus was the Christ—the angel announced this to the shepherds at His birth (Luke 2:11Luke 2:11 commentary) but at this point in Luke’s gospel, Jesus had not yet publicly claimed this title and role.
The Messianic figure of Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary personally announces his own arrival, directly claiming to have been sent from God,
“The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me… …He has sent me to…” (Isaiah 61:1Isaiah 61:1 commentary)
And the Messiah proclaims the good things He will do for God’s people who are in distress.
“…To bring good news to the afflicted; ….to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.” (Isaiah 61:1-2aIsaiah 61:1-2a commentary)
The language, mission, and perspective of Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary revisits themes introduced earlier in the Messianic "Servant Songs" of Isaiah (Isaiah 42:1-7Isaiah 42:1-7 commentary, 4949 commentary, 50:4-1150:4-11 commentary, 52:13 - 53:1252:13 - 53:12 commentary). For instance:
1.The Spirit of Lordis upon both the figure of Isaiah 61:1Isaiah 61:1 commentary and commentary the LORD’s Servant
Isaiah 61:1Isaiah 61:1 commentary—“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me…”
Isaiah 42:1Isaiah 42:1 commentary—“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him…”
2. The Messianic Mission to bring help to the helpless is common
Isaiah 61:1Isaiah 61:1 commentary—“…to bring good news to the afflicted… to proclaim liberty to captives… to set free those who are oppressed.”
Isaiah 42:7Isaiah 42:7 commentary—“…to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon…”
Isaiah 49:9Isaiah 49:9 commentary—“…saying to those who are bound, ‘Go forth,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’”
3. Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary and commentary the Servant Songs of Isaiah 49Isaiah 49 commentary and 5050 commentary share a First-Person Perspective
Isaiah 61:1Isaiah 61:1 commentary—“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me…”
In many respects Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary is the fifth Servant Song. And its entire chapter proclaims many blessings the Lord’s anointed will bring forth for Israel upon His appearance.
These Messianic hopes and God’s deliverance is the context and subject matter of the passage Jesus read aloud in the synagogue of Nazareth.
After Jesus finished reading Isaiah 61:1-2aIsaiah 61:1-2a commentary, He sat down to teach. Rabbis stood to read God’s word, but often satdown when they were teaching.
And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him (v 20).
Jesus closed the scroll, per custom when a Rabbi was finished reading. And he handed it back to the synagogue attendant who was the scroll keeper.
In ancient times, with all writings on hand-copied papyrus, scrolls of texts were expensive and precious. Individuals in ancient Judea rarely possessed their own personal scrolls of Scriptures. But Synagogues had scrolls of sacred texts. Synagogues typically kept their scrolls rolled up in clay jars and stored in a special cabinet. The Jews had a high level of respect for the scrolls themselves. This was not because scrolls were expensive and rare, but more so out of religious devotion for the sacred words of the Lord written upon them.
On the Sabbath, when a rabbi read and taught the people, one or more scrolls would be taken out for the reading. As soon as the rabbi was finished reading, he would hand it back to the scroll-keeping attendant out of respect for the word and to help preserve the scroll.
A likely reason that the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Jesus when Hegave the book back to the attendant and sat down was because the people in the synagogue were stunned at Jesus’s blatant breach of rabbinic protocol, and they were anticipating what He would say next.
According to the rabbinic code, Rabbis were to read no less than three verses before they began to teach. Jesus had read less than two verses. Moreover, it appears Jesus also did not follow the rabbinic code which required Him to read from the Law of Moses when teaching in the synagogue, and that He only read from the prophetIsaiah.
To be clear, these breaks of protocol were violations of human tradition, not God’s law. Nevertheless, such changes would have caused a noticeable stir among all in the synagogue, drawing the eyes of everyone present to be fixed on Him, wondering what He was about to do or say.
It was in the attentiveness of this moment that Jesus said perhaps the most startling and shocking thing they did not expect to hear Him say. Luke narrates:
And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (v 21).
The opening line of what Jesus began to teach and say to them about the Scripture He just read was a remarkably bold declaration.
In saying: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” Jesus clearly identified Himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy as the Spirit-anointed One who brings good news, healing, and liberation.
In particular, the word today signals the inauguration of God’s kingdom, not as a distant hope, but as a present reality. Jesus was not merely interpreting this Scripture (though He did interpret it accurately). He was claiming to be its subject. In what was likely a jaw-dropping moment, Jesus revealed His identity as the Messiah to the people of His hometown.
Specifically, Jesus claimed six things from Isaiah 61:1-2Isaiah 61:1-2 commentary for Himself at this time.
1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.
Jesus personally claimed that He had the Spirit of the Lord upon Him.
The expression The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me was traditionally understood in the Old Testament as a mark of divine commissioning. Similar expressions were used for judges, kings, and prophets (like Ezekiel and Elijah) who were chosen and empowered by God to accomplish specific tasks.
By applying this phrase to Himself, Jesus was making a bold and public declaration that He had been uniquely set apart and authorized by the Lord for a divine mission.
But Jesus was not simply stating that He had inspiration for a momentary task or divine wisdom. He was claiming that the very presence and power of God’s Spirit was resting upon Him for the purpose of bringing redemption, healing, and freedom to Israel.
In Luke's gospel, Jesus’s empowerment by the Holy Spirit is a dominant theme, just as the disciples’ empowerment by the Holy Spirit is a dominant theme in Luke’s sequel—the Book of Acts.
During His time on earth, Jesus did not operate independently or by human strength. His ministry was entirely directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Examples of this just from the previous two chapters alone include:
One of the purposes of Luke’s gospel to the Greeks was to demonstrate that Jesus was the perfect human, and that the path to the good life was found by following Jesus’s teaching and example of living by faith and dependence uponthe Lord’s Spirit.
2. Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
In this statement, Jesus declares that the Lord has specially chosen and empowered—anointed—Him to preach the gospel.
The word gospel means “good news.” It is a message of hope to those who are in great need of hope. In its broadest terms, the gospel Jesus came to preach includes several things.
The gospel includes the Gift of Eternal Life with its forgiveness of sins and removal of the penalty of eternal separation from God, restoration into God’s forever family, and the promise to live forever (John 3:16John 3:16 commentary).
The Gift of Eternal Life is received through faith—believing that Jesus is God’s Son, and that His life, death, and resurrection have the power to save you from sin and its penalty. Just as the Israelites were saved from physically deadly snake venom when they had faith to looked upon the bronze serpent Moses raised in the wilderness, so too are we saved from the spiritually deadly venom of sin when we have faith in Jesus who was crucified for us (John 3:14-15John 3:14-15 commentary).
The gospel also includes the announcement that God’s kingdom has come near through the person of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Everyone who believes in Jesus (that is who has received the Gift of Eternal Life) and follows His example can benefit from the positive consequence of experiencing the blessings of His kingdom in this life. Further, doing God’s will by faith results in the great reward of having a place of honor in His kingdom (Matthew 7:14Matthew 7:14 commentary).
This tremendous opportunity for eternal significance, honor, and reward is sometimes called “the Prize of Eternal Life.” The Prize of Eternal Life is gained by trusting God (as Jesus did) to overcome life’s trials according to God’s will.
But one of the Prize’s sweetest blessings is available now in this life. As believers follow God by faith, they begin to know God more personally and they share fellowship and intimacy with their Creator and Savior. It is this fellowship and intimacy with God that Jesus was talking about when He said knowing God is eternal life (John 17:3John 17:3 commentary). And it is the joy John describes in 1 John 11 John 1 commentary.
The fullness of the gospel—which includes both the Gift of Eternal Life with its promise to be born into God’s forever family, and the Prize of Eternal Life with its promise to have honor in God’s kingdom and fellowship with Him now—are available to everyone. This includes the poor.
As is typical in most times, those who are poor had limited opportunities. This was particularly true when it came to having political power or influence. Ancient kings and rulers did not mingle with the poor. They avoided them.
But Jesus’s kingdom was open to the poor. And He was specifically sent to preach this incredibly good news (gospel) to the poor so that they too could enjoy its blessings and fully participate in His kingdom. God’s redemptive work reaches those at the margins and upends the expectations of religious and social hierarchies.
Jesus later taught, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20Luke 6:20 commentary). This was an explicit invitation for those whose poverty had pushed them to the margins of society and beyond. And it was a clear message of hope that God’s redemptive work reaches those whom earthly power ignored, excluded, and/or exploited. The kingdom of God upends hierarchies, promising glory to the poor and authority to those who serve.
In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’s statement about “Blessed are you who are poor” (Luke 6:20Luke 6:20 commentary) is even more descriptive: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3Matthew 5:3 commentary). To be “poor in spirit” means to realize our spiritual poverty from our sin. “Poor in spirit” means to recognize one’s spiritual bankruptcy and fall upon the mercy of God who is rich in spirit. God’s kingdom is for such people and Jesus was anointed by God to preach this gospel to the poor and poor in spirit.
Jesus’s Messianic mission parallels, but also deepens, the original context of Isaiah’s prophecy.
In Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary, commentary the good news to the afflicted (or humble) was a message of hope and renewal following exile. It was a declaration that God had not abandoned His people and would restore them politically. It offered comfort and rebuilding to a broken nation. But Jesus’s use of this line is not simply about national restoration. It is fully personal, spiritual, and eternal. By declaring that He has been anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, Jesus interprets Isaiah’s words as not merely about the end of national captivity but the arrival of God’s saving reign through Himself, a reign that extended to each person individually.
3. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
Jesus came to proclaim that freedom is now available through His authority. As with the previous two lines, when Jesus said, “He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,” He was speaking of a spiritual liberation far deeper than political or physical freedom.
The word release conveys the idea of pardon, forgiveness, or liberation. Jesus was not talking about the opening of prison doors. He was talking about the breaking of sin’s grip on the human heart.
Jesus taught in the Gospel of John that “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34John 8:34 commentary). And He offers Himself as the one who can truly set people free, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36John 8:36 commentary).
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus consistently addressed those bound by spiritual, emotional, and demonic chains: He forgives sins (Luke 5:20Luke 5:20 commentary), drives out unclean spirits (Luke 4:33-35Luke 4:33-35 commentary), and restores the broken (Luke 8:2Luke 8:2 commentary, 8:26-368:26-36 commentary). Captivity can take many forms—addiction, shame, legalism, demonic possession, political imprisonment, or fear. Jesus came to proclaim that freedom is now available through His authority.
His healings and exorcisms were not just acts of compassion but signs of His authority to release captives. Ultimately, the greatest releaseHe proclaimed was freedom from the judgment and penalty of sin, secured through His death and resurrection. Thus, this prophetic line is not merely a metaphor but a declaration that the true and final Exodus has begun in Jesus—the captives are set free, not by might or rebellion, but by the merciful power of God’s anointed Son.
Interestingly, in Luke 7:19-23Luke 7:19-23 commentary when John the Baptist sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask whether He was the Messiah, Jesus also quoted from Isaiah 61:1Isaiah 61:1 commentary but left off “to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.” John would have known the scriptures thoroughly, and would likely have taken this as a sign from Jesus that he would not be released from prison. He was not released, but martyred at the hands of Herod (Matthew 14:1-12Matthew 14:1-12 commentary).
This episode would seem to parallel the fact that Jesus’s kingdom was first inaugurated spiritually (John 18:36John 18:36 commentary). John was spiritually free, but physically captive. Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary will have at least three fulfillments:
The rescue from Babylonian captivity through a physical return to the land.
Deliverance from spiritual captivity through Christ’s saving work on the cross.
When Jesus returns a second time, He will deliver the earth from the adverse effects of the Fall (Romans 8:21Romans 8:21 commentary).
4. And recovery of sight to the blind,
Jesus’s proclamation: “And recovery of sight to the blind,” is literal in both a physical and a spiritual sense.
Jesus physically healed those who are blind (Matthew 12:22Matthew 12:22 commentary, commentaryMark 8:22-25Mark 8:22-25 commentary, commentaryLuke 18:38Luke 18:38 commentary, commentaryJohn 9:6-7John 9:6-7 commentary). These miracles demonstrate His compassion for people and His power over human affliction. But they also serve as signs pointing to the deeper spiritual reality that Jesus came to open the eyes of those who live in spiritual darkness.
Blindness in Scripture often symbolizes ignorance of truth, hardness of heart, or inability/unwillingness to perceive God. Jesus’s mission included restoring the ability to see God for who He truly is.
John writes in the prologue to his gospel account how “No one has seen God at any time” but the life, teachings, and example of Jesus “has explained Him” (John 1:18John 1:18 commentary).
In Jesus, God made Himself visible to humanity, removing the blindness that sin and deception have caused.
This recovery of spiritual sight, therefore, is not merely about the healing of diseased eyes but about the revelation of truth. As the Messiah, Jesus brings light to those who have lived in the shadows of sin and confusion. In John’s gospel, Jesus boldly declares, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12John 8:12 commentary).
As people encounter Jesus, they have a chance to gain spiritual clarity about God and themselves, and their true condition before Him. Even after a person comes to Jesus to receive the Gift of Eternal life, Jesus continually helps them recover their spiritual sight more and more to those who follow Him in faith.
5. To set free those who are oppressed,
Oppression means being burdened, crushed, or weighed down by an external force. This force could be political, social, religious, or spiritual.
Jesus said He was appointed: to set free those who are oppressed. Isaiah’s original prophecy referred to the oppression of foreign nations, specifically Babylon. Jesus’s audience in Nazareth, would likely have heard this as being set free from the oppression of the Roman occupation.
Jesus may have had setting His people free from Roman oppression in mind. If the Jews would have recognized Him as their Messiah and King, there is every reason to believe He would have inaugurated the Messianic kingdom at that time. The Apostle Peter asserted that had Israel repented even after Jesus’s crucifixion, it would have brought the “times of refreshing” which included God sending “Jesus, the Christ appointed for you” (Acts 3:19-20Acts 3:19-20 commentary). The promised Messianic kingdom is still an eventuality that will come in the future (as of this writing).
Jesus’s core message was: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is hand” (Matthew 4:17Matthew 4:17 commentary). But the Jews, including those of His hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4:28-30Luke 4:28-30 commentary), rejected Him as the Messiah as well as His kingdom. With this they rejected any political liberation He came to offer as well. Just as Jesus’s kingdom makes serving a prerequisite for gaining authority, it also places spiritual restoration as a prerequisite for civic restoration.
Jesus also may have had in mind the religious oppression of the Pharisees and Sadducees while speaking about deliverance from oppression. The Pharisees’ proliferation of religious laws kept the people in bondage—which deeply angered Jesus (Matthew 23Matthew 23 commentary, commentaryLuke 11:37-52Luke 11:37-52 commentary). The Sadducees, who controlled the temple and its sacrifices, brazenly exploited the people with their temple taxes. Jesus turned over the tables of their money changers in order to elevate this sin and exhort them to repent (Matthew 21:12-13Matthew 21:12-13 commentary, commentaryMark 11:15-17Mark 11:15-17 commentary, commentaryLuke 19:45-46Luke 19:45-46 commentary, commentaryJohn 2:13-16John 2:13-16 commentary).
Jesus was appointed by God to set free those who were oppressed by their religious leaders’ exploitations by giving people direct access to God through Himself.
Jesus also came to set free those who were spiritually oppressed by their sin. He said,
“It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32Luke 5:31-32 commentary)
Through His teaching, healing, and sacrificial death, Jesus offered lasting deliverance from the guilt and bondage of sin, opening the way for a restored relationship with God.
6. To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
When Jesus declared that He had been appointed to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, He was announcing the arrival of a divinely appointed season of grace, mercy, and restoration. The “times of refreshing” Peter spoke of in Acts 3:19Acts 3:19 commentary had arrived, because He has arrived.
The phrase: the favorable year of the Lord evokes the Year of Jubilee described in Leviticus 25Leviticus 25 commentary, commentary when every fiftieth year debts were canceled, slaves were freed, and land was returned to its original owners. This was a year of rest, justice, and resetting life according to God’s design, and it served as a powerful symbol of the Lord’s mercy toward His people.
By proclaiming this favorable year, Jesus was announcing that now, in His mission and ministry, a far greater Jubilee has begun. Unlike the Levitical year of Jubilee, the mercy and grace of the favorable year that Jesus offers is not primarily economic or social in nature. Jesus came to eternally cancel spiritual debts and to offer eternal spiritual liberation from sin.
In a literal sense, a year is an extended duration of time lasting 12 months. But in a figurative sense, a year can refer to an extended season, like an era. Figuratively, the favorable year Jesus proclaims likely refers to His earthly ministry which He has just recently begun. The season of His earthly ministry began to close when Jesus ascended to heaven about forty days after His crucifixion and resurrection. As Peter stated in Acts 3:19-20Acts 3:19-20 commentary, commentary a window for repentance remained. But after that generation rejected Jesus, the window closed.
It is reckoned that Jesus’s ministry lasted about three years. This reckoning is arrived at because John describes three Passovers that occurred during Jesus’s ministry (John 2:13-23John 2:13-23 commentary, 6:46:4 commentary, 11:55 - 19:4211:55 - 19:42 commentary); Passover is an annual holiday.
Jesus may have said this statement in the synagogue in Nazareth near the very beginning of His Messianic ministry. If so, He had nearly a full three years ahead of Him before His crucifixion. However, it is more likely that Jesus said this after His mostly fruitless time in Judea and Jerusalem and toward the beginning of His ministry in the region of Galilee, which bore much fruit. This would have been one or perhaps even two years into His Messianic ministry. Only John’s gospel appears to describe the first year of Jesus’s ministry, His Judean ministry (John 2:13 - 4:1-3John 2:13 - 4:1-3 commentary).
The reason He describes His ministry as a favorable year is because when Jesus came to earth the first time, He was appointed to offer salvation from sin, not judgement for it (John 3:17John 3:17 commentary). In Luke’s gospel, this message of favor is seen in how Jesus forgives sins (Luke 5:20Luke 5:20 commentary), heals the sick (Luke 6:19Luke 6:19 commentary), raises the dead (Luke 7:14-15Luke 7:14-15 commentary), and welcomes the outcast (Luke 7:37-50Luke 7:37-50 commentary), all signs that the kingdom of God has drawn near. The favorable year of the Lord is not merely a calendar event—it is a new era of salvation, made possible because the Messiah has come to reconcile humanity to God.
It is significant that Jesus ended His reading with the first line of Isaiah 61:2Isaiah 61:2 commentary and commentary continued reading no further. The full text of Isaiah 61:2Isaiah 61:2 commentary reads:
“To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn." (Isaiah 61:2Isaiah 61:2 commentary)
Jesus stopped reading the prophet after the first line and did not read about “the day of vengeance of our God…” This appears to have been intentional.
The apparent reason for this is because Jesus’s first coming was a fulfillment of the statements of Isaiah 61:1-2aIsaiah 61:1-2a commentary. Those statements were being fulfilledin the hearing of Jesus’s synagogue audience today (during the ministry of Jesus’s first coming).
The fulfillment of Isaiah 61:2bIsaiah 61:2b commentary would be fulfilled later, when He returns during Jesus’s second coming at “the day of vengeance.” On Jesus’s return, He will vanquish Satan and his instruments and install a reign of righteousness upon the earth (Revelation 19:11 - 20:4Revelation 19:11 - 20:4 commentary).
What Jesus read and where He stopped in Isaiah emphasized that today was a season of grace, and not judgment. Judgment will come later. But in this moment, Jesus proclaims that the door of God’s favor and opportunity to participate in the Messianic kingdom is wide open. It is a message of hope and invitation, calling all who are poor, held as captives,blind, or oppressed, to enter the freedom and joy of God's redeeming love.
The boldness of Jesus’s claim in His hometown synagogue, among people who knew Him as “Joseph’s son” (Luke 4Luke 4 commentary; 2222 commentary), shocks His audience and sets the stage for both awe and eventual hostility.
Set to dark mode
Luke 4:16-21 meaning
Luke 4:16-21Luke 4:16-21 commentary has no obvious parallel Gospel accounts. It is possible that Matthew 13:54aMatthew 13:54a commentary- and Mark 6:1-2aMark 6:1-2a commentary describe the same event as Luke 4:16-21Luke 4:16-21 commentary.
In Luke 4:16-21Luke 4:16-21 commentary, commentary Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue of His hometown of Nazareth, declaring the fulfillment of the Scripture in their hearing, which amazes the people, though they are puzzled by His claim given that He is Joseph’s son.
After Jesus began publicly preaching and teaching in synagogues and doing miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit throughout Galilee (Luke 4:14-15Luke 4:14-15 commentary), He went to visit His hometown of Nazareth.
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; (v 16a).
Throughout Luke 4:16-22Luke 4:16-22 commentary, commentary the pronouns He and His refer to Jesus.
Jesus came to Nazareth from Galilee (Luke 4:14-15Luke 4:14-15 commentary), presumably in the vicinity of Capernaum where He established His ministry headquarters (Matthew 4:12-13Matthew 4:12-13 commentary), and He came to His hometown of Nazareth.
Nazareth was a small town located in the hills to the south and east of the southern point of the Sea of Galilee. Even though it was not along the lake shore, Nazareth was part of the Roman district of Galilee. Though Jesus was born in the southern part of Israel, in Bethlehem, Judea, near Jerusalem (Matthew 2:1Matthew 2:1 commentary, commentary Luke 2:4-6Luke 2:4-6 commentary), the town of Nazareth in northern Israel was where He had been brought up. Nazareth had been Jesus’s hometown since His early childhood when Mary and Joseph moved there following King Herod’s death (Matthew 2:21-23Matthew 2:21-23 commentary).
Luke continues:
and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read (v 16b).
The expression and as was His custom means that it was a typical or normal thing for Jesus to do. His custom was to enter the synagogue on the Sabbath and to publicly read a passage of Jewish scripture and then teach its meaning to everyone in the synagogue.
Synagogues were local centers of worship and teaching in the community. They were led and organized by the Pharisees. The Pharisees were influential and highly regarded experts in the Jewish scriptures and traditions. They used their synagogues to promote their interpretation and exert influence.
The synagogue of Nazareth was the synagogue which Jesus had attended as a boy. It was likely the formal setting where, as a boy, He would have been taught the Law and the Prophets, the history of the Jewish people, and the religious traditions of the Pharisees.
Pharisees would sometimes invite outside rabbis to teach in their synagogues on the Sabbath to give their communities a new voice to express familiar truths. It was considered an honor to be invited by the synagogue leader to stand and read the scripture and then teach it.
Jesus was likely invited to teach on the Sabbath by a leader of Nazareth’s synagogue. And when He did, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue where He was raised and to neighbors He grew up with.
Because it was Jesus’s custom to stand and read in the synagogue on the Sabbath, this indicates that Jesus was likely already recognized as a promising rabbi (a venerated teacher of the scriptures and Jewish law) when He visited Nazareth on that particular Sabbath. In the previous verse, Luke explicitly states that Jesus “began teaching in the synagogues and was praised by all” (Luke 4:15Luke 4:15 commentary) when He was in Galilee.
It was common practice for a rabbi to read from the Jewish scriptures before the rabbi would begin to teach the people. The scriptures were often read twice. First in Hebrew, the language in which they were written. Then the passage would be read again in Aramaic, the language of the people. (See The Bible Says article: “The Four Languages of Jesus’s Judea”).
According to rabbinic code, the rabbi was to give a reading from the Law (the five books of Moses) first and then from the Prophets. Also, according to the rabbinic code (called “the Mishnah”), the rabbi was to read no less than three verses before he should begin to teach.
Luke does not tell his audience which scripture from the Law Jesus read from, but Luke does report the exact scripture from the prophets Jesus read when He entered Nazareth’s synagogue on the Sabbath.
And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him (v 17a).
The book was a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
A scroll was a long, rolled piece of parchment or papyrus used in ancient times for writing texts—including the Jewish scriptures. Scrolls were unrolled horizontally to be read. This scroll belonged to the synagogue.
It is reasonable to presume, per the rabbinic custom, that Jesus was also handed a book/scroll of a portion of the book of Moses. But if Jesus was handed a scroll of Moses to read, either Luke did not record that He read this and the gospel writer just skipped to what Jesus read from Isaiah, or Jesus broke tradition and did not read from the Law and instead read from the book of the prophet Isaiah first.
After Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah the prophet, Luke says:
And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (vv 17b-19).
This reading comes from Isaiah 61:1-2Isaiah 61:1-2 commentary.
Observant readers may notice minor differences between the English translation of Isaiah 61:1-2Isaiah 61:1-2 commentary and commentary Luke’s record of what Jesus read from Isaiah’s scroll.
Minor differences between New Testament quotations of an Old Testament passage and the original Old Testament scripture itself are common. Usually these differences come from ancient translations of the Old Testament into other languages. That is, the New Testament authors were influenced by the Aramaic and/or Greek translations of the Old Testament.
The ancient Aramaic translations are called “the Targums.” The ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament is called “the Septuagint.” The Targums were widely used in Judea following the Jews’ return from Babylon, and Aramaic replaced Hebrew as the common language. The Septuagint was widely used by the Greek-speaking Jews spread throughout the Roman Empire.
As mentioned earlier, Jesus read Isaiah 61:1-2Isaiah 61:1-2 commentary from the Hebrew text first, and then He likely read it from an Aramaic Targum so that the people could hear the scripture in their household language. Luke seems to have quoted Jesus’s reading of a Targum.
The Original Context and Meaning of Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary
In its original context, Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary is prophetic of both Judah’s return from her exile in Babylon as well as the advent of Jesus as the Messiah. Isaiah predicted Judah’s exile to Babylon about a hundred years before Judah was taken captive and almost two hundred years before Judah’s release and return from captivity. Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary was written about seven hundred years prior to its messianic fulfillment which Jesus announced while in His home synagogue.
By Jesus’s time, the prophetic events of Judah’s Babylonian captivity and return had long been fulfilled. But now Judea was suffering from the oppression of the Roman occupation and so the messianic interpretation of the prophetic message of Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary brought fresh hope to the Jews. The Jews understood that Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary specifically announced the arrival of the arrival of a figure empowered by the Spirit of the Lord GOD. This figure was the Messiah.
The Messiah is the Lord’s anointed prophet and king, the One sent by God to accomplish God’s will on earth and redeem the people of Israel. The Hebrew word for Messiah means anointed. And the Greek term for Messiah (translated from the Hebrew) is “Χριστός” (G5546—pronounced: “Chris-tos”). The English translation of “Christos” is “Christ.” So, Christ means “anointed one” and is a synonym for “Messiah.”
During the time of Jesus, the Jews were actively looking for and anticipating the appearance of the Lord’s anointed—the Messiah/Christ (Luke 3:15Luke 3:15 commentary). Jesus was the Christ—the angel announced this to the shepherds at His birth (Luke 2:11Luke 2:11 commentary) but at this point in Luke’s gospel, Jesus had not yet publicly claimed this title and role.
The Messianic figure of Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary personally announces his own arrival, directly claiming to have been sent from God,
“The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me,
Because the LORD has anointed me…
…He has sent me to…”
(Isaiah 61:1Isaiah 61:1 commentary)
And the Messiah proclaims the good things He will do for God’s people who are in distress.
“…To bring good news to the afflicted;
….to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.”
(Isaiah 61:1-2aIsaiah 61:1-2a commentary)
The language, mission, and perspective of Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary revisits themes introduced earlier in the Messianic "Servant Songs" of Isaiah (Isaiah 42:1-7Isaiah 42:1-7 commentary, 4949 commentary, 50:4-1150:4-11 commentary, 52:13 - 53:1252:13 - 53:12 commentary). For instance:
1. The Spirit of Lord is upon both the figure of Isaiah 61:1Isaiah 61:1 commentary and commentary the LORD’s Servant
2. The Messianic Mission to bring help to the helpless is common
3. Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary and commentary the Servant Songs of Isaiah 49Isaiah 49 commentary and 5050 commentary share a First-Person Perspective
In many respects Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary is the fifth Servant Song. And its entire chapter proclaims many blessings the Lord’s anointed will bring forth for Israel upon His appearance.
These Messianic hopes and God’s deliverance is the context and subject matter of the passage Jesus read aloud in the synagogue of Nazareth.
After Jesus finished reading Isaiah 61:1-2aIsaiah 61:1-2a commentary, He sat down to teach. Rabbis stood to read God’s word, but often sat down when they were teaching.
And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him (v 20).
Jesus closed the scroll, per custom when a Rabbi was finished reading. And he handed it back to the synagogue attendant who was the scroll keeper.
In ancient times, with all writings on hand-copied papyrus, scrolls of texts were expensive and precious. Individuals in ancient Judea rarely possessed their own personal scrolls of Scriptures. But Synagogues had scrolls of sacred texts. Synagogues typically kept their scrolls rolled up in clay jars and stored in a special cabinet. The Jews had a high level of respect for the scrolls themselves. This was not because scrolls were expensive and rare, but more so out of religious devotion for the sacred words of the Lord written upon them.
On the Sabbath, when a rabbi read and taught the people, one or more scrolls would be taken out for the reading. As soon as the rabbi was finished reading, he would hand it back to the scroll-keeping attendant out of respect for the word and to help preserve the scroll.
A likely reason that the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Jesus when He gave the book back to the attendant and sat down was because the people in the synagogue were stunned at Jesus’s blatant breach of rabbinic protocol, and they were anticipating what He would say next.
According to the rabbinic code, Rabbis were to read no less than three verses before they began to teach. Jesus had read less than two verses. Moreover, it appears Jesus also did not follow the rabbinic code which required Him to read from the Law of Moses when teaching in the synagogue, and that He only read from the prophet Isaiah.
To be clear, these breaks of protocol were violations of human tradition, not God’s law. Nevertheless, such changes would have caused a noticeable stir among all in the synagogue, drawing the eyes of everyone present to be fixed on Him, wondering what He was about to do or say.
It was in the attentiveness of this moment that Jesus said perhaps the most startling and shocking thing they did not expect to hear Him say. Luke narrates:
And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (v 21).
The opening line of what Jesus began to teach and say to them about the Scripture He just read was a remarkably bold declaration.
In saying: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” Jesus clearly identified Himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy as the Spirit-anointed One who brings good news, healing, and liberation.
In particular, the word today signals the inauguration of God’s kingdom, not as a distant hope, but as a present reality. Jesus was not merely interpreting this Scripture (though He did interpret it accurately). He was claiming to be its subject. In what was likely a jaw-dropping moment, Jesus revealed His identity as the Messiah to the people of His hometown.
Specifically, Jesus claimed six things from Isaiah 61:1-2Isaiah 61:1-2 commentary for Himself at this time.
1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.
Jesus personally claimed that He had the Spirit of the Lord upon Him.
The expression The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me was traditionally understood in the Old Testament as a mark of divine commissioning. Similar expressions were used for judges, kings, and prophets (like Ezekiel and Elijah) who were chosen and empowered by God to accomplish specific tasks.
By applying this phrase to Himself, Jesus was making a bold and public declaration that He had been uniquely set apart and authorized by the Lord for a divine mission.
But Jesus was not simply stating that He had inspiration for a momentary task or divine wisdom. He was claiming that the very presence and power of God’s Spirit was resting upon Him for the purpose of bringing redemption, healing, and freedom to Israel.
In Luke's gospel, Jesus’s empowerment by the Holy Spirit is a dominant theme, just as the disciples’ empowerment by the Holy Spirit is a dominant theme in Luke’s sequel—the Book of Acts.
During His time on earth, Jesus did not operate independently or by human strength. His ministry was entirely directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Examples of this just from the previous two chapters alone include:
(Luke 3:22Luke 3:22 commentary)
(Luke 4:1Luke 4:1 commentary)
(Luke 4:14Luke 4:14 commentary)
One of the purposes of Luke’s gospel to the Greeks was to demonstrate that Jesus was the perfect human, and that the path to the good life was found by following Jesus’s teaching and example of living by faith and dependence upon the Lord’s Spirit.
2. Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
In this statement, Jesus declares that the Lord has specially chosen and empowered—anointed—Him to preach the gospel.
The word gospel means “good news.” It is a message of hope to those who are in great need of hope. In its broadest terms, the gospel Jesus came to preach includes several things.
The gospel includes the Gift of Eternal Life with its forgiveness of sins and removal of the penalty of eternal separation from God, restoration into God’s forever family, and the promise to live forever (John 3:16John 3:16 commentary).
The Gift of Eternal Life is received through faith—believing that Jesus is God’s Son, and that His life, death, and resurrection have the power to save you from sin and its penalty. Just as the Israelites were saved from physically deadly snake venom when they had faith to looked upon the bronze serpent Moses raised in the wilderness, so too are we saved from the spiritually deadly venom of sin when we have faith in Jesus who was crucified for us (John 3:14-15John 3:14-15 commentary).
The gospel also includes the announcement that God’s kingdom has come near through the person of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Everyone who believes in Jesus (that is who has received the Gift of Eternal Life) and follows His example can benefit from the positive consequence of experiencing the blessings of His kingdom in this life. Further, doing God’s will by faith results in the great reward of having a place of honor in His kingdom (Matthew 7:14Matthew 7:14 commentary).
This tremendous opportunity for eternal significance, honor, and reward is sometimes called “the Prize of Eternal Life.” The Prize of Eternal Life is gained by trusting God (as Jesus did) to overcome life’s trials according to God’s will.
But one of the Prize’s sweetest blessings is available now in this life. As believers follow God by faith, they begin to know God more personally and they share fellowship and intimacy with their Creator and Savior. It is this fellowship and intimacy with God that Jesus was talking about when He said knowing God is eternal life (John 17:3John 17:3 commentary). And it is the joy John describes in 1 John 11 John 1 commentary.
The fullness of the gospel—which includes both the Gift of Eternal Life with its promise to be born into God’s forever family, and the Prize of Eternal Life with its promise to have honor in God’s kingdom and fellowship with Him now—are available to everyone. This includes the poor.
As is typical in most times, those who are poor had limited opportunities. This was particularly true when it came to having political power or influence. Ancient kings and rulers did not mingle with the poor. They avoided them.
But Jesus’s kingdom was open to the poor. And He was specifically sent to preach this incredibly good news (gospel) to the poor so that they too could enjoy its blessings and fully participate in His kingdom. God’s redemptive work reaches those at the margins and upends the expectations of religious and social hierarchies.
Jesus later taught, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20Luke 6:20 commentary). This was an explicit invitation for those whose poverty had pushed them to the margins of society and beyond. And it was a clear message of hope that God’s redemptive work reaches those whom earthly power ignored, excluded, and/or exploited. The kingdom of God upends hierarchies, promising glory to the poor and authority to those who serve.
In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’s statement about “Blessed are you who are poor” (Luke 6:20Luke 6:20 commentary) is even more descriptive: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3Matthew 5:3 commentary). To be “poor in spirit” means to realize our spiritual poverty from our sin. “Poor in spirit” means to recognize one’s spiritual bankruptcy and fall upon the mercy of God who is rich in spirit. God’s kingdom is for such people and Jesus was anointed by God to preach this gospel to the poor and poor in spirit.
Jesus’s Messianic mission parallels, but also deepens, the original context of Isaiah’s prophecy.
In Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary, commentary the good news to the afflicted (or humble) was a message of hope and renewal following exile. It was a declaration that God had not abandoned His people and would restore them politically. It offered comfort and rebuilding to a broken nation. But Jesus’s use of this line is not simply about national restoration. It is fully personal, spiritual, and eternal. By declaring that He has been anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, Jesus interprets Isaiah’s words as not merely about the end of national captivity but the arrival of God’s saving reign through Himself, a reign that extended to each person individually.
3. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
Jesus came to proclaim that freedom is now available through His authority. As with the previous two lines, when Jesus said, “He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,” He was speaking of a spiritual liberation far deeper than political or physical freedom.
The word release conveys the idea of pardon, forgiveness, or liberation. Jesus was not talking about the opening of prison doors. He was talking about the breaking of sin’s grip on the human heart.
Jesus taught in the Gospel of John that “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34John 8:34 commentary). And He offers Himself as the one who can truly set people free, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36John 8:36 commentary).
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus consistently addressed those bound by spiritual, emotional, and demonic chains: He forgives sins (Luke 5:20Luke 5:20 commentary), drives out unclean spirits (Luke 4:33-35Luke 4:33-35 commentary), and restores the broken (Luke 8:2Luke 8:2 commentary, 8:26-368:26-36 commentary). Captivity can take many forms—addiction, shame, legalism, demonic possession, political imprisonment, or fear. Jesus came to proclaim that freedom is now available through His authority.
His healings and exorcisms were not just acts of compassion but signs of His authority to release captives. Ultimately, the greatest release He proclaimed was freedom from the judgment and penalty of sin, secured through His death and resurrection. Thus, this prophetic line is not merely a metaphor but a declaration that the true and final Exodus has begun in Jesus—the captives are set free, not by might or rebellion, but by the merciful power of God’s anointed Son.
Interestingly, in Luke 7:19-23Luke 7:19-23 commentary when John the Baptist sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask whether He was the Messiah, Jesus also quoted from Isaiah 61:1Isaiah 61:1 commentary but left off “to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.” John would have known the scriptures thoroughly, and would likely have taken this as a sign from Jesus that he would not be released from prison. He was not released, but martyred at the hands of Herod (Matthew 14:1-12Matthew 14:1-12 commentary).
This episode would seem to parallel the fact that Jesus’s kingdom was first inaugurated spiritually (John 18:36John 18:36 commentary). John was spiritually free, but physically captive. Isaiah 61Isaiah 61 commentary will have at least three fulfillments:
4. And recovery of sight to the blind,
Jesus’s proclamation: “And recovery of sight to the blind,” is literal in both a physical and a spiritual sense.
Jesus physically healed those who are blind (Matthew 12:22Matthew 12:22 commentary, commentary Mark 8:22-25Mark 8:22-25 commentary, commentary Luke 18:38Luke 18:38 commentary, commentary John 9:6-7John 9:6-7 commentary). These miracles demonstrate His compassion for people and His power over human affliction. But they also serve as signs pointing to the deeper spiritual reality that Jesus came to open the eyes of those who live in spiritual darkness.
Blindness in Scripture often symbolizes ignorance of truth, hardness of heart, or inability/unwillingness to perceive God. Jesus’s mission included restoring the ability to see God for who He truly is.
John writes in the prologue to his gospel account how “No one has seen God at any time” but the life, teachings, and example of Jesus “has explained Him” (John 1:18John 1:18 commentary).
In Jesus, God made Himself visible to humanity, removing the blindness that sin and deception have caused.
This recovery of spiritual sight, therefore, is not merely about the healing of diseased eyes but about the revelation of truth. As the Messiah, Jesus brings light to those who have lived in the shadows of sin and confusion. In John’s gospel, Jesus boldly declares, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12John 8:12 commentary).
As people encounter Jesus, they have a chance to gain spiritual clarity about God and themselves, and their true condition before Him. Even after a person comes to Jesus to receive the Gift of Eternal life, Jesus continually helps them recover their spiritual sight more and more to those who follow Him in faith.
5. To set free those who are oppressed,
Oppression means being burdened, crushed, or weighed down by an external force. This force could be political, social, religious, or spiritual.
Jesus said He was appointed: to set free those who are oppressed. Isaiah’s original prophecy referred to the oppression of foreign nations, specifically Babylon. Jesus’s audience in Nazareth, would likely have heard this as being set free from the oppression of the Roman occupation.
Jesus may have had setting His people free from Roman oppression in mind. If the Jews would have recognized Him as their Messiah and King, there is every reason to believe He would have inaugurated the Messianic kingdom at that time. The Apostle Peter asserted that had Israel repented even after Jesus’s crucifixion, it would have brought the “times of refreshing” which included God sending “Jesus, the Christ appointed for you” (Acts 3:19-20Acts 3:19-20 commentary). The promised Messianic kingdom is still an eventuality that will come in the future (as of this writing).
Jesus’s core message was: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is hand” (Matthew 4:17Matthew 4:17 commentary). But the Jews, including those of His hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4:28-30Luke 4:28-30 commentary), rejected Him as the Messiah as well as His kingdom. With this they rejected any political liberation He came to offer as well. Just as Jesus’s kingdom makes serving a prerequisite for gaining authority, it also places spiritual restoration as a prerequisite for civic restoration.
Jesus also may have had in mind the religious oppression of the Pharisees and Sadducees while speaking about deliverance from oppression. The Pharisees’ proliferation of religious laws kept the people in bondage—which deeply angered Jesus (Matthew 23Matthew 23 commentary, commentary Luke 11:37-52Luke 11:37-52 commentary). The Sadducees, who controlled the temple and its sacrifices, brazenly exploited the people with their temple taxes. Jesus turned over the tables of their money changers in order to elevate this sin and exhort them to repent (Matthew 21:12-13Matthew 21:12-13 commentary, commentary Mark 11:15-17Mark 11:15-17 commentary, commentary Luke 19:45-46Luke 19:45-46 commentary, commentary John 2:13-16John 2:13-16 commentary).
Jesus was appointed by God to set free those who were oppressed by their religious leaders’ exploitations by giving people direct access to God through Himself.
Jesus also came to set free those who were spiritually oppressed by their sin. He said,
“It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
(Luke 5:31-32Luke 5:31-32 commentary)
Through His teaching, healing, and sacrificial death, Jesus offered lasting deliverance from the guilt and bondage of sin, opening the way for a restored relationship with God.
6. To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
When Jesus declared that He had been appointed to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, He was announcing the arrival of a divinely appointed season of grace, mercy, and restoration. The “times of refreshing” Peter spoke of in Acts 3:19Acts 3:19 commentary had arrived, because He has arrived.
The phrase: the favorable year of the Lord evokes the Year of Jubilee described in Leviticus 25Leviticus 25 commentary, commentary when every fiftieth year debts were canceled, slaves were freed, and land was returned to its original owners. This was a year of rest, justice, and resetting life according to God’s design, and it served as a powerful symbol of the Lord’s mercy toward His people.
By proclaiming this favorable year, Jesus was announcing that now, in His mission and ministry, a far greater Jubilee has begun. Unlike the Levitical year of Jubilee, the mercy and grace of the favorable year that Jesus offers is not primarily economic or social in nature. Jesus came to eternally cancel spiritual debts and to offer eternal spiritual liberation from sin.
In a literal sense, a year is an extended duration of time lasting 12 months. But in a figurative sense, a year can refer to an extended season, like an era. Figuratively, the favorable year Jesus proclaims likely refers to His earthly ministry which He has just recently begun. The season of His earthly ministry began to close when Jesus ascended to heaven about forty days after His crucifixion and resurrection. As Peter stated in Acts 3:19-20Acts 3:19-20 commentary, commentary a window for repentance remained. But after that generation rejected Jesus, the window closed.
It is reckoned that Jesus’s ministry lasted about three years. This reckoning is arrived at because John describes three Passovers that occurred during Jesus’s ministry (John 2:13-23John 2:13-23 commentary, 6:46:4 commentary, 11:55 - 19:4211:55 - 19:42 commentary); Passover is an annual holiday.
Jesus may have said this statement in the synagogue in Nazareth near the very beginning of His Messianic ministry. If so, He had nearly a full three years ahead of Him before His crucifixion. However, it is more likely that Jesus said this after His mostly fruitless time in Judea and Jerusalem and toward the beginning of His ministry in the region of Galilee, which bore much fruit. This would have been one or perhaps even two years into His Messianic ministry. Only John’s gospel appears to describe the first year of Jesus’s ministry, His Judean ministry (John 2:13 - 4:1-3John 2:13 - 4:1-3 commentary).
The reason He describes His ministry as a favorable year is because when Jesus came to earth the first time, He was appointed to offer salvation from sin, not judgement for it (John 3:17John 3:17 commentary). In Luke’s gospel, this message of favor is seen in how Jesus forgives sins (Luke 5:20Luke 5:20 commentary), heals the sick (Luke 6:19Luke 6:19 commentary), raises the dead (Luke 7:14-15Luke 7:14-15 commentary), and welcomes the outcast (Luke 7:37-50Luke 7:37-50 commentary), all signs that the kingdom of God has drawn near. The favorable year of the Lord is not merely a calendar event—it is a new era of salvation, made possible because the Messiah has come to reconcile humanity to God.
It is significant that Jesus ended His reading with the first line of Isaiah 61:2Isaiah 61:2 commentary and commentary continued reading no further. The full text of Isaiah 61:2Isaiah 61:2 commentary reads:
“To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn."
(Isaiah 61:2Isaiah 61:2 commentary)
Jesus stopped reading the prophet after the first line and did not read about “the day of vengeance of our God…” This appears to have been intentional.
The apparent reason for this is because Jesus’s first coming was a fulfillment of the statements of Isaiah 61:1-2aIsaiah 61:1-2a commentary. Those statements were being fulfilled in the hearing of Jesus’s synagogue audience today (during the ministry of Jesus’s first coming).
The fulfillment of Isaiah 61:2bIsaiah 61:2b commentary would be fulfilled later, when He returns during Jesus’s second coming at “the day of vengeance.” On Jesus’s return, He will vanquish Satan and his instruments and install a reign of righteousness upon the earth (Revelation 19:11 - 20:4Revelation 19:11 - 20:4 commentary).
What Jesus read and where He stopped in Isaiah emphasized that today was a season of grace, and not judgment. Judgment will come later. But in this moment, Jesus proclaims that the door of God’s favor and opportunity to participate in the Messianic kingdom is wide open. It is a message of hope and invitation, calling all who are poor, held as captives, blind, or oppressed, to enter the freedom and joy of God's redeeming love.
The boldness of Jesus’s claim in His hometown synagogue, among people who knew Him as “Joseph’s son” (Luke 4Luke 4 commentary; 2222 commentary), shocks His audience and sets the stage for both awe and eventual hostility.