He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read 17 and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” 20 Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. 21 He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus comes to Nazareth, the place where he had grown up, and enters the synagogue “according to his custom” (v. 16). That detail matters. He does not appear as an outsider to Israel’s worship, but as one formed within it. In that ordinary and familiar setting, Jesus makes a declaration that reveals who he is and why he has come.
He stands to read and is handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah (vv. 16-17). He unrolls it and finds the passage that begins, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” (v. 18). The words speak of one anointed by God and sent to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed (vv. 18-19). Luke places this scene at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry because it states plainly the work he has come to do.
Jesus is not simply reading a passage from Isaiah. He is identifying himself with the one spoken of by the prophet. The Spirit rests upon him, and he is the one sent to bring good news, healing, and release (vv. 18-19). What had been spoken as promise now begins to be fulfilled in him.
The passage Jesus reads comes chiefly from Isaiah 61, with language also echoing Isaiah 58. It describes a mission directed toward those in need: “the poor,” “captives,” “the blind,” and “the oppressed” (v. 18). In Luke’s Gospel, this includes those who suffer outward poverty and affliction, but it also points to the deeper condition of those who need God’s salvation. Jesus has come to bring the mercy of God to people burdened by suffering, sin, and all that holds them in bondage.
This helps explain the words, “to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (v. 19). The phrase recalls the jubilee year in Israel, which took place every fiftieth year, a sacred time when debts were remitted, slaves were released, and land was allowed to return to its family owners (cf. Lev. 25:8-17). It was a time of restoration and relief, meant to show that Israel belonged to the Lord and lived by his mercy. Jesus declares that this time of God’s favor is now arriving in him. The jubilee year pointed forward to the freedom, mercy, and restoration that he now comes to bring.
After reading, Jesus rolls up the scroll, hands it back to the attendant, and sits down (v. 20). Then Luke tells us that “the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him” (v. 20). The people are waiting for his explanation. What he says is brief, but decisive: “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (v. 21). They would have understood that Jesus was claiming that Isaiah’s words were being fulfilled in the present moment. They did not yet grasp the full depth of what he meant, but they could hardly miss the boldness of the claim.
That word “today” is important in Luke. It marks the arrival of God’s saving action in history. What Isaiah had spoken in promise is now present in the person and mission of Jesus. The long-awaited time of fulfillment is no longer only foretold. It has begun.
This passage also prepares the reader for what lies ahead. Jesus will bring good news, healing, and release, but he will also meet resistance and rejection. The mission announced here will lead forward through his ministry and, at last, to his suffering and death. As the Church enters Holy Thursday, this passage helps us see that Jesus came with a clear mission from the Father, and he would carry that mission through to its completion.
So this scene in Nazareth is a clear beginning. Jesus reveals who he is and what he has come to do. He is the one anointed by the Spirit, sent to bring God’s saving mercy to those in need. In him, the promise from of old begins to be fulfilled.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the one anointed by the Spirit and sent by the Father to bring good news, healing, and release. Open our hearts to hear your word with faith, and lead us into the freedom and restoration you came to give. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. Luke 4:16–21 and notes.
- Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010, 114.
- José María Casciaro, gen. ed., The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008, 262.
- Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990, 689–90, para. 57–60.
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018, 1047–48.
- John J. Collins, Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, and Donald Senior CP, eds., The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition. With a Foreword by Pope Francis. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2020, 1310.
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