Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and, according to his custom, went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read the scriptures and the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book and found the place where these words are written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Isaiah 61:1-2)
Then he shut the book, handed it back to the attendant and resumed his seat. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him and he began to tell them, “This very day this scripture has been fulfilled, while you have been listening to it.” (Luke 4:16-21)
We read the Old Testament passages and we often see them just as accounts of times before the ministry of Jesus. We understand “our scripture” as beginning with the New Testament when the story turns the page to the Messiah of all people. But the message is one, with every word, every story from Genesis to Revelation, a part of God’s promise. This unity of all scripture is perhaps best understood in the passage from Isaiah 61 and 62. It was written at a time when God’s chosen people were divided, led astray by idolaters and conquerors, abandoning their beliefs and their heritage. Yet it is in the accounts of these times that we hear the call of victory for all mankind.
When Jesus claimed this scripture in the synagogue in Nazareth, He was reminding His listeners of the promised Messiah whose life-transforming gospel was described by the prophet Isaiah 700 years earlier. Jesus’ message, proclaimed throughout His ministry, paralleled the mission described by the prophet – a promise of release and of restoration. For the poor, those who mourn, for the captive, and those in darkness, Isaiah prophesied relief. But the revolutionary lifestyle presented by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5-7) goes beyond the physical and speaks to the soul of our existence – the hunger for righteousness, the desire for the Spirit, and an understanding of God’s will. He calls us to measure our intent in our relations with our fellowman and challenges us to become His salt and His light. And He takes us to the Father and teaches us to pray. Could Isaiah have ever imagined the beauty of the revelation when the Son of God fulfilled the law and provided our redemption?
The prophecy of Isaiah continues with the promise of the creation of a “new Israel” to rebuild the theocracy that generations of disbelief and disobedience had destroyed. The Jews would be joined by Gentile converts – “aliens joining in the service of shepherding the flocks.” (Isaiah 61:5) With words that would anger the Jews in Nazareth to the point of attempted assassination, Jesus opened the doors of acceptance to those of us who were to come – the “widows of Sidon” and “the lepers of Syria.” (Luke 4: 23-27) We, who watched from the doorways and courtyards, were invited by the Savior to join the feast in the banquet hall of God.
Join us in the next weeks as we follow the fulfillment of God’s promise foretold in Isaiah’s prophesy.