Before we begin with Luke chapter 4 and verses 16 through 19, let me share a little background about Luke and his view of Jesus. Luke wrote his gospel sometime in the ninth decade of the Christian era to a predominantly Gentile audience whose affluent members were rethinking their missionary activities in a hostile environment. There were internal and external issues and controversies that contributed to this hostile environment. The major internal issue that confronted Luke’s communities of believers in Jesus was related to what theologians call theodicy; the question of how God’s justice can be vindicated when there is so much evil present in the world. The early Gentile believers who were facing opposition and persecution externally, wrestled with a question that haunted them: If God has not kept his promises made to God’s own chosen people of Israel, and has allowed their holy city of Jerusalem and the Temple to be destroyed, what reason do Gentile Christians have to think that God will be faithful to promises made to them?

Given this historical context, Luke answers these concerns in his gospel narrative in Luke and Acts. He argues that God through Jesus was faithful to promises made to Israel, but that he went further and included Gentiles, the unclean, the poor, women, Samaritans, rich toll collectors, and assorted other outcasts. Luke writes from the point of view that there is now a new Israel, a reconstituted chosen people of God inclusive of everyone who changes their minds and accepts Jesus, God’s prophet and Chosen One. So Luke portrays Jesus in his compassionate, inclusive mission to all people; a mission that seeks out the lost and sinners and restores them to union with God. Luke also paints the portrait of Jesus’ God as faithful. He begins his gospel by showing how God’s promises have been fulfilled by the birth of Jesus; he ends his gospel by showing how God has fulfilled his promises by raising Jesus from the dead. Luke’s final argument in answer to the question troubling the communities of his day is that this God, who did not allow his Holy One, Jesus, to see corruption, will surely be faithful to promises made to Jesus’ followers who journey from all corners of the globe to take their places at the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God on this earth. With this brief backdrop behind us, we can allow Luke to set the context for the teachings of Jesus in his gospel by moving to his account of Jesus’ first public sermon.

Luke chapter 4 and verses 16 through 19:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”


In his very first public sermon, Jesus chooses for his text a revolutionary announcement linking the Old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah at chapter 61 to the radical character of his ministry which is about to unfold. It is significant that Luke highlighted Jesus’ use of this text right after Jesus’ temptation by the devil in the wilderness and Luke’s reporting that Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. The purpose of the filling of Jesus with the Holy Spirit was for the benefit of those who are economically, physically, and socially outcast. That is why the preaching of Jesus was called good news. The leadership lesson here for us is that the gifts and filling of the Holy Spirit are not given to us for us, but for the benefit of the Body of Christ which includes the poor, the outcast and the downtrodden as well as the rich and famous who love God and keep his commandments.

Of real importance in this passage is the mention of the year of the Lord’s favor, or the year of jubilee. Under the Law of Moses, God required that every 50 years the Israelites were to let their fields lie fallow, return to their ancestral homes, release all slaves and cancel all debts owed them. God’s purpose in having the Israelites proclaim the jubilee was to make sure that bondage and hard times would not continue for anyone from generation to generation. The jubilee offered hope for restoration and beginning anew, faith in the sovereignty of God, and conviction that the structures of social and economic life must reflect God’s reign. At the time Jesus preached, the Jewish nation had long abandoned the keeping of the jubilee. The leadership lesson for us is that we should advocate for a modern day jubilee for families struggling with debt. The release of debts for poor and working class people will spur our economy while it gives poor and working class families an opportunity to get a new start in life. The biblical principle of proclaiming the year of jubilee worked for ancient Israel yesterday, and it will work for modern America today, particularly because of the present economic crisis.