The Scripture behind the Scripture
The Spirit of the Lord Is Upon Me
Isaiah 61:1 announces one anointed by the Spirit to preach good tidings to the poor and proclaim liberty to the captives. Jesus reads this scroll in the synagogue at Nazareth and applies it to himself in Luke 4:18.
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;”Isaiah 61:1
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”Luke 4:18
In its own place
In its own place. Isaiah 61 belongs to the closing chapters of Isaiah, addressed to a people needing restoration and comfort. A speaker announces that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon him because the Lord has anointed him to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. In its original setting this is the commission of a Spirit anointed messenger, likely the prophet himself in the line of Isaiah's servant figures, sent to bring hope to a downcast and afflicted community. The language draws on the year of jubilee, the acceptable year when debts were released, slaves freed, and property restored, picturing God's coming deliverance as a great jubilee of release and renewal. The messenger's mission is one of good news to the poor, healing to the broken, and freedom to the imprisoned, marking the dawn of God's favor. It is a proclamation of restoration, that the season of mourning is ending and God is coming to comfort all who grieve in Zion and to give them beauty for ashes.
Where the New Testament takes it up
This is a direct quotation, and it forms the keynote of Jesus' ministry in Luke's Gospel. In Luke 4:18, at the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus is handed the scroll of Isaiah, finds this passage, and reads that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. He follows the Greek text and then rolls up the scroll and declares, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Jesus stops the reading before the line about the day of vengeance, emphasizing that his coming inaugurates the season of God's favor. By applying Isaiah 61 to himself, Jesus claims to be the Spirit anointed messenger who brings the great jubilee of release, and he defines his mission as good news to the poor and freedom to the captive. Luke uses this scene as a programmatic statement of who Jesus is and what he came to do, the Anointed One, which is what the words Messiah and Christ mean, fulfilling the prophet's commission in his own person.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. Jesus takes Isaiah's anointed herald and says, This day is this scripture fulfilled. He is the One on whom the Spirit rests, the true Anointed, whose ministry brings the jubilee that Isaiah proclaimed. To the poor he brings good news, to the brokenhearted healing, to captives freedom, and to a mourning world the acceptable year of the Lord. His whole ministry unfolds this text, as he preaches to the lowly, opens blind eyes, and releases those bound by sin and by the powers of darkness. That he read only to the line of God's favor, not yet the day of vengeance, shows that his first coming inaugurated the era of grace. The jubilee Isaiah pictured, a great release and restoration, has arrived in Jesus, who proclaims and accomplishes the liberty of the children of God.
Questions people ask
Why did Jesus stop reading where he did?
He read to the acceptable year of the Lord but stopped before the day of vengeance, signaling that his first coming inaugurates the season of God's favor and salvation. The fuller judgment belongs to his return.
What is the acceptable year of the Lord?
It draws on the year of jubilee, when debts were released and captives freed. Isaiah used it to picture God's coming deliverance, and Jesus claimed to bring that great release, proclaiming good news to the poor and liberty to the captive.