Proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord

Luke gives a summary of Jesus' initial success in preaching the Good News of the Kingdom: news of him has spread throughout Galilee.

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When Jesus returns to Nazareth, he is given a prominent place during a synagogue service due to the "prestige" he has acquired. The ceremony usually begins with a hymn and opening prayer, then a reading from Scripture, followed by a homily, and finally a prayer capped with the concluding blessing.

When Jesus is given the scroll of Isaiah, he finds the oracle about the Lord's "anointed" whose mission is to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. This is a messianic text. The "anointed one" in Hebrew is mashiach. The "year acceptable to the Lord" (v 19) is a time of healing and liberation, a year of Jubilee in Israel. In putting this episode at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, Luke is saying that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah and his mission is precisely to proclaim the Good News to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and liberty for those who have been oppressed. Jesus can never be more emphatic as when he declares, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing" (v 21).