Lk 4:16-30
16[Jesus] 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 17and 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,/ 19and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”
20Rolling 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. 21He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” 23He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’ ” 24And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. 25Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. 26It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. 29They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
A Year Acceptable To The Lord: Placing Jesus’ return to Nazareth at the beginning of his Galilean ministry, Luke makes it a program as well as a foreshadowing of Jesus’ future ministry. Jesus brings glad tidings, but his rejection by his townspeople hints at the greater rejection of him by Israel.
The scroll of the prophet Isaiah handed to Jesus describes the deliverance of Israel (the inhabitants of Judah) as a jubilee year (Is 61:1-2; Lv 25). It is a moment of grace when debts are cancelled, slaves are freed, and properties returned to their original owners. The jubilee year, however, fell short of realizing its objectives. The Israelites continued to hope for the coming of the Messiah as the days of fulfillment. Luke says that with Jesus, that time has come. As Jesus finishes reading, he declares: “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”