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, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord!

 

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,

and news of him spread throughout the whole region. 

He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.

He 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 and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. 

He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

            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,

            and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling 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. 

He said to them,

“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” 

And all spoke highly of him

and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. 

~Luke 4:14-22

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, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord! Jesus read this from above, it was originally foretold in the Old Testament by the Prophet Isaiah almost 700 years prior to Jesus reading it. Jesus came, He was the person Isaiah was talking about and He read it to all the Temple and then handed the scroll back to the attendant. Jesus fulfilled what Isaiah foretold. All seemed happy then. Yet they had Jesus murdered, killed, He died for our sins. Ironically, the poor have the most faith. They receive good tidings, as they believe in Jesus, follow Him, and try to be like Him. Most of the others, even the Pharisees do not, they were behind having Jesus killed. The rich, the elite, and one's who think they know best or more, they are the weak ones, they think they are above God, they lack Jesus, faith, and many may not see salvation. We are called to follow Jesus, to reflect, forgive, imitate, and love like Him! Do you believe now?