Luke 4:18-19

Context

After the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and, on the Sabbath, read the Scriptures in the synagogue of Nazareth, the town where he had been brought up. The scroll handed to him was the book of Isaiah, and the passage he read centers on Isaiah 61:1-2, with a phrase from Isaiah 58:6 woven in. When he finished reading, Jesus said, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (v. 21). Luke presents this scene as the first public sermon of Jesus' ministry, so that it reads as a declaration summarizing all of his subsequent work.

Interpretation

• Spiritual liberation: The poor are understood as the spiritually poor, the captives as those bound by sin, and the blind as those who cannot see the truth. This reading is common in evangelical preaching, which emphasizes that the heart of the gospel is the forgiveness of sins.
• Literal and social liberation: Pointing to Luke's especially frequent attention to the contrast between the poor and the rich (6:20-26; 16:19-31), this view holds that actual poverty and oppression are also in view. Latin American liberation theology and Korean minjung theology have treated this passage as an important foundation.
• Holistic reading: This view holds both dimensions together. Discussions of "holistic mission" within the Lausanne Movement, which maintain that evangelism and social responsibility must be held together, frequently cite this passage.

Debates and Issues

Many interpreters see "the acceptable year of the Lord" as evoking the Jubilee of Leviticus 25, the year in which debts were canceled and slaves set free. Opinions differ on whether this is a call for actual institutional reform or a figure for the grace of the messianic age.

The fact that Jesus stopped reading just before "the day of vengeance of our God" in Isaiah 61:2 is also frequently discussed. Some interpret this to mean that his first coming is the time of grace, while judgment is deferred until his return; others see it as an overturning of the expectation of vengeance against Israel's enemies (compare the stories of Gentiles that follow in 4:25-27).

In the Korean Church

The passage is often cited in social mission and relief ministries and in the founding statements of welfare institutions, and it serves as a sermon text for Mission Sunday and Disability Sunday. Its interpretation also became a point of contention in the debates over minjung theology.

Related Passages

• Isaiah 61:1-3
• Leviticus 25:8-12
• Luke 7:22
• Matthew 5:3