ISB ~ Luke 4 v18 - 19

A reference to Is 61:1-2, with an additional excerpt from Is 58:6. Since many during NT times expected the Messiah to liberate Israel from the political domination of the Romans, the townspeople mistakenly thought these passages promised their national independence (CCC 439).

• Isaiah’s oracle picks up the language of Lev 25 regarding the jubilee year. As part of Israel’s economic legislation, a jubilee was celebrated every 50 years. It signaled the remission of debts, the release of slaves, and the return of ancestral property to its original family owners. Isaiah projects this jubilee celebration into the future when God will come to release Israel from its slavery (idols) and debt (guilt). Jesus follows the spirit of Isaiah when he announces liberation from sin, not from political or economic subjugation (Rom 6:6). Elsewhere in Luke the word release (Gk. aphesis) means “forgiveness” (1:77; 3:3; 24:47).