Luke records a small but significant part of one of Jesus’ first sermons, preached in his hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21). For his text, Jesus chose the well-known passage from Isaiah 61 ties to Jewish Messianic expectations. Indeed, his particular passage was central in the Jewish worldview regarding expectations of the Messiah. So what were these expectations?
In chapter 3 of Transforming Mission, Bosch explains that Isaiah 61 was central in forming the Jews expectation of the Messiah, who would bring the glorious Year of Jubilee when the brokenhearted would be healed, captives set free from their debts, and prisoners released from their sentences. Isaiah 61 uses the other common name for the Year of Jubilee: the year of the Lord’s favor (v. 2a). Bosch also explains that the Jews expected this to be a day when God would bring vengeance on the enemies of Israel, the Gentile nations (v. 2b). The Messiah would bring a day when Israel would finally reclaim their land, rebuild their holy city, and overthrow foreign rule.
When Jesus preached his Nazareth, ministry-inaugurating sermon from Isaiah 61 and declared that these things were fulfilled in their hearing (Luke 4:21), he raised quite a stir, as you might imagine. Was this the Messiah who was going to bring the Year of Jubilee and the final restoration of Israel to its former glory? Excitement was in the air. But others were alarmed. Jesus’ didn’t continue to quote one of their favorite parts of Isaiah 61: the part about vengeance (Isa 61:2b). Have you ever wondered why Jesus didn’t include this part in his sermon? Bosch has a suggestion, building on the work of several scholars, that by excluding this part from his sermon, Jesus was definitely departing from people’s expectation of his mission. He was coming to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, the Year of Jubilee, beginning with repentance, forgiveness and salvation and leading to a radical reconstitution of the community of faith based on justice. But Jesus was not coming to overthrow the Romans and to destroy the Gentile nations. Rather, he was coming to bring faith and forgiveness to the Gentiles, to tell this new community of faith to love their enemies and live at peace under the Romans.
What? No vengeance?! No, not in the way that the Jews were expecting. Jesus’ mission was not to destroy the Gentiles, but to bring them life, to bring them the same opportunity for repentance, faith, and forgiveness. Vengeance would come on those who did not believe Jesus’ message and mission, including many “faithful” Jews. Over and over again, Jesus’ radical love and compassion for the Gentiles scandalized Jews expecting Messianic vengeance against these enemies of the kingdom. Jesus’ mission was scandalous. Jesus’ mission was subversive. Jesus’ mission was both a fulfillment of first century Messianic expectations, and a complete departure from these expectations.
Now that we have looked at this pivotal passage in Luke, we will turn to look at the theology of mission in Luke-Acts as a whole.
