“He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’” (Luke 4:17b-19, ESV)
After Jesus was baptized, he went out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. This tells us that His ministry is to do battle with the devil. Jesus overcame the temptations and then went to Nazareth to officially proclaim the start of His ministry. The words that He read from Isaiah and the words He spoke proclaimed that ministry: He has come to attack and destroy the works of the devil and the consequences of sin by preaching the good news of God’s love to a hurting and oppressed people and by healing the sick and giving sight to the blind, both literally and figuratively.
Jesus was rejected there in His home town. People there were too familiar with Him, thought they knew all about Him, so they dismissed His words and lost a blessing. In fact, this response would be indicative of the response of His people the Jews. The Jews as a whole would dismiss His words and work and crucify Him. they would remain spiritually blind while the Gentiles, the people supposedly outside of God’s Kingdom, the ones who did not know about the one true God, who did not know of His promise and love would hear His word and enter into His favor. This then is why we preach the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ, that those who are spiritually blind and oppressed will see and enter into God’s Kingdom.