And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" (Luke 2:13-14 NRSV)

The glad tidings from the highest heaven came to the lowest stratum of society, to shepherds. Angelic heralds announced the arrival of a humble king, and the poor in spirit rejoiced. The favor of the Lord was being extended to them.

Though surprising, this was not unanticipated. Centuries before, to a discouraged and oppressed Israel, the prophet Isaiah promised an Anointed One who would bring good news to the anavim—the  poor, the afflicted, the meek (61:1). In other words, Messiah would come for the humble, and to them he would announce “the year of the Lord’s favor” (61:2).   

Jesus’ First Sermon

At the beginning of his public ministry—thirty years after the nativity of Yeshua as God’s agent to yoshia (save) his people—we see the theme of God’s favor figuring prominently once again in the Master’s life. This gifted son of Mary and Joseph returns to his home village in the lower Galilee, and with bold prophetic voice he announces the in-breaking of God's redemptive reign in human affairs: “The Kingdom of Heaven (God) is here!” (Matthew 4:17)

As usual, he attends synagogue on the Sabbath. What anticipation must have filled the air, what fascination in the minds of the worshippers, as Jesus of Nazareth ascended the bima (platform) to read from the Torah and the Prophets!

We can only speculate as to the assigned Torah portion that Sabbath morning long ago in Nazareth. But the concluding prophetic reading, the Haftarah, was the reader's choice—and its message is every bit as timely today as it was two thousand years ago.

Rav Yeshua (Rabbi Jesus) asks the attendant for the “Book of Isaiah” (Luke 4:17). Unfurling the scroll—like the one found intact among the discoveries near the Dead Sea—he turns to his passage of choice and begins reading:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me ... to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19 NRSV)

As “the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him,” Yeshua rolls up the scroll and hands it back to the chazan (attendant). He sits down, in the customary manner for sages, and begins to expound upon the Word of the Lord.

Creative Reading

Two features of Yeshua’s reading of Isaiah are striking: the first, commonly noted; the second, rarely understood.

First, he stops reading from Isaiah 61:2 in mid-sentence.

The original text declares: “... to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God.” Jesus deliberately concludes his reading with the words sh’nat ratzon la’Adonai—“year of the Lord’s favor.” He desists from reading, v’yom naqam l’eloheinu—“and the day of vengeance of our God.”

The point is pretty obvious: Yeshua's agenda as the Anointed of God is related to manifesting, extending and embodying God’s favor toward men. He is not the Agent of God’s judgment.

Second, out of the mouth of two witnesses a matter is established in Jewish tradition. To reinforce his point, therefore, Yeshua engages in a bit of creative reading and rabbinic exegesis of the Isaiah text.

He inserts a phrase—“to set at liberty those who are oppressed”—from the well known passage of Isaiah 58:5-6 immediately before his concluding reference to “the favor of the Lord.” Why does he do this?

Very simply: to drive home a point.

As my friend Dr. Steven Notley has documented, Jesus connects his reading of Isaiah 61:2a to the only other passage in Isaiah—indeed in all the Hebrew Bible—that has the same exact Hebrew phrase: ratzon la’Adonai (Isaiah 58:5b)!

His use of the rabbinic technique of linking two texts with the same key word or phrase (called Gezera Shava) dramatizes the main point and provides his interpretive key to the passage’s intent.

Messianic Task

To a stunned hometown audience, Jesus both announces his Messianic identity and interprets his Messianic task by a creative reading of the Isaiah scroll.

Contrary to the expectations of many, in Nazareth and the Galilee (including his cousin, John the Bapitzer), Jesus announces that the time is not yet for God’s wrath to be poured out against wickedness, arrogance and the kingdoms of men. No, that baptism of fire will come with a future Apocalypse. Now is the time for a baptism of the humble and repentant in the renewing waters of the Holy Spirit.

He emphasizes that today is the day of salvation, not of judgment. He announces the good news of God's favor, not the bad news of God's vengeance. Yeshua is the Anointed One through whom God's kingship is breaking into people's hearts and lives, healing, saving, encouraging, comforting, delivering and making whole.

The Messianic task as Jesus understood it is all about showing forth God's favor. At his birth, angelic hosts announced God’s shalom or peace coming on the earth and His favor upon men. Now, at the birth of his public ministry, Jesus echoes these glad tidings.

In him, we see Isaiah's prophecy being fulfilled and the favor of the Lord breaking forth. With him and the angels, can we say: “Glory to God in the highest!”