‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To send forth those who are oppressed in deliverance (forgiveness),
To proclaim the acceptable year (year of acceptance, time of favour) of the Lord.'
The passage describes the Spirit anointed Prophet and what He will achieve. He will preach Good News to the poor, He will proclaim deliverance to captives, and the opening of the eyes of the spiritually blind, He will set at liberty those who are oppressed (this phrase taken from Isaiah 58:6 LXX or equivalent), and He will proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
It need hardly be pointed out that this outlined ministry of the Prophet is a brief description of Jesus future ministry, and it is no accident that this chapter in Luke will continue with a description of His authoritative teaching (Luke 4:32), the deliverance of a man who was captive to evil spirits (Luke 4:33-35), the opening of the eyes of the people (Luke 4:36-37) the healing of a fever (Luke 4:38-39), and then the healing of various diseases and further deliverances from those oppressed with evil spirits (Luke 4:40-41), all fulfilments of the prophecy.
Note why the Spirit has come on Him. He has come to proclaim Good News. This is what Jesus' message and the message of the early church was all about (see Luke 4:43). And we will soon learn that Jesus Himself is the Good News. The reference to ‘the poor' does not mean the destitute. It refers to those who are not of the rich and the mighty (Psalms 49:2), to those who are of humble mind open to salvation (Psalms 69:29). It is used throughout the Old Testament, and especially in the Psalms, to describe those who are spiritually sensitive among the people, largely found among the common classes, because among them wealth, riches and power have not distorted their thinking. They have not been stultified by the deceitfulness of riches and power. Thus they are more openly receptive to God. (See e.g. Psalms 34:6; Psalms 35:10; Psalms 40:17; Psalms 49:2; Psalms 68:10; etc.).
He has come to proclaim freedom to the captives. The picture is of deliverance and salvation. In the Old Testament the captives were those who had been oppressed by a foreign power as a judgment on their sins. Their release arose because God was having mercy on them and their sins were forgiven (see Jeremiah 29:14). Now they could return home because they had returned to God. So the prophet here is to proclaim salvation and forgiveness, deliverance from sin and from the tyranny of Satan, to those who found themselves bound and oppressed. But we see from what follows that it includes deliverance from captivity by evil spirits.
Note also Isaiah 42:7 where it is the Servant of the Lord Who will ‘open the blind eyes, bring out the prisoners from the prison, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house'. There, as here, the blind and the captives and those who are in darkness go together. Again in Isaiah 49:9 the Servant is told ‘In the time of favour (the acceptable time) ---you will say to the prisoners, “Go forth”, to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves (come in to the light)”' and the result is that they will no longer be hungry or thirsty or needy. In Zechariah 9:9; Zechariah 9:12, the coming of the King riding on his ass's colt will result in the ‘prisoners of hope' or ‘hopeful prisoners' being restored. In each case the thought is of those who are out in the darkness being brought into God's favour and thus finding a new life of freedom. The similarity of phrases identify the Servant and the prophet as the same person.
‘The recovering of sight to the blind' goes along with this. The emphasis is on the spiritually blind. They walk in darkness and do not know where they are going (see John 12:35).
In the reading a line is left out (‘He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted'), and instead another line is added further on from Isaiah 58:6, (to send forth those who are oppressed in deliverance (forgiveness)'). It was in fact quite acceptable for the reader not to read the whole in the case of the prophets (but not of the Law of Moses which was sacrosanct). He could omit what he wished. More questionable from a Jewish point of view might be the way that Jesus incorporates, presumably from memory, a line from Isaiah 58:6. But we do not know that this was not permissible, and anyway Jesus as a prophet did not always see the need to follow convention. Perhaps He wanted to include the hint of forgiveness contained in that line. Or perhaps He had in mind the sending forth of His Apostles (those sent forth). Whatever the reason it would be like underlining them for most would recognise the changes and it was intended to make them think.
The introduced line reads, ‘To send forth those who are oppressed, in deliverance/forgiveness (aphesis).' He may have incorporated this because it speaks of those who are ‘sent out' (apostello) having in mind that He will send out those Whom He sets free from sin to deliver others (His Apostles, sent out ones), or His emphasis may be on the forgiveness available for those who are delivered. He wanted all to be aware that forgiveness was available. Forgiveness was also at the root of the preaching of John the Baptiser (Luke 3:3).
‘The acceptable year of the Lord' (the year of acceptance, the time of favour) has in mind the year of Yubile, and refers to that time when God was to step in and act again on behalf of His people bringing them relief and blessing. The year of Yubile was the year of cancellation of debts and restoration of lands (Leviticus 25:8-17; Deuteronomy 15:1-11). God's promise for His people was that one day He would step in, in the Yubile of all Yubiles, delivering them, removing sin, and restoring and blessing them to the full.
Thus to declare that that year was now here was to declare a ministry of ‘the last days', that is, the days in which God will do His final work. ‘The last days' began here, continued in the Acts of the Apostles, and have continued even to this day. It will be noted that He does not read about ‘the day of vengeance of your God'. That yet awaited the future for He was here to save and not to judge (John 3:17), and the judgment would take place when God drew history to a close.