Many people have had déjà vu experiences, in which they think that they had already witnessed what they are currently experiencing.  Usually this is a little trick the mind plays on us.  But when Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah, He was really reading about Himself, even though it had been written about 700 years previously.  During that long time, God was preparing His people to look out for this Healer/Releaser/Leader/Teacher who would be filled with the Holy Spirit.

For the people in the synagogue that Sabbath it was probably just another bit of religious routine.  But they knew that a local carpenter had started preaching and that the crowds had been amazed (Luke 4:15).  He had already stood up to read, but it was the chazan (synagogue attendant) who authorised Him to read from Isaiah’s prophecy by handing Him the scroll.  As the parchment had no chapters or page numbers, Jesus needed to unroll the scroll to nearly the end where He found what we know as Isaiah 61:1-2.  

It was common news that Jesus had been preaching in the poor rural villages (Luke 4:14) so the first sentence must have caused them to sit up and think that He was talking about Himself.  Prisoners, blind and oppressed people were low on the religious priority list.  But Jesus emphasised that they mattered to Father God, and to Himself.  He stopped halfway through Isaiah 61:2 announcing the ‘Year of the Lord's Favour’.  This referred to the Old Testament Year of Jubilee when all the debts were cleared, and slaves received their freedom (Leviticus 25:8-55).  It was the time for restoration and rest, forgiveness, and freedom.  He did not go on to the second part of the verse which announced the day of judgement - because the mission of His first coming was to rescue people from Satan's clutches, so that they would not be condemned in the judgement when He comes again.

Today is still ‘Jubilee-Year’ when Jesus takes the poor into His own family, opens blind eyes to see the truth of the gospel, and cuts free those under Satan's domination - so that forgiveness is given instead of judgement, and restoration instead of destruction.  This is the real work of the real Jesus.  It has been seen already in prophecy and the gospel accounts - let Him work in your heart today (see www.crosscheck.org.uk to know more).  And when you have received His grace, you must advertise the real Jesus to your friends and colleagues.  Without Him they have no hope of God's favour in this life or the next.