Isa. lxi. 1.—Luke iv. 21.
When the Lord Jesus began His ministry on earth He went into the
synagogue at Nazareth, and stood up to read. The attendant handed Him
the Roll containing the Prophecies of Isaiah; and the Lord found the
place, and this is what He read:—
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed
me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of
the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of
the Lord."
And Jesus closed the book, and He gave it again to the attendant, and
sat down. And the eyes of all that were in the synagogue were fastened
on Him.
And He began to say unto them "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in
your ears."
The Prophecy in Isaiah was written more than seven hundred years
before! That day it was fulfilled!
The King of Glory had taken our human nature upon Him, that He might
taste death for every man; and His first words as to His mission
were, that He would preach the Gospel to the poor, and heal the
brokenhearted!
Think how full of mercy His days were! How He gave the widow's only
son, who was dead, back to her alive; how He healed the Roman soldier's
servant, who was dear to him; how He touched the lepers and made them
well; how He forgave the sins of the palsied man, and healed him; how
He forgave Peter and restored him.
No wonder St. John in his Gospel says: "If all the things which Jesus
did should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself
could not contain the books that should be written!"