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the messianic prophecy of the Old Testament, i.e. the Kingdom is a present reality by the coming

of Jesus.

Luke’s record of Jesus’ inaugural sermon at the Nazareth Synagogue gives more plenary

information. Jesus declared, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to

bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of

sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor…. Today

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this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-21) In preaching this, Jesus
announced “the rather scandalous notion that God’s kingdom is now operative: it has, in some

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sense, arrived.” He revealed his identity and mission as the fulfillment of the messianic

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expectation of Deutero-Isaiah (61:1-4).” In the same chapter, Luke included Jesus’

pronouncement of the Kingdom: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the

other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose”(Lk. 4: 43). Luke’s apparent intention was for
his readers to comprehend Jesus’ preaching of the good news to the poor and oppressed in terms

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Some helpful publications for understanding the pericope of the Nazareth Sermon are:
Walter Eltester, ed., Jesus in Nazareth, BZNW no.40 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1972);
Robert. B. Sloan, Jr., The Favorable Year of the Lord: A Study of Jubilary Theology in the
Gospel of Luke (Austin, TX: Schola Press, 1977); Bruce Chilton, “Announcement in Nazara: An
Analysis of Luke 4:16-21,” in Gospel Perspectives: Studies of History and Tradition in the Four
Gospels, eds. R.T. France and David Wenham (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981) II-147-72; and J.
Kodell, “Luke’s Gospel in a Nutshell (Lk. 4:16-30),” Biblical Theology Bulletin 13 no.1 (January
1983): 16-18.

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Scot McKnight, A New Vision for Israel: The Teachings of Jesus in National Context
(Grand Rapids, MI.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999), 88.

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John Fuellenbach, The Kingdom of God: The Message of Jesus Today (Maryknoll, NY:
Orbis Book, 1995), 68.