Jesus Teaches at Nazareth & Capernaum

12. Jesus Teaches at Nazareth
13. Jesus Teaches at Capernaum

Jesus at this point has begun his ministry, and while we are not told in detail what he said, he is clearly making an impact and his fame is growing.

One of the first places Jesus goes is back to his own synagogue in Nazareth, and that may have been his launching point. The passage he selects from the Book of Isaiah is telling. Jesus is well versed in his own tradition, and one of the repeating themes of his ministry is that his purpose is to lift Jewish scripture to a new, higher level. We also see, particularly at the beginning of his ministry, that he teaches in code (primarily through the use of parables) to avoid stirring up retribution by the high priests, whom, like John the Baptist, Jesus often criticizes.

The passage he reads from Isaiah could be an example of Jesus speaking in code, where one could perceive a higher or deeper interpretation of the words being used.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor:

One meaning of this could be the materially poor, certainly not a threatening message; the other meaning could be the poor in spirit. As we will see, Jesus did not believe that the religious leaders of his time were serving the people’s spiritual needs, and in fact were an obstacle to people achieving an autonomous relationship with God.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
To set a liberty them that are bruised,

By “captives,” many no doubt thought Jesus was talking about the Jews’ subjugation by the Romans. The other possibility – again born out by later teachings – was that he was referring to his people’s captivity to the rigid interpretations of Jewish law, promulgated by the high priests, which again were not serving the people’s real interests.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

This could be interpreted as a prediction of the coming apocalyptic messiah; or it could be interpreted as the revealing of a new truth concerning humankind’s relationship to God and to other human beings, which Jesus first glimpsed in the baptism by John, and which he was now dedicated to teaching others.