As a preacher, [Jesus] is going to promise God’s presence. (This is from the perspective of Isaiah.) As the Messiah, he’s going to reinstate God’s righteousness in the world. And as a servant, he’s going to deal with the problem of sin. Now, Isaiah doesn’t understand how he’s going to do all of that yet, but he knows this is going to happen, that he’s got a promise — that’s what [Isaiah] is saying in this particular passage of scripture. As a result, the message of salvation we find in Isaiah 61, and throughout the whole book, is one of hope, of justice, and of gladness. That’s the message of Isaiah 61 – that the Messiah of God, the messenger of salvation, offers the message of hope to people who are about to lose all hope.
…Jesus gets up, reads this passage of scripture, and says, “Today, this passage is fulfilled.”
— Tim Howe