Luke 4:14-21 :

Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area. He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim release to the captives,
recovering of sight to the blind,
to deliver those who are crushed,
and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Here we see Jesus revealing Himself to those who came to synagogue on the Sabbath. Take note that this is one of the times that Jesus made it clear that He was the one that they were waiting for. Jesus wasn’t claiming to be just a good person. He was proclaiming Himself to be a Savior, and in doing so, was promoting Himself in front of everyone in His hometown.

Jesus was telling the truth, but those who didn’t believe would probably have a difficult time with Jesus’ self-promotion. Some in that town probably still had a problem with how Mary got pregnant.

It is true that we are not to promote ourselves, but we should tell the truth. I have discovered that often the truth is difficult to stand up for because of how it might sound. Jesus was clearly unconcerned about this and focused His attention on helping people, and teaching the truth no matter what it might seem like.

It is also very interesting to note that Jesus quotes Isaiah 61:1 and part of verse 2 only. He closed the Bible mid-sentence. The rest of verse two reads: “… and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;” What can we take from this except that Jesus didn’t come to bring God’s vengeance yet? There is an “and” in the verse, but Jesus didn’t say that it has been fulfilled yet.

Jesus has promised, however, to return and bring God’s vengeance. That is what is left for those who don’t believe in Jesus when He comes. For now, we “proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” but when Jesus returns it is going to be a different story.