In Sunday’s Gospel, as Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah (61:1-2) in his hometown synagogue, he strikingly adds a verse (58:6) from an earlier chapter of this prophet: "To send out the oppressed in freedom" (our freer lectionary translation is "to set at liberty those who are oppressed").
Why might this be significant? Jesus speaks as the anointed one who has been "sent" by God to those in need: "He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives" (Luke 4:18, citing Isaiah 61:1). The extra verse Jesus includes (from Isaiah 58:6) adds that those in need are also themselves "sent out" by God.
