The mission of the Church is clarified in Luke 4:18-19 as Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”(NRSV).
Here the poor will be lifted up from their abject poverty. Captives will be released from their sins and all other forms of bondage – physical, economic, and political. Jesus is the light for all those who are blind (John 8:12) and his followers will also be a light for others (Matt 5:14-16).
Jesus proclaims the “acceptable year”, thus signaling the redemption of the oppressed. Such a Jubilee must include the social concerns of all people (Archdiocese of Cape Coast Synodal Acts, 2006:5).