Jesus' announcement in the Nazareth synagogue of his mission to the poor that is fulfilled "today" provides a framework for examining the canticles of Zechariah and Mary at the beginning of Luke's Gospel. Luke's story, it must be noted, begins with Zechariah in the Temple in Jerusalem and ends with St. Paul preaching in Rome, the symbol and centre of the Gentile world. Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are not two stories, but one drama that swings on the hinge of Jesus' ascension.

When Jesus went into the synagogue at Nazareth to read from the book of Isaiah, he knew his audience and they knew him. After all, he had grown up in their midst. Jesus would have known the personal quirks, the family histories and the likely reaction of every person in the synagogue to his proclamation, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4.21).