Isaiah 61

Imagine you receive a text message from your best friend that contains nothing but a single emoji. The emoji is a broken heart. What are three possible reasons you received the text?

Write down your answers. You’ll use them later in this lesson.

In Isaiah 61, Isaiah prophesied of the Savior and His mission. In these verses, Isaiah speaks messianically or as if the Savior is saying the words.

Read Isaiah 61:1–3. Mark who the Lord promises to help in the passage.

Sometimes, defining who the scriptures are talking about can help you better understand a passage. Choose at least two of the groups you highlighted in Isaiah 61:1–3 and define them in a note. For example, you might write, “A person is brokenhearted when … ,” “A person is captive when … ,” or “People mourn when … .”

Sister Kristin M. Yee, Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, shared how Christ healed her heart:

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I have personally witnessed the miracle of Christ healing my warring heart. With permission of my father, I share that I grew up in a home where I didn’t always feel safe because of emotional and verbal mistreatment. In my youth and young adult years, I resented my father and had anger in my heart from that hurt.

Over the years and in my efforts to find peace and healing on the path of forgiveness, I came to realize in a profound way that the same Son of God who atoned for my sins is the same Redeemer who will also save those who have deeply hurt me. I could not truly believe the first truth without believing the second.

As my love for the Savior has grown, so has my desire to replace hurt and anger with His healing balm. It has been a process of many years, requiring courage, vulnerability, perseverance, and learning to trust in the Savior’s divine power to save and heal. I still have work to do, but my heart is no longer on a warpath. I have been given “a new heart” [Ezekiel 36:26]—one that has felt the deep and abiding love of a personal Savior, who stayed beside me, who gently and patiently led me to a better place, who wept with me, who knew my sorrow. (“Beauty for Ashes: The Healing Path of Forgiveness,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 37)

After receiving the broken heart emoji from your friend, you send them a message that says, “Are you OK?” Their reason for the text is one of the options you suspected. Write a text message (or series of text messages) that you would feel comfortable sending as a response. Include what you’ve learned about the Savior’s promises in Isaiah 61:1–3.

Review the following study options. Complete one or more.

Option B

How does faith help us accept Christ’s help?

The Jews in Christ’s time were familiar with Isaiah’s prophecies even though they were given about 700 years before the Savior’s birth. While in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read the prophecy in Isaiah 61:1–3. When he was finished, he proclaimed himself the Savior by saying, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21).

Link Luke 4:16–21 to Isaiah 61:1–3. Make a note next to verse 21 explaining that this was a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.

Sadly, the people in Christ’s hometown rejected His claim.

Read Luke 4:22–32 or watch the video “Jesus Declares He Is the Messiah” (3:24). Then read Matthew 13:57–58 to learn why Jesus performed few miracles in Nazareth.

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Answer the following in your notebook:

• Why do you think believing Jesus Christ can heal, free, and comfort you is essential to accessing His grace?

• What can you do to invite Jesus Christ’s power to heal, free, and comfort you?

Lesson Purpose: To help you increase your confidence in the Savior’s ability to heal, free, and comfort you.

Share one or more of the following with your teacher or class:

• What you learned about the Savior’s mission from the stories you studied.

• Your notebook entry about belief in Christ’s ability to heal, free, and comfort you.

• Something specific you did to achieve the purpose of this lesson.

• Any questions this lesson raised for you. How will you try to find answers to your questions?