1Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2being tried for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3And the devil said to Him, If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. 4But Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God. 5Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said to Him, All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7Therefore, if You will do homage before me, all will be Yours. 8And Jesus answered and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, You shall do homage to the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve. 9Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the wing of the temple, and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10For it is written: He shall give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you, 11and, In their hands they shall bear you up, that you may not dash your foot against a stone. 12And Jesus answered and said to him, It has been said, You shall not test the Lord your God. 13And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. 14And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free with deliverance those who are oppressed; 19to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. 20And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears. 22And all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words going forth out of His mouth. And they said, Is this not Joseph's son? 23And He said to them, You will surely say this proverb to Me, Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country. 24And He said, Truly, I say to you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 25But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a widow woman. 27And many lepers were in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. 28And all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with rage, 29and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, in order to throw Him down. 30But passing through the midst of them, He went His way. 31And He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. 32And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. 33And in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, 34saying, Leave us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are; the Holy One of God! 35But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet, and come out of him! And when the demon had thrown him into their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. 36And they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, What a word this is. For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. 37And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region. 38And He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they entreated Him concerning her. 39So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them. 40When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. 41And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, You are the Christ, the Son of God! And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. 42And when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; 43but He said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent. 44And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 16 JESUS ENTERING ON HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY, MAKES A CIRCUIT OF GALILEE--REJECTION AT NAZARETH. (Luke 4:14-32)
as his custom was--Compare
Acts 17:2.
stood up for to read--Others besides rabbins were allowed to address the congregation. (See
Acts 13:15.)
18 To have fixed on any passage announcing His sufferings (as
Isa 53:1-
Isa 53:12), would have been unsuitable at that early stage of His ministry. But He selects a passage announcing the sublime object of His whole mission, its divine character, and His special endowments for it; expressed in the first person, and so singularly adapted to the first opening of the mouth in His prophetic capacity, that it seems as if made expressly for this occasion. It is from the well-known section of Isaiah's prophecies whose burden is that mysterious "SERVANT OF THE LORD," despised of man, abhorred of the nation, but before whom kings on seeing Him are to arise, and princes to worship; in visage more marred than any man and His form than the sons of men, yet sprinkling many nations; laboring seemingly in vain, and spending His strength for naught and in vain, yet Jehovah's Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and be His Salvation to the ends of the earth (Isa. 49:1-26, &c.). The quotation is chiefly from the Septuagint version, used in the synagogues.
19 acceptable year--an allusion to the jubilee year (
Lev 25:10), a year of universal release for person and property. (See also
Isa 49:8;
2Cor 6:2.) As the maladies under which humanity groans are here set forth under the names of poverty, broken-heartedness, bondage, blindness, bruisedness (or crushedness), so, as the glorious HEALER of all these maladies, Christ announces Himself in the act of reading it, stopping the quotation just before it comes to "the day of vengeance," which was only to come on the rejecters of His message (
John 3:17). The first words, "THE SPIRIT of the LORD is upon ME," have been noted since the days of the Church Fathers, as an illustrious example of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost being exhibited as in distinct yet harmonious action in the scheme of salvation.
20 the minister--the chazan, or synagogue-officer.
all eyes . . . fastened on Him--astounded at His putting in such claims.
21 began to say, &c.--His whole address was just a detailed application to Himself of this and perhaps other like prophecies.
22 gracious words--"the words of grace," referring both to the richness of His matter and the sweetness of His manner (
Ps 45:2).
Is not this, &c.--(See on
Matt 13:54-
Matt 13:56). They knew He had received no rabbinical education, and anything supernatural they seemed incapable of conceiving.
23 this proverb--like our "Charity begins at home."
whatsoever, &c.--"Strange rumors have reached our ears of Thy doings at Capernaum; but if such power resides in Thee to cure the ills of humanity, why has none of it yet come nearer home, and why is all this alleged power reserved for strangers?" His choice of Capernaum as a place of residence since entering on public life was, it seems, already well known at Nazareth; and when He did come thither, to give no displays of His power when distant places were ringing with His fame, wounded their pride. He had indeed "laid his hands on a few sick folk and healed them" (
Mark 6:5); but this seems to have been done quite privately the general unbelief precluding anything more open.
24 And he said, &c.--He replies to the one proverb by another, equally familiar, which we express in a rougher form--"Too much familiarity breeds contempt." Our Lord's long residence in Nazareth merely as a townsman had made Him too common, incapacitating them for appreciating Him as others did who were less familiar with His everyday demeanor in private life. A most important principle, to which the wise will pay due regard. (See also
Matt 7:6, on which our Lord Himself ever acted.)
25 But I tell you, &c.--falling back for support on the well-known examples of Elijah and Elisha (Eliseus), whose miraculous power, passing by those who were near, expended itself on those at a distance, yea on heathens, "the two great prophets who stand at the commencement of prophetic antiquity, and whose miracles strikingly prefigured those of our Lord. As He intended like them to feed the poor and cleanse the lepers, He points to these miracles of mercy, and not to the fire from heaven and the bears that tore the mockers" [STIER].
three years and six months--So
Jas 5:17, including perhaps the six months after the last fall of rain, when there would be little or none at any rate; whereas in
1Kgs 18:1, which says the rain returned "in the third year," that period is probably not reckoned.
26 save . . . saving--"but only." (Compare
Mark 13:32, Greek.)
Sarepta--"Zarephath" (
1Kgs 17:9), a heathen village between Tyre and Sidon. (See
Mark 7:24.)
28 when they heard these things--these allusions to the heathen, just as afterwards with Paul (
Acts 22:21-
Acts 22:22).
29 rose up--broke up the service irreverently and rushed forth.
thrust him--with violence, as a prisoner in their hands.
brow, &c.--Nazareth, though not built on the ridge of a hill, is in part surrounded by one to the west, having several such precipices. (See
2Chr 25:12;
2Kgs 9:33.) It was a mode of capital punishment not unusual among the Romans and others. This was the first insult which the Son of God received, and it came from "them of His own household!" (
Matt 10:36).
30 passing through the midst, &c.--evidently in a miraculous way, though perhaps quite noiselessly, leading them to wonder afterwards what spell could have come over them, that they allowed Him to escape. (Similar escapes, however, in times of persecution, are not unexampled.)
31 down to Capernaum--It lay on the Sea of Galilee (
Matt 4:13), whereas Nazareth lay high.
33 DEMONIAC HEALED. (
Luke 4:33-
Luke 4:37)
unclean--The frequency with which this character of impurity is applied to evil spirits is worthy of notice.
cried out, &c.--(See
Matt 8:29;
Mark 3:11).
35 rebuked them, &c.--(See on
Luke 4:41).
thrown him, &c.--See on
Mark 9:20.
36 What a word--a word from the Lord of spirits.
41 PETER'S MOTHER-IN-LAW AND MANY OTHERS, HEALED. (
Luke 4:38-
Luke 4:41)
suffered them not to speak--The marginal reading ("to say that they knew him to be Christ") here is wrong. Our Lord ever refused testimony from devils, for the very reason why they were eager to give it, because He and they would thus seem to be one interest, as His enemies actually alleged. (See on
Matt 12:24, &c.; see also
Acts 16:16-
Acts 16:18.)
42 JESUS SOUGHT OUT AT MORNING PRAYER, AND ENTREATED TO STAY, DECLINES FROM THE URGENCY OF HIS WORK. (
Luke 4:42-
Luke 4:44)
stayed him--"were staying Him," or sought to do it. What a contrast to the Gadarenes! The nature of His mission required Him to keep moving, that all might hear the glad tidings (
Matt 8:34).
43 I must, &c.--but duty only could move Him to deny entreaties so grateful to His spirit.