CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 4:14. Returned.—I.e. from Judæa. Galilee.—The main centre of our Lord’s ministry (cf. Acts 10:37; Luke 23:5). In the power of the Spirit.—Fresh strength gained from His victory in the wilderness. A fame.—The ground of this is given in Luke 4:15.
Luke 4:16. And He came to Nazareth.—It is almost certain that this is the visit recorded in Matthew 13:53-58 and Mark 6:1-6. These latter inform us that disciples accompanied Him and that He healed a few sick persons. As His custom was.—I.e. the custom of attending the service, not necessarily of reading the lessons.
Luke 4:17. The book.—I.e. the roll. Opened.—Lit. “unrolled.” Found the place.—This seems to imply either that He accidentally lighted upon the passage or specially selected it, and not that it was part of the stated lesson for the day. The present order of lessons in the synagogue service is of a very much later date than this; so that we cannot discover by reference to it what particular Sabbath this was.
Luke 4:18-19.—The words are from Isaiah 61:1-2, freely quoted from the LXX., supplemented by a passage from Isaiah 58:6. To heal the brokenhearted.—These words are not found in the best MSS. of the Gospel; omitted in R.V. The acceptable year of the Lord.—I.e. the definite time in which the Lord is gracious.
Luke 4:20. The minister.—I.e. the attendant [chazzan], who brought the sacred volume to the reader and restored it to its place. Sat down.—“They read the Holy Scriptures standing [an attitude of respect], and taught sitting [an attitude of authority]” (Speaker’s Commentary).
Luke 4:21. And He began to say, etc.—This was the theme of His discourse: that He was the Messiah [anointed One] of whom the prophet spoke. It is evident from Luke 4:22 that He expatiated at some length on this topic.
Luke 4:22. Bare Him witness.—By expressing wonder and admiration. Gracious words.—Reference is to the persuasive beauty and not to the ethical character of His words. Is not this Joseph’s son?—This marks a change of feeling—contempt and envy beginning to overcome admiration.
Luke 4:23. Physician, heal Thyself.—The best modern equivalent of this proverb is, “Charity begins at home”: Do something for Thine own countrymen. It may, however, mean, “Do something for Yourself, work a miracle here, and save Yourself from being rejected by us.” Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum.—There is no record in the Gospels of the miracles wrought at Capernaum to which reference is here made. They must belong to the period indicated in John 2:12.
Luke 4:24.—“No prophet is received in his own country, as he is elsewhere; and it is God’s way to send His messengers to strangers, as in the case of Elijah and Elisha, who were sent to be the ministers of God’s mercy to Gentiles” (Speaker’s Commentary).
Luke 4:25. Three years and six months.—So in James 5:17; in 1 King Luke 18:1 three years are spoken of, but we do not know the terminus a quo from which they are reckoned; if from the flight of Elijah to Zarephath, the time would correspond with that here specified.
Luke 4:26. Sarepta.—I.e. Zarephath (1 Kings 18:9): a village half-way between Tyre and Sidon.
Luke 4:29.—Dean Stanley points out the accuracy of the description given of Nazareth in this place, though at first sight there seems to be inaccuracy. “Most readers probably from these words imagine a town built on the summit of a mountain, from which summit the intended precipitation was to take place. This is not the situation of Nazareth. Yet its position is still in accordance with the narrative. It is built ‘upon,’ that is, on the side of, ‘a mountain’; but the ‘brow’ is not beneath but over the town, and such a cliff as is here implied is to be found in the abrupt face of the limestone rock, about thirty or forty feet high, at the south-west corner of the town, and another at a little farther distance” (Sinai and Palestine, x.).
Luke 4:30.—A miraculous occurrence is evidently implied. The Nazarenes had Him in their grasp; so that the awe with which a dignified demeanour might impress a furious crowd and keep them within bounds would not account for His deliverance on this occasion.
CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 4:15. Mused.—Rather, “reasoned, debated.” The absence of outward splendour occasioned doubts as to whether John could be the promised Messiah; the holiness of his life and the authority with which he spoke suggested to some that he might be the Sent of God. This verse is peculiar to St. Luke but is equivalent to what is said in John 1:19-25.
Luke 4:16. Latchet.—I.e. thong or lace. Shoes.—Rather, “sandals.”
Luke 4:17. Fan “The Latin vannus, a great shovel with which corn was thrown up against the wind to separate it from the chaff” (Farrar). Floor.—I.e. “threshing-floor” (R.V.).
Luke 4:18. Preached.—Lit. “evangelised the people”—proclaimed good tidings to them. “With many other exhortations, therefore, preached he good tidings unto the people” (R.V.). The allusion seems to be to the announcement of Christ’s coming or to references of Him, which underlay the Baptist’s teaching.
Luke 4:19.—The imprisonment of John is mentioned by anticipation. Cf. this passage with the fuller notices in Matthew 14:3-5; Mark 6:17-20. Philip’s.—Omit Philip (R.V.), “his brother’s wife.” The first husband of Herodias was named Herod, and was a private citizen living in Rome. He was probably called Philip to distinguish him from Herod Antipas (cf. Mark 6:17).
Luke 4:20.—It is interesting to find the same estimate of Herod’s conduct towards John in the history of Josephus (Antt., XVIII. Luke 4:1-4). Prison.—The Jewish historian tells us that the scene of John’s imprisonment was the fortress of Machærus, on the north of the Dead Sea.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 4:14-30
The Acceptable Year of the Lord.—St. Luke’s Gospel, which represents Christ as the Son of man, keeps up the note struck in its accounts of the birth and youth by giving as His first reported discourse this one, in the place “where He had been brought up,” and in the synagogue into which it had been “His custom” from childhood to enter on the Sabbath. It was a natural feeling which drew Him thither, that He might win disciples among the companions of His boyhood. The rumour of His miracles in Capernaum heightened His reputation among His fellow-villagers. One can fancy the curious looks of the congregation, and the busy remembrances filling His heart on that Sabbath. In the discourse He delivered, Christ described the nature of the work He had to do as Messiah, and intimated that the Gentile world would welcome the blessings which the Jews valued so lightly. St. Luke gives a brief outline of both topics of discourse, and describes the effect produced upon the hearers by each.
I. Christ’s conception of His work.—Whether the passage He read was from the usual lesson for the day or not we cannot tell. But it is significant that He stopped in the middle of a verse, and said nothing about “the day of vengeance of our God,” as if He would keep the sweet and radiant side of His mission unshaded by any terror. After reading the words of the prophet He declared at length His claims to be the Messiah. Note
1. How definite and complete His conception of His work is from the first. He knew what He had come to be and do. His aims neither cleared nor grew, but were sun-clear and world-wide from the beginning. That is not the experience of God’s other servants. They are led by undreamed-of ways to an end which they never foresaw. But Jesus had no mist on His future, nor any unconsciousness of His significance. Note
2. Christ’s great theme was always Himself. His demand is not, Believe this or that which I tell, but, Believe in Me; and there in the synagogue, among those who had seen Him as a child, and played with Him in the streets, and known Him as the carpenter, He begins His ministry by proclaiming that the great prophecy is fulfilled in Him. If this is not the speech of incarnate Divinity, it is the boasting of arrogant egotism. He is conscious of possessing the Divine Spirit. It is the permanent effect of the sign at His baptism. Note
3. The view of men’s condition implied. They are poor, captives, blind, bruised. The loving, sad eye is already looking on humanity with clear insight and yearning pity. Mark the calm consciousness of power to grapple with and overcome all these miseries. There stands a humble Galilæan peasant, and singly fronts a world full of wretchedness, blindness, bondage, and bruises, and asserts that power to remedy them all is in Him. Was He right or wrong? If He was right, what and who is He?
II. The effect produced on the hearers.—They “bare Him witness.” Something in their hearts was stirred by the gracious manner as well as substance of His words, and endorsed His claims and drew the hearers towards Him. That inward witness speaks still. Will the testimony within be listened to or stifled? Life and death hang on the answer. The balance wavers for a moment, and then goes the wrong way. A cold jet of criticism is turned on; and when the hearers got to saying, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” (which He was not), all was over. Let us take heed how we deal with the witness of our own hearts to Jesus; for we too are in danger of drowning its voice by noisy prejudices and inclinations.
III. Christ passes to the thought of His world-wide mission.—The handful of Nazarenes becomes representative of the nation, and their rejection of Him the occasion of the blessings passing to the heathen. If Jesus had not long been familiar with this thought, it could not have come to Him now so quickly nor so clearly, nor been announced so decisively and calmly. Obviously He entered on His ministry with the consciousness that His kingdom was as wide as humanity, and His blessings meant for all the lonely and diseased everywhere. Note, too, how His mind is saturated with Scripture: it was His weapon in His desert conflict, and it is His unanswerable demonstration that Israel’s prophets carry blessings to Gentiles. He selects His examples from the hereditary enemies of Israel, and not only hints at the inclusion of the alien, but He plainly tells of the exclusion of the Jew. In this lay the sting of the examples.
IV. The anger of the Nazarenes.—Their interest had quickly cooled. The carping question, and the craving for miracle, had effectually damped the incipient admiration. No doubt the words of prophecy had stirred some hopes of mere political freedom; and if He had preached revolt, He might have beat up a following. But this declaration that the outside heathen were to have a share in the healing, sight, and liberty which He proclaimed extinguished all the dreams of a political Messiah; and that helped to make the Nazarenes the angrier. They “rose up,” interrupting the synagogue service, and, in the whirlwind of their fury, drag Him to some cliff high enough to kill any one thrown over it.
Let us learn how little the mere familiarity with Christ in the flesh availed to open men’s eyes to His beauty, and let us beware lest a similar familiarity with the letter of the record of His life may equally blind us to our need of Him, and His Divine authority over us, and Divine power to help and heal us. Let us take heed that we yield to and follow out the stirrings of conviction in our inmost hearts; and remember, for warning against dealing lightly with these, that the same people who one half-hour bare witness to Jesus, and wondered at His gracious words, were ready to fling Him over the rock the next, and, so far as we know, lost Him for ever when He passed through their midst and went His way. That way led Him unto the wide world. It leads Him to each heart that is sad and sore, and brings Him to our doors with hands pierced and laden with blessings.—Maclaren.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 4:14-30
Luke 4:14. “Power of the Spirit.”—Strengthened by His victory over temptation. “And now, the way being clear before Him, with God as His assured ally and Satan as His open foe, Jesus moves forward to the field of battle” (Godet).
“Fame.”—I.e. on account of
(1) His teaching, and
(2) of His miracles (cf. Luke 4:23).
The Return with Power.—The power was the power of the Spirit in which He returned to His own land. Who would not desire to be such a power in the world? Whence comes this ability? Where shall we win the subtle secret of such a power? The best gifts can neither be bought nor commanded. This power is of the very essence of a man’s nature: it must radiate from his spirit.
I. The power which Jesus wielded was drawn forth in the experience of the wilderness.—The wilderness and the temptation preceded the gracious words. No man gets power except in conflict; conflict is the schoolroom where power and courage are learned. This principle is true in the material world and in the world of mind. Pain and isolation discipline the spirit. No man is strong who has not learned to live alone. But—
II. Loneliness is not enough.—It is not because Jesus spent forty days in solitude that He was strong. It was because of the power which He matured in the wilderness—the power of living not by the earthly but by the heavenly law.
III. Our Lord shows that there is a heavenly light in ordinary human life.—Our Lord had gone into the wilderness to bring hope to men. There was no lot in which God was not. “This day,” He cried, “the hindering ills and the oppressive sorrows of life may disappear.”—Carpenter.
Luke 4:15. “Synagogues.”—In spite of the religious degeneracy of the Jewish people of this time, the word of God was still read publicly and endeavours made to elucidate its teaching and apply it to the hearts and lives of those who heard it.
Luke 4:16-30. An Epitome of the History of Jesus.—The whole scene in the synagogue at Nazareth from beginning to end is full of typical significance. Commencing with evangelic discourse, and closing with death-perils, it may be said to be an epitome of the history of Jesus. And for that very reason it is introduced here by the Evangelist at so early a place in his narrative. Luke selects it for the frontispiece of his Gospel, showing by sample the salient features of its contents.—Bruce.
Christ an Example to Teachers—
I. In His spirit of devotedness.
II. In His being filled with the Spirit.
III. In His custom of frequenting the synagogue.
IV. In His knowledge of and aptness to teach the word.
V. In His utterance of words of grace.—Hone.
“Where He had been brought up.”—It was a trying visit, for few tasks are harder than to give God’s message to one’s own relatives and intimate friends, especially when they are in no mood to receive it.—Blaikie.
Luke 4:16. Church Attendance. “As His custom was.”—There are many evidences that Jesus had fixed religious habits. Attending the weekly synagogue worship had been His custom from childhood; and although He was the Son of God, and had been manifested as the Messiah, He still continued to observe the custom. He went there to worship God, not to find an intellectual entertainment. The inconsistencies of His fellow-worshippers did not keep Him from the services. If He needed the means of grace, surely we need them far more.—Miller.
Jesus a Lover of the House of God.—It is strange to think of Jesus being preached to Sabbath after Sabbath during these silent years at Nazareth. What was the man like to whom Jesus listened? When He began His public work, He still regularly frequented the synagogue. This was in fact the centre from which His work developed itself. It is thus evident that Jesus was a passionate lover of the house of God. As the Scripture was read, the great and good of former ages thronged around Him; nay, heaven itself was in that narrow place for Him.—Stalker.
Christ an Example as a Worshipper.—There is a strong argument to be drawn from the example of Christ for attendance upon public worship on the day of rest. If He made a point of being present at the reading and exposition of Scripture, and of joining with others in worship of God, how much more should we attend to this duty. It was “His custom”—not mere obedience to a rule imposed by ecclesiastical authority—but a way of employing the Sabbath which He found to be for edification. The narrative seems to imply that this was the first time He had addressed the people of Nazareth: we are therefore to conceive of this as an occasion of special solemnity in the life of Jesus.
“Stood up.”—Attitude of respect adopted by the Jews in reading the Scriptures: the attitude of sitting while engaged in teaching (Luke 4:20) implies authority (cf. Matthew 23:2).
Luke 4:18. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.”—This, it has been often noticed, contains a statement of the doctrine of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, operating distinctly but harmoniously in effecting man’s salvation.
“He hath anointed Me.”—The meaning of this prophetic citation may be better seen when we remember that it stands in the middle of the third great division of the Book of Isaiah (49–66), that, viz., which comprises the prophecies of the person, office, sufferings, triumph, and Church of the Messiah; and thus by implication announces the fulfilment of all that went before, in Him who then addressed them.—Alford.
“The poor,” etc.—The troubles that afflict humanity and that are to be abolished by Christ are figuratively described as
(1) poverty,
(2) captivity,
(3) blindness, and
(4) oppression.
The Sermon at Nazareth.—The opening of a ministry that has changed the world. A fourfold scheme of Christianity.
I. A social gospel.—“To the poor.”
II. A healing gospel.—“To the brokenhearted.”
III. An emancipating gospel.—“Deliverance.”
IV. An enlightening gospel.—Dawson.
The New Teacher.—Three points make Him pre-eminent and unique.
I. The relation between His person and His word.
II. The consciousness He had of Himself and His truth.
III. His knowledge of Himself and His truth were throughout perfect and self-consistent.—Fairbairn.
The Text of His First Sermon.—There was nothing fortuitous in Christ’s choice of His first text in Nazareth. The occasion was a marked one. None could forget it. He turned in calm self-possession to the first three verses of Isaiah’s sixty-first chapter, describing what should be the work and office of the destined Redeemer and Saviour of man. It scarcely needed that He should say what the application was. The audience felt, as He read, that the text said so.—Vaughan.
“Closed the book.”—When He had read the text from the Old Testament, He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant. As soon as the book had delivered its message, He presented Himself to the congregation as the fulfilment of the prophecy. His sermon consisted in permitting the prophet to pronounce the promise and then exhibiting Himself as its fulfilment. No other preacher, either false or true, ever acted thus.—Arnot.
The Gospel to the Poor.—The evangelisation of the poor was really the divinest thing in Christ’s ministry, the most original phase thereof, and the phenomenon which most convincingly showed that a new thing, destined to make all things new, had appeared in the world—the religion of humanity, the universal religion. Such a religion is surely Divine; but when first it made its appearance, it could not but seem a very strange and startling phenomenon.—Bruce.
Luke 4:18-19. Five Portraits of our Blessed Lord.
I. Christ the Evangelist.
II. Christ the Good Physician.
III. Christ the Liberator.
IV. Christ the Revealer.
V. Christ the Jubilee of His Church.—Vaughan.
Luke 4:19. “Acceptable year.”—The allusion is to the year of jubilee (Leviticus 25). The benefits conferred upon Jewish society by this institution were the following:
1. The Israelite who had sold himself into slavery received his freedom.
2. Families which had alienated their patrimony received it back again.
3. A generous amnesty was granted to those who were in debt. All these are most appropriate figures of the spiritual blessings which Christ was to confer upon men.
“The acceptable year of the Lord.”—Our Lord laid emphasis on this last clause of His text.
I. What was in His mind when He said He was anointed to preach “the acceptable year.”—The year of jubilee. In its remarkable position it was a type of gospel times. The jubilee year of the Lord was introduced by Christ and is in process now.
II. The genuine jubilee year goes beyond the Old Testament picture.—We extend both time and place. Our “year” rolls out into centuries, our “land” into the whole earth. The liberty proclaimed is soul liberty. But a man cannot live on liberty. The slave was to return to land and family. So in the gospel. The home and the birthright are waiting for us.
III. The great delight God has in bestowing liberty.—It is a great joy to Him. Jesus wished His first words to be all mercy. Judgment is in the background. He puts the acceptable year first, and so should it be with us. For those who despise His love and sacrifice there remains only judgment, the day of vengeance.—Gibson.
Vengeance left out.—If Christ left out “vengeance,” well may I. It belongs neither to my province nor to this dispensation. His first advent had nothing to do with “vengeance.” He did not come then to judge the world, but to save the world, and He could not, therefore, have said of this awful word, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”—Vaughan.
Luke 4:20. “Eyes of all fastened on Him.”—Many things contributed to arrest their attention:
1. The report of His teaching and mighty works which had preceded Him.
2. The fact that it was the first time He whom they knew so well was to address them.
3. The remarkable character of the words He had read.
4. His manner and bearing, which convinced them that He was about to make some important statement of His claims and purposes.
Luke 4:21. “Fulfilled in your ears.”—The theme of Christ’s discourse was that the preaching which now re-sounded in the synagogue of Nazareth was a fulfilment of the prophecy He had just read.
Luke 4:22. “Wondered at the gracious words.”—This passage and John 7:46 give us some idea of the majesty and sweetness which characterised our Lord’s utterances. It is the attractive manner of His speech rather than the substance that is here referred to; perhaps “graceful utterances” would be the best paraphrase of the expression “gracious words” (cf. Psalms 45:2). It is a poor result of preaching when the attention of the hearers is principally fastened upon the speaker’s oratorical gifts, and what he has to say is overlooked. Frivolous curiosity gives place to contempt and indignation. The inhabitants of Nazareth could not brook the lofty claims put forth by their fellow-townsman, whom they had known from His infancy.
Gracious Words.—We can well believe that there was a peculiar charm in the Speaker’s manner, but it sprang from His heart being filled with enthusiasm for the mission on which He had been sent. The grace of manner had its source in the grace that lay in the message. He had come to preach the gospel to the poor, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. There can be no doubt how the Evangelist regarded the prophet’s words, which Christ made His own, and in what sense He calls them “words of grace.”—Bruce.
Luke 4:23. “Heal Thyself.”—This was a taunt which was used again when He hung upon the cross (Luke 23:35). As great a need existed in Nazareth for the healing labours of the Saviour as in Capernaum, but the unbelief of its inhabitants hindered the exercise of His powers (cf. Matthew 13:58; Mark 6:5). He was like a skilful musician or able orator whose powers are chilled and almost nullified by an unsympathetic audience.
Luke 4:24. “No prophet,” etc.—Christ here gives the reason why, in His own town, He fails to make the impression He had made in Capernaum. So far from compelling His fellow-citizens to accept His claims by performing astounding prodigies, He is willing to accept the fate ordinarily encountered by Divine messengers.
Physician and Prophet.—The Saviour at Nazareth reveals at once His double character as
(1) Physician, and
(2) Prophet—as a Physician who is treated with scorn when He wishes to prepare help for others, and is at once bidden to heal Himself; and as a Prophet who deserves the highest honour and does not receive the least.—Lange.
“In his own country.”—Two causes may be assigned for the vulgar prejudice to which Christ here alludes.
1. In the case of one well known the charm of novelty is absent.
2. People are apt to think that circumstances of life so like their own, are wanting in that romance and mystery, which their imaginations lead them to associate with remarkable persons of whom they know but little.
Luke 4:25-27. Elijah and Elisha.—The cases of the mercy shown to the widow of Zarephath and to Naaman find a close parallel with those of the Syro-phœnician woman (Mark 7:26) and the centurion’s servant (chap. Luke 7:1-10). The points of resemblance are
(1) the unbelief with which these prophets and Jesus were confronted at home, and
(2) the faith which they encountered in persons outside the pale of Judaism. The deeds of mercy shown to the destitute and to the leper by these earlier prophets were apt figures of the benefits which Christ was able and desired to confer.
God blesses whom He will.—The general teaching of the incidents quoted from Old Testament history and of Christ’s own course of procedure on this occasion may be stated as follows:
1. That God is free to confer His blessings on whom He will.
2. That it is the fault of men if they do not receive these blessings. Widows and lepers in Israel had not the faith shown by those who actually received benefits from the prophets; the mood of the people of Nazareth was different from that of those who had been healed in Capernaum.
3. That in every nation those who fear God and work righteousness are accepted of Him.
Luke 4:28. “Filled with wrath.”—The angry and murderous feelings manifested by the people of Nazareth justify the severity of tone which Christ had adopted in addressing them, and the ill opinion which seems at that time to have been generally formed of them (cf. John 1:46). The same anger was excited whenever the possibility of the Divine mercy being withdrawn from the Jews, because of their unbelief, and manifested to the Gentiles, was hinted at (cf. Acts 22:21-22). “The word of God is a sword, is a war, is a poison, is a scandal, is a stumbling-block, is a ruin to those who resist it” (Luther).
Luke 4:29. “Thrust Him out of the city.”—This was the first open insult that was offered to Jesus, and it is sad to think that it proceeded from those who had for nearly thirty years been witnesses of His innocent and holy life. “He came unto His own, and they that were His own received Him not” (John 1:11).
Luke 4:30. “Passing through the midst of them.”—There is a tragic irony in the fact that the people of Nazareth desired to see some miracle wrought by Him to accredit His claims to be the Messiah; a miracle was granted to them, but it was in the supernatural way in which He escaped from their hands. In Christ’s escape from this great danger we may see a genuine fulfilment of the promise in Psalms 91:11-12, which Satan had urged Him to put to the test in another way: “He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee, to guard Thee, lest haply Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.”