Luke 4:14-22
Chapter 4
14
Jesus acted with the power of the Spirit, and when he returned to Galilee, news about him spread throughout the entire region.
15
He started teaching in the synagogues of the Jews, and everyone praised him.
16
When Jesus arrived in Nazareth, where he had grown up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath as he usually did.
17
He stood up to read, and they handed him the book of the prophet Isaiah.
Jesus then unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written:
18
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
He has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
to proclaim liberty to captives,
and give sight to the blind;
to free the oppressed;
19
and to announce
the Lord’s year of mercy.”
20
Jesus then rolled up the scroll, handed it to the attendant, and sat down; everyone’s eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him.
21
Then he said to them:
“Today, these prophetic words are coming true right before your eyes.”
22
Everyone agreed with him and ware amazed as he spoke of God’s grace. Still, they asked, “Who is this but Joseph’s Son?”
Commentaries
Begins His Proclamation – In the Synagogue of Nazareth.
The Holy Spirit and the Word are the sparks that ignite the fire of Jesus’ mission. However, other aspects will always be present, as Luke reveals in this passage: rejection, which initially begins as sympathy and admiration but later turns into antipathy caused by doubt about his person (22) and his power (23); and subsequent hostility (28ff), which prompts him to declare the universality of his mission: if the people of Israel reject it, others who are not Israelites will be willing to accept it.