Setting the scene
Who wrote it
Traditionally Luke, a doctor and companion of Paul
Who it was for
Theophilus and other followers of Jesus
What was happening
Tested in the wilderness, rejected in Nazareth, and busy in Capernaum
Read the full background in the book overview

What’s happening

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returns from the Jordan and is led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by the devil, and eats nothing. The devil says, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Jesus answers, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'" The devil shows him all the kingdoms of the world and says he will give them if Jesus worships him; Jesus says, "It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'" The devil takes him to Jerusalem, sets him on the pinnacle of the temple, and says, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here," quoting Psalm 91; Jesus answers, "You shall not test the Lord your God." The devil departs "until another time." Jesus returns to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and teaches in their synagogues, praised by all. At Nazareth, on the Sabbath, he stands to read and is handed the scroll of Isaiah. He reads, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." He rolls up the scroll and says, "Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." All speak well of him and marvel at his gracious words, but ask, "Isn't this Joseph's son?" He says no prophet is accepted in his own country, and reminds them that in Elijah's day there were many widows in Israel, but he was sent to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon, and that in Elisha's time there were many lepers in Israel, but only Naaman the Syrian was cleansed. They are filled with rage, drive him out, and lead him to the edge of the hill to throw him down, but he passes through the midst of them and goes on his way. He goes down to Capernaum and teaches on the Sabbath, and they are astonished because his word is with authority. A man with the spirit of an unclean demon cries out, "Ha! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebukes it, and the demon throws the man down and comes out without harming him. He then heals Simon's mother-in-law of a high fever, and at sunset people bring all who are sick, and he lays his hands on each one. When it is day he goes to a deserted place, and the crowds look for him, but he says, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other cities also. For this reason I have been sent."

Why the setting matters

Forty days recalls Israel's forty years in the wilderness and Moses' and Elijah's fasts, and each of Jesus' answers comes from Deuteronomy 6 and 8, the passages about Israel's wilderness testing. Luke gives the temptations in a different order from Matthew, ending at the Jerusalem temple, which suits a Gospel that heads toward Jerusalem. "Until another time" signals that the testing will come back, most of all in the passion. The synagogue was a gathering place for reading and teaching; readers stood to read the scroll and sat to teach. The passage Jesus reads combines Isaiah 61:1-2 with a phrase from 58:6 ("set at liberty those who are oppressed") and stops before the line about "the day of vengeance," and "the year of the Lord's favor" echoes the jubilee of Leviticus 25, when debts were forgiven and land returned; whether Israel ever fully practiced the jubilee is debated. The stories of Elijah and Elisha show God's blessing going to outsiders, a Phoenician widow and a Syrian general, which is what angers the hometown crowd. Capernaum was a fishing town on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee and became Jesus' base. In Luke, the demons recognize him as Son of God and Holy One, and he silences them. Jesus' reason for leaving the crowds, that he must preach to other towns, sets up the mission that follows.

Read Luke 4 (World English Bible)

Who’s in this chapter

Jesus

Tested, then announcing his mission in the synagogue.

The devil

Tests Jesus in the wilderness, with Scripture.

The people of Nazareth

Marvel, then try to throw him from the hill.

A man with an unclean spirit

Cries out in the Capernaum synagogue and is freed.

Simon's mother-in-law

Healed of a fever; she serves them.

Simon Peter

Called Simon here, whose house Jesus enters.

The crowds

Bring their sick at sunset, and try to keep him.

Talk it through

  1. Each time, Jesus answers the devil with Scripture from Israel's wilderness story. What is Luke saying about who Jesus is?
  2. Jesus reads Isaiah and says "Today this is fulfilled." Why was that both welcomed and rejected?
  3. The hometown crowd rages when Jesus points to Gentiles in Israel's past. What did they hear?
  4. He leaves the crowds in Capernaum because he "must" go to other towns. What does that say about what his mission is?

Read Luke 4

World English Bible

1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness 2for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry. 3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

4Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”

5The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want. 7If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.”

8Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’ ”

9He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, 10for it is written,

‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’

11and,

‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

12Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

13When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.

14Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area. 15He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

16He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,

18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, 19and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

20He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

22All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

23He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’ ” 24He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”

28They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things. 29They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30But he, passing through the middle of them, went his way.

31He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. He was teaching them on the Sabbath day, 32and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34saying, “Ah! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!”

35Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in the middle of them, he came out of him, having done him no harm.

36Amazement came on all, and they spoke together, one with another, saying, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37News about him went out into every place of the surrounding region.

38He rose up from the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a great fever, and they begged him for her. 39He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her. Immediately she rose up and served them. 40When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 41Demons also came out of many, crying out, and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Rebuking them, he didn’t allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

42When it was day, he departed and went into an uninhabited place, and the multitudes looked for him, and came to him, and held on to him, so that he wouldn’t go away from them. 43But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of God’s Kingdom to the other cities also. For this reason I have been sent.” 44He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources