Luke 4
Jesus’ Temptation in The Wilderness And The Beginning of His Public Ministry
In this section, Luke described Jesus’ wilderness temptation by Satan, some of Jesus’ early miracles in Galilee, and a unique account of Jesus revealing His Messianic identity at synagogue service in Nazareth.
The Temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13)
Why would God’s Spirit lead Jesus to be tempted by Satan? What was the purpose of these forty days?
Many commentators see Jesus’ baptism and subsequent temptation as part of His substitutional ministry, obeying where Adam and Israel failed, living humanity’s perfection before taking their punishment.
There seems to be a deliberate comparison between Israel as God’s Son (Exodus 4:22-23; Hosea 11:1) and Jesus as the Son of God in this story. Both sons experienced temptation in the wilderness for 40 periods of time, Israel for 40 years and Jesus for 40 days. Israel failed, but Jesus succeeded. God led Israel into the wilderness, and God’s Spirit led Jesus there. God tested Israel there, and God allowed the devil to test Jesus there. - Thomas Constable
Led by The Spirit
Vs. 1-2 - Then Jesus left the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days
The role of the Holy Spirit here is significant for at least three reasons. - A. Boyd Luter
It shows Jesus’ face-off with the devil was ordained by God.
The Spirit’s activity is a repeated emphasis in Luke’s Gospel.
The Spirit’s involvement in Jesus’ life highlights Jesus’ genuine humanity.
The Devil
Vs. 2 - to be tempted by the devil.
The Bible clearly teaches the existence and activity of an evil being of great power and cunning, who sets himself against God and God’s people. This one is sometimes called the devil, sometimes Satan (Luke 4:8), and many other names or titles. - David Guzik
Forty Days
Many commentators believe that Jesus could have endured temptation for the duration of His forty days in the wilderness.
Barclay believes this “wilderness” to have been an expansive and unpopulated desert area between Judea and the Dead Sea.
It’s interesting to note that God’s people spent forty years wandering in the wilderness and that forty is a common number in scripture that may imply transformation or preparation.
He Was Hungry
Vs. 2 - He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry.
Satan attempted to leverage Jesus’ physical weakness in his attacks.
Every Temptation
Satan tested Jesus in His physically weakened state in similar ways that we are tempted. He challenged His willingness to trust in God’s power, providence, and provision.
Jesus was tempted by Satan to use his messianic powers in the wrong way. Satan’s aim was to make Jesus act according to his own will instead of in obedience to his Father. - Don Fleming
The temptation story shows us Jesus choosing once and for all the method by which he proposed to win men to God. It shows him rejecting the way of power and glory and accepting the way of suffering and the cross. - William Barclay
Comfort - vs. 3 - The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
We are called to trust God for what we need rather than worshipping our own comfort.
Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8 when Israel was required to depend daily on God’s provision of manna.
It wasn’t a matter of refusing supernatural help; it was a matter of submitting to His Father’s timing and will in all things. - David Guzik
Power - vs. 6 - The devil said to him, “I will give you their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want. If you, then, will worship me, all will be yours.”
We are called to worship God alone rather than replacing Him with anything else.
Satan attempted to appeal to Jesus’ humanity by alluring Him into choosing His own path to power. Essentially, this vision invited Jesus to take a shortcut around the cross. - David Guzik
Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6 and 10 to insist that God alone is worthy to receive ultimate worship.
Control - vs. 9 - So he took him to Jerusalem, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.”
We are called to submit to God in temptation and trial rather than testing Him for control.
Satan misquoted Psalm 91 to encourage Jesus to test His Father’s love and care. Satan implied that God is trustworthy only when he rescues us from suffering and danger. - Charles L. Quarles
Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6, addressing an instance where Israel insisted God give them water from a rock to prove He would provide.
The real issue (in Exodus 17) was not the need for water, however, but Israel’s unbelief. The people were testing the Lord to see if he was really among them. - Charles L. Quarles
The Synagogue in Nazareth
Nazareth
Commentators note that this was Jesus’ hometown. He was known here, and not as a miracle-worker or prophet, but rather as a common craftsman, the son of Mary and Joseph. And only Luke records this event.
Since this was early in the ministry of Jesus, it was not long from the time when He lived and worked in Nazareth. The people of that village knew Him, and He had probably done work as a carpenter or builder for many of them. - David Guzik
The Synagogue
Vs. 16 - As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.
The synagogue was the real center of religious life in Palestine. There was only one Temple; but the law said that wherever there were ten Jewish families there must be a synagogue; and so in every town and village it was in the synagogue that the people met to worship. There were no sacrifices in the synagogue. The Temple was designed for sacrifice; the synagogue for teaching. - William Barclay
This is the oldest extant account of a synagogue service. Usually, such a service included hymns, prayers, a reading from the Torah, a reading from the prophets, and a sermon. The readings from the Torah may have been prescribed by a lectionary, but the prophetic readings were not set at this time, and so Jesus himself probably chose the passage from Isaiah. - Thomas Schreiner
Scroll of Isaiah
Vs. 17-18 - The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
Jesus read a prophecy of Isaiah that was believed to be the voice of the Messiah promising to come to rescue and restore Israel.
Isaiah 61:1 - The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
Scripture Fulfilled
Vs. 21 - He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”
When He announced the fulfillment of this passage, Jesus revealed that He was the predicted Messiah and that the time for God’s gracious deliverance had arrived. - Thomas Constable
Jesus had lived and worked around these men for years. He had probably participated in synagogue readings many times. So it’s not difficult to imagine the shock in the room when everyone there heard Him make a clear Messianic claim. They couldn’t believe their ears.
Vs. 24 - He also said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
Luke recorded this event less like a conversation with dialogue and more like Jesus answering the questions and doubts that He already knew were being formed in the minds of those attending the synagogue service. He knew they would be offended at His claim, that their familiarity would preclude their faith.
People are always more ready to see greatness in strangers than in those they know well. - Morris
Everyone Enraged
Vs. 25 - But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days
Vs. 27 - And in the prophet Elisha’s time, there were many in Israel who had leprosy
Both Elijah and Elisha, who were also prophets, did not aid people from Israel - they aided Gentiles. Jesus implies, of course, that the Gentiles were more open to their prophetic ministry than Jews. - Thomas Schreiner
This remark [of Jesus’] is strong for two reasons: (a) It compares the current era to one of the least spiritual periods in Israel’s history, and (b) it suggests that Gentiles, who were intensely disliked among the Jews, were more worthy of ministry than they were. - Darrell L. Bock
Vs. 28-29 - When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They got up, drove him out of town, and brought him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl him over the cliff.
The people of Nazareth understood what Jesus was saying and burst into anger. Their actions showed that Jesus had read the condition of their hearts correctly, for instead of believing they tried to murder him. But Jesus escaped unharmed. - Don Fleming
Thus in the first scene in the narrative of Jesus’ mission, Jesus announces ’words of grace’ but encounters the violent rejection which prophets can expect in their homeland. The good news which Jesus preaches is already shadowed by a conflict that will persist to the end of Acts. - Tannehill
The visit to Nazareth was, in many respects, decisive. It presented by anticipation an epitome of the history of the Christ. He came to His own, and His own received Him not. The first time He taught in the Synagogue, as the first time He taught in the Temple, they cast Him out. - Edersheim
Healing Ministry in Galilee
Holy Spirit
Vs. 14 - Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit
Luke again drew his readers’ attention to the fact that Jesus was under the control of the Holy Spirit as He began His public ministry (Luke 1:35; Luke 3:22; Luke 4:1). The Spirit empowered and enabled Jesus in His words and deeds. - Thomas Constable
Entire Vicinity
Vs. 14-15 - And news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity. He was teaching in their synagogues, being praised by everyone.
Vs. 37 - And news about him began to go out to every place in the vicinity.
Vs. 42-43 - They came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said to them, “It is necessary for me to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose.”
Barclay notes that this area was encircled by other nationalities and influences and was, therefore, the “least conservative part of Palestine.” Other than Nazareth, Jesus’ early ministry here was mostly welcomed and celebrated.
Jesus…continued north into Galilee, where the people’s enthusiastic welcome was in sharp contrast to the suspicion of the people in Judea (Matthew 4:12-16; John 4:43-45). He pointed out, however, that the kingdom he announced was not for those seeking political or material benefits. It was only for those who humbly and wholeheartedly turned from their sins. - Don Fleming
Luke did not give as much information about Jesus’ Galilean ministry as the other synoptic writers did (Matthew 4:12 to Matthew 16:12; Mark 1:14 to Mark 8:26). He chose, rather, to emphasize Jesus’ ministry as He traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem. - Thomas Constable
Man with an Evil spirit (Mark 1:21-28)
Vs. 32 - They were astonished at his teaching because his message had authority.
Other gospel writers also noted that Jesus’ audiences were amazed by “authority” with which He taught.
Matthew 7:28-29 - When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.
Jesus' authority was something quite new. When the Rabbis taught they supported every statement with quotations. They always said, "There is a saying that . . ." "Rabbi so and so said that ..." They always appealed to authority. When the prophets spoke, they said, "Thus saith the Lord." Theirs was a delegated authority. When Jesus spoke, he said, "I say to you." He needed no authorities to buttress him; his was not a delegated authority; he was authority incarnate. Here was a man who spoke as one who knew. - William Barclay
Vs. 33-34 - In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice, “Leave us alone! What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
The demon testified to Jesus’ messianic and divine character. He was the "Holy One of God" in contrast to the unclean demon. - Thomas Constable
Commentator observations:
Luke recorded several instances of demonic opposition both during Jesus’ ministry and the apostles’ after His ascension.
Jesus did not cast out this demon in the name and power of anyone other than Himself and by His own power and authority over the spiritual realm.
Luke frequently noted the physical condition of the people he described. Here, he emphasized that this man was not physically harmed during the exorcism.
Peter’s Mother-in-Law (Matthew 8:14–15, Mark 1:29–31)
Vs. 38-39 - Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. So he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and began to serve them.
Simon will later be identified as Peter, the leader among the disciples of Jesus. This shows that Simon Peter was married. Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian writer, said that Peter’s wife helped him in ministry by meeting the needs of other women.
In this situation, Jesus saw the fever itself as something to be rebuked. Perhaps He perceived that there was some spiritual dynamic behind this seemingly natural illness. - David Guzik
Anyone Sick Or Possessed (Matthew 4:23-25; Matthew 8:14-17; Mark 1:29-39)
Vs. 40-41 - When the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to him. As he laid his hands on each one of them, he healed them. Also, demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
Commentator observations:
The sabbath was ending as the sun set, so the people began to leave their homes and to look for Jesus.
Luke distinguished between the sick and the demon possessed. He did not think demons were responsible for all disease, as some Greeks did. - Thomas Constable
There are several theories as to why Jesus did not allow the demons to speak during these exorcisms:
He did not want them to reveal His true identity.
They were attempting to usurp authority over Him.
The people would misunderstand the purpose of His first advent.
