Read or listen The Gospel of Luke, chapter 4 online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

The Temptations of Jesus – Luke 4:1-13

..."who in every respect
has been tempted as we are,
yet without sin."
(Hebrews 4:15)

It is worth noting that Luke emphasizes that it was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. The fact that a Christian experiences temptations is not a sign of rejection of God or loss of faith. God wants to grow us even through temptations (1 Cor. 10:13).

The 40-day period refers to
- Moses' 40 days on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28)
- Elijah's 40-day journey of exile (1 Kings 19:8)
- and most importantly, the 40-year wilderness journey of the people of Israel (Deuteronomy 8:2 "will you really keep his commandments or not?")
Note also that the Old Testament quotations used by Jesus are from the same context: Deuteronomy 6:13 (verse 8), 6:16 (12), and 8:3 (4).

There are no prophecies in the Old Testament about the temptations of the Messiah. Now the temptation in paradise was repeated: Which did the "new Adam" want to follow - the will of God or the temptations of Satan, like the first Adam? The first Adam lost to Satan, but Satan lost to Jesus.

All three temptations were good things in themselves: turning a stone into bread would not have hurt anyone, and Jesus later performed two feeding miracles; having good government for the whole world would also be a good thing, as would public recognition as the Messiah. The problem, however, was that they were not in accordance with God's will, they did not belong to the Messiah's path of the "suffering servant of the Lord" (Isaiah 53).

The second temptation would have meant Jesus positioning himself as the political Messiah the Jews were waiting for (Joh 6:14-15, 18:33-40). Many today fall into this temptation: everything is sacrificed on the altar of power and wealth.

Is Satan then "the prince of this world," as he claims to Jesus? Yes and no! The Reformer Martin Luther called Satan "God's Satan" and "God's chain dog": Satan does have power, but only within the limits permitted by God and only until it is taken away from him.

The third temptation was related to the Jewish belief that the Messiah (of glory and worldly rule) would appear on the crest of the temple in Jerusalem and make his messiahship known to all from there. But the time appointed by God was not yet when the Messiah would be revealed to the people (compare Matthew 16:20).

Notice that the Devil "twists" God's words in verse 3: "If you are the Son of God..." (compare Luke 3:23). The Devil tries the same trick with us: to make God's Word somehow uncertain and unreliable.

Jesus used the Word of God as his defense and offensive weapon. We too must know how to use the right spiritual weapons:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication."
(Eph 6:10-18)

When faced with temptation, we should always ask ourselves: should I flee or resist? Many falls are caused by resisting when we should have fled. But if we always flee, we will never grow stronger in our faith.

The devil should be written with a capital letter because it is about personal evil, the adversary of God.

Satan’s departure for a time did not mean that Jesus had not had battles with Satan before Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46), but that the defeated party left the battlefield.

Program announcement in Nazareth – Luke 4:14 - 5:26

A long section can be distinguished from the Gospel of Luke, Luke 4:14 - 9:50, which could be titled, for example, "Jesus' ministry in Galilee." This section is followed by an even longer section - 9:51 - 19:27 - which tells of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem.

Return to Galilee – Luke 4:14-15

In the first four chapters of his Gospel, John recounts the first events of Jesus' public ministry. Luke leaves them aside and wants to begin his description of Jesus' public ministry with his home province of Galilee and his hometown of Nazareth.

Galilee was the most densely populated region of Israel. The Jewish historian Josephus claims in his book "The Jewish War" that there were 204 cities there with over 15,000 inhabitants. Unfortunately, Josephus also had a habit of exaggerating elsewhere (in this way he wanted to increase the value of the victory won by the Roman armies over the Jews, since Josephus wrote his book for the Romans, not the Jews).

Luke emphasizes on many occasions that Jesus' public ministry was led by the Spirit of God. Although one reason for Jesus' return to the north was the imprisonment of John the Baptist (Matt. 4:12), the main reason was that it was part of God's plan.

The cross is revealed - Luke 4:16-30

There are many ways to write a newspaper article, a television or radio program, etc. One of many is this: right at the beginning, the outcome or the whole plot is told, then the events are described in detail. Luke did the same in describing Jesus' activities and told everything right at the beginning: Jesus will be rejected because the salvation he brought was not acceptable to the Jews. Finally, the Gentiles will receive the gospel, which God's special people, Israel, rejected. This event is therefore not the beginning of Jesus' public ministry (compare verse 23), but the opening story chosen by Luke.

The Reformer Martin Luther said that the entire message of the Bible is already in the Book of Genesis. The rest is just an explanation of it!

The origin of the synagogue institution is not exactly known. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC led to the "forced reform" of the sacrificial worship. During the exile, the synagogue institution gained such a strong position in Judaism that it did not die out, even though the Temple was rebuilt after the exile (515 BC).

In Jesus' time, the "formula for worship" in the synagogue was as follows: first, the confession of faith of Israel was read (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), followed by prayer. Then, a passage from the books of Moses (=the law) was read in Hebrew, which was interpreted into Aramaic (or Greek in the diaspora). The second reading was from the prophets, which was also interpreted. The interpretation could also be accompanied by an explanation, or sermon. Finally - if a priest was present - came the blessing of the Lord (i.e. Aaron's blessing Numbers 6:23-27).

Jesus read the prophets, Isaiah 61:1-2, so he was free to choose his own text (compare "found" in verse 17). Luke's explanation of Jesus' text was brief: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (verse 21) The fact that Luke does not tell us more about Jesus' speech does not mean that Jesus did not speak at length (compare verse 22).

The text Jesus chose is a fragment of Isaiah’s so-called Songs of the Lord’s (Suffering) Servant, the most famous of which is Isaiah 53. Isaiah spoke of how the Lord’s suffering servant would be anointed with the Spirit and not just with oil. When we remember what Luke has previously told about Jesus’ baptism and temptations, we begin to notice that understanding the Gospels becomes much easier if we are well acquainted with the Old Testament (compare also verses 25-27). Luke very skillfully combines elements from the Old Testament with his story about Jesus. If you read the Bible quickly, you may miss details.

Joseph's son or God's son?

On the one hand, Jesus' speech pleased the listeners: the long-awaited Messiah has arrived! But on the other hand, it also contained a problem: could Jesus - the son of Joseph - be the Messiah? The listeners' question revealed - and reveals - the core of Jesus' problem: is Jesus only "the son of Joseph" - that is, a human being - or is he the son of Mary, the son of God - that is, God and man (compare Luke 3:23!). Whoever sees Jesus only as a human being cannot see in him the savior of the world.

Another offensive thing about Jesus' words was that he claimed that the Jews were not privileged to be saved. For the Jews, the Messiah was the Savior of Israel, but God sent the Savior of humanity into the world.

Jesus saw that he was not believed. The people wanted more evidence, signs. But Jesus refused to give them. He appealed to the fate of the prophets: Israel did not receive them, so God sent prophets to the Gentiles. Once again we get an example of how we learn from history that we learn nothing from it. The Jews of Jesus' time were no wiser than their ancestors in the time of the prophets. And in the Acts of the Apostles we see that the same thing happened when Paul, Peter, and the other apostles preached the gospel.

Jesus had announced his program, but it did not please the people. They wanted to kill Jesus. There are two cliffs near Nazareth (8 and 60 meters). But finally the people got the sign they asked for: Jesus walked through the crowd and left Nazareth - apparently forever. From now on, Jesus' hometown was Capernaum, located on the shores of Lake Gennesaret (verse 31).

The other extreme – Luke 4:31-44

Capernaum was the largest city in Galilee. It was located on the northern shore of Lake Gennesaret. Even today, you can see the ruins of a synagogue (somewhat later than Jesus' time) and the ruins of "Peter's House".

It is worth noting that everything began in exactly the same way as in Nazareth: Jesus preached in the synagogue. But this time the people accepted Jesus. Only then did the miracles come. In Nazareth, Jesus did not perform miracles because there was only unbelief and no faith. In Capernaum, Jesus performed miracles because there was faith. Miracles followed faith, not the other way around.

Why such a difference in how Jesus was received? We cannot explain it! The same thing happens today: sometimes the gospel is received, sometimes not.

In this so-called civilized age, it is often claimed that evil spirits do not exist; they are just primitive attempts to explain illness. But there is no need to go back in time. All you have to do is go to Africa, for example, and you will encounter a culture where evil spirits are a reality. But the other extreme must also be avoided: not all illness is demonic. Jesus also healed both the sick and the possessed (verses 40 and 41).

Jesus healed two sick people on the Sabbath. The complete and immediate healing of Simon's mother-in-law (verse 39) was evidence that the healing was a miracle.

When the Sabbath was over, the sick began to literally flood to Jesus. After the Sabbath was over, it was possible to carry and bring the sick to Jesus again. But Jesus did not heal them as masses, but as individuals (verse 40 "and he laid his hands on each one"). This is also good to remember today: Jesus always treats us as individuals, which is why he does not heal everyone in the same way. Demanding too much similarity is misleading. Jesus' individual care may also include the fact that he does not heal.

Does Jesus save only us?

The people of Capernaum were the opposite of the people of Nazareth: they wanted to keep Jesus all to themselves. This also contains a lesson and a warning for us: it is wrong to try to make Jesus the property of just one's own group. This is what happens when people say: "Only among us can you be saved!" God decides who will be saved, not us.

But at the same time, the thinking of the inhabitants of these two cities has much in common: both were troubled by the same problem: can Jesus be the Savior of all people - not just ours? Heresies often have the same feature: heresy is not always as far from the true doctrine as possible, but right next to it. That is why "small differences" can be really dangerous.

In verse 43, Jesus restates his program:

“I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”

Secret or not?

"...But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ."

When we look at Jesus' healing miracles, we notice a strange feature: when Jesus healed the sick in Jewish areas, he told them (usually in vain) to keep quiet about what had happened. When Jesus healed people in Gentile areas, he told them to tell others what had happened (for example, Luke 8:39). The reason for this is that the Jews had the wrong expectations of the Messiah. They expected a secular ruler who would give them back their independence (compare especially John 6:14-15). Jesus did not want such a "messiah", so he asked the healed people to keep quiet. In Gentile areas, however, there was no such danger.