Bible Commentaries
Luke 4

Verses 1-13

Luk 4:1-13

Commentary On Luke 4:1-13

Galen Doughty

Luke 4:1-2 - Luke gives his version of Jesus’ temptation. The order is slightly different in Matthew’s version but all other details are essentially the same. This points up how the oral tradition in the Jewish Christian synagogues worked. The essential details and narrative of the story are preserved intact but certain details or order of the story are open to change depending on the story teller or the writer. Which version is true? Both are. Which is more accurate? It is impossible to tell. The tradition allowed the authors of the gospels to shape their material for their own purposes within limits. If the essential details of the story are preserved they had some leeway in how they presented it. This is Bailey’s informal control theory of transmission of Jesus’ life and teaching.

Jesus is now full of the Holy Spirit, meaning he is submitted to him and is in step with him, just as we can be filled. He is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. The wilderness is the territory to the west of Jericho and the Jordan Valley, the mountains that rise up from the Rift Valley of the Jordan to the Mount of Olives. It is some of the driest, most desolate country in Israel. Luke says Jesus was there 40 days, a symbolic number that ties him to Noah, Moses and Elijah in the Old Testament. Luke says that Jesus was tempted throughout those forty days, Matthew says it was at the end of the forty days Jesus was tempted. Regardless, Jesus fasts the entire time. Physically he is weak, but spiritually he is strong and ready for Satan’s assault. He is also hungry after all that time. One of two things is happening with the forty days, either Jesus is at the very limit of the human body in terms of eating or he is being supernaturally helped as God did with Moses and Elijah and their times on the mountain and in the wilderness. Luke does not tell us clearly which is true. Perhaps both are.

Luke 4:3-4 - Satan comes to Jesus after his forty day fast when he is physically weakest and tempts him through his hunger. Satan seizes on a human felt need to try and get Jesus to meet that need with his own power as Son of God separate from the Holy Spirit leading and empowering him. In other words if the mission of the Messiah was to be endowed with, led by and anointed by the Spirit, Satan says bypass all of that. Take care of your needs yourself. You’re hungry and you have power, use it. Focus on yourself! He tempts Jesus to do a simple thing, change the stones into bread. Feed himself. This is no miracle of the feeding of a multitude. This is a selfish miracle. Who will know? You’re hungry, meet your needs, you have a right!

Jesus replies with Scripture, which he does in each temptation. This quote is from Deuteronomy 8:3, "man does not live by bread alone." The rest of the verse says but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of the Lord, in other words God’s Word. Here Jesus’ reply focuses on our needs. Physical hunger, physical needs, while important, are not the center of our lives. Did Jesus need to eat? Of course, and if he did not soon he was going to starve to death. But his immediate physical need was not more important than God’s purposes for him. Plus, selfishly using his own power as Son of God to meet that immediate physical need would have been disobedient to the Spirit who had led him into the wilderness in the first place. He would have seized his own power separate from the Spirit’s power which was his mission and to which he had submitted himself. Doing that he would have selfishly elevated his own agenda and needs above God’s. That is sin. Instead, Jesus once again submits himself to God’s will and trusts his Father and the Spirit to meet his needs when it is time.

Though the temptation to Jesus is to do something that only he could have done, yet the core of the temptation is precisely one that we face constantly. Meet our own needs when we want to. Don’t trust God to meet them. Don’t submit to God. We have rights! It is selfish. Jesus’ answer points to our answer as well. Our physical needs or any of our needs are not more important than God’s plan for us and trusting God to care for us!

Luke 4:5-8 - In the second temptation Satan leads Jesus to a high mountain and shows him in some supernatural way all the kingdoms of the world. He claims they are his as they have been given to him and he can give them to whomever he wills. Is this a lie or is Satan actually telling the truth here, twisting it in order to tempt Jesus? He is called the prince of this world by Jesus in John 12. Paul says in Ephesians that he is the prince of the air, the leader of the demonic powers of the world. I think in some ways he is telling the truth. Were the kingdoms of the world given to him? Perhaps; they may have been given over to Satan at the fall when Adam surrendered his authority to the devil. The point is Jesus had come to make the kingdoms of this world the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. That was his mission as Messiah; rescue the human race from the rule of Satan, sin and death.

Satan actually offers Jesus the prize he is after. There is a catch. Worship Satan. Bow down to him and serve him and he will not have to go to the cross. There won’t have to be any death and sacrifice. The kingdoms will be his. Why go God’s way when you can get what you want without having to suffer?

Jesus’ answer goes to the core of the issue. He quotes once again from Deuteronomy, here from Deuteronomy 6:13. Worship the Lord and serve him alone. In some ways the core of this temptation is the same as the first. Be selfish. Don’t go God’s way go your own way. Isn’t the goal more important than the way to get there? What does that matter? The ends can justify the means. In some respects this is similar to Satan’s temptation to Adam and Eve in the Garden. The goal is to be like God, who cares how you get there. God’s ways can’t be trusted. There’s an easier, better way to get where you want to go. Don’t go God’s way it’s not necessary and it’s too hard! Trust to your own judgment and not God’s! He doesn’t have your best interest at heart anyway. Jesus says no. I trust in the Lord and I serve him alone. Serving Satan and bowing down to him in order to achieve my end, even if it is the end I desire is a disaster. If Jesus had taken this way Satan would have been exalted to God’s place and the human race would have been forever enslaved to him.

For us the temptation is to go our own way in order to fulfill God’s design for us. Take the easy road. Trust to our own judgment and not God’s. We know better, he doesn’t. What could it hurt? The stakes are higher with Jesus but the temptation is the same!

Luke 4:9-12 - The devil comes a third time. This is the second temptation in Matthew but Luke puts it third. It is possible that Luke is using a more Hebrew style with the point in the middle here, which is curious since he is a Gentile but Matthew is a Jew. Luke’s source however might have been preserved in the Messianic synagogues in which case it would have been in a Hebrew form. Matthew’s source may have been his recollection of Jesus’ telling the story to the disciples himself. That by the way is the only feasible source for the temptation narratives; Jesus himself.

The devil takes Jesus to the highest point of the temple above the Kidron Valley and tells him to throw himself off if he is the Son of God. The phrase, if you are the Son of God, ties the first and third temptations together. The second temptation, the middle temptation, does not contain that phrase. Here Satan quotes Scripture back at Jesus. He takes a verse out of context and uses it as a pretext for Jesus to once again selfishly force God to do something. Don’t wait for the resurrection for God to show you are his Son, do it now! Don’t go through three years of ministry doing miracles and being tired and hungry and trying to teach those twelve guys you’re going to call who won’t get it anyway, do it now! If you force God to save you, and after all that’s what he says in his Word isn’t it, people will hail you as Messiah now! No cross, no pain, no suffering; do it!

This temptation is like the other two in that it tempts Jesus to selfishly go his own way rather than the way his Father has set before him. Trust in his own judgment in how to best fulfill his mission. Assert his own power and authority and stop playing the servant. Be self-willed and independent from the Father. He’s the Son of God, he has rights too! But Jesus’ way was to lay down his rights and take the form of a Servant, even to death. From the moment he began his ministry, in fact from the moment he was born; his way was always the Via Dolorosa. That was God’s plan. And Jesus during these temptations submits himself to it and locks onto it. The only time he ever questions it is in the Garden but that time ends with not my will but yours be done.

Once again Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, here from 6:16; don’t put the Lord to the test. Don’t tempt the Lord. Jesus knows Satan is right, God would have saved him, but it wouldn’t have been right and the recognition of him as Messiah would have been all wrong. Jesus had come to fulfill his mission and fulfill the Scriptures. He was the Servant-Messiah, not the conquering Messiah. For us, the temptation is whether to submit to God’s plan for us or our own. Do we push God to prove his love for us or submit to him and discover his love in a much deeper way? Do we believe that God’s plan for us is the most fulfilling and will result in the greatest good for us and others or do we assert our own self-will and say we have a better way? Jesus shows us the way of the Servant in his submission to his Father and his plan. We need to do the same.

Note : In this temptation Satan uses the Scriptures. He knows them even though they are God’s Word and the truth which he hates. He can twist them to his own ends. We need to be on guard for that and recognize one of his methods. False teachers often do this; twist Scripture for their own selfish ends. This is Jesus’ and Luke’s warning to us to watch out!

Jesus’ answer is each temptation is from the Word of God. It is the truth and even though Satan can use the Scriptures and twist them out of context yet the answer is always Scripture because God’s Word is truth and it is the power that counteracts Satan’s lies. He has no power against it.

Finally, Satan’s temptations to Jesus come out of his own character which only understands power and the need for self- will and control. What Satan seemingly cannot comprehend or want to understand is the love of God which will submit to suffer for the other. Jesus submits to the Father because he loves him not because he must. That is why abiding in Jesus and walking in the Spirit, learning to love him more and experiencing his love in a deeper way helps us conquer temptation. Satan will always tempt us to self-will and power he cannot understand love and its sacrifice for others and for God.

Luke 4:13 - Luke adds this line at the end of his temptation narrative. There would be other times of temptation for Jesus. This was just the first and most dramatic.

All Scripture quotes during the temptation are from Deuteronomy. This was also not the one and only time Jesus was tempted. We don’t learn what the others were or their nature but certainly the mocking of Jesus at the cross was probably one of them. Come down and we’ll believe you are the Messiah. That was essentially the same temptation as Satan’s here in the wilderness. Don’t go to the cross. Don’t suffer. It isn’t necessary. But it was. It was the cup the Father had given him to drink and Jesus had taken it on in the Garden the night before. The Son would do his Father’s will and sacrifice himself for us. Thank God he said yes to his Father and no to Satan. Lord help me always do the same!

Verses 14-30

Luk 4:14-30

Commentary On Luke 4:14-30

Galen Doughty

Luke 4:14-15 - Luke says Jesus returned to Galilee from the wilderness of Judah in the power of the Spirit. He was filled with God’s Spirit for ministry and he was filled after his victory over Satan in his temptations. He goes to Galilee first which is probably around the vicinity of Capernaum which became his headquarters. He began his ministry of teaching, preaching and healing and good reports began to circulate all over Galilee about him. At this point he is praised by everyone.

Jesus’ ministry was similar to John’s in that he preached and taught about the Kingdom of God. There is evidence in John 3 that Jesus and his disciples early in his ministry were also baptizing people. However that was not a regular feature of Jesus’ ministry in the gospels even though it became a central feature of the apostles’ ministry. The great difference between Jesus’ ministry and John’s was that Jesus not only proclaimed the Kingdom of God was now here; he healed and cast out demons to demonstrate it was true. John pointed ahead to one who was coming and said get ready for the Kingdom. Jesus said it is here and demonstrated it by healing people. Now wonder crowds flocked to him! What John had said was coming Jesus did. Messianic fervor must have been at a fever pitch in Galilee.

Luke 4:16 - It is in that context that Jesus goes home to Nazareth and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath as usual. How many times had his friends and neighbors seen him do this and listened to him read and preach the Word? But now he had begun his ministry and people were excited. No one from Nazareth was famous! It was just a village. Jesus was one of them. Maybe he would do a miracle for them. There were also some who had heard the reports and were doubtless very skeptical. Was what they were hearing about Joseph’s son true? Wasn’t this Mary’s boy the carpenter?

When Jesus stood to read the Scriptures that day there was great anticipation in the synagogue. He was an honored guest and so naturally the scroll was given to him and therefore he was expected to comment on the Scriptures.

Luke 4:17-20 - The Isaiah scroll is handed to him by the huperates, the attendant of the synagogue. That would have been the book for that Sabbath. Jesus finds the place that we know as Isaiah 61:1-2 and reads it. By Jesus’ day this is seen as a Messianic passage but it is also ambiguous. Is this the prophet, the Messiah, the Servant or all three? The passage especially blurs the line between the Messiah and the Servant which I believe Jesus specifically tries to do because he has come to fulfill both roles. He is the Messiah but he is also the Lord’s Servant who will suffer and die for the sins of the world. People did not put those two roles together in the same person. As far as we know Jesus was the only Jewish rabbi who did. Here in his home town he begins that task.

The prophecy speaks of the Holy Spirit’s anointing the Servant for God’s mission. Jesus very clearly sees himself in this way and as Luke says in v.14 he is experiencing the Spirit’s presence and power in his life. He has come to preach good news to the poor and set the captives free, to heal the blind and release the oppressed. Jesus has come to declare the Lord’s Jubilee over sin. He purposely stops the reading before he gets to the next line in Isaiah which speaks of the vengeance of the Lord over his enemies. Jesus did not come to preach judgment but forgiveness.

Many in the synagogue that Sabbath knew this passage. They had heard it before. They knew the next line. They are probably wondering why Jesus stopped mid-sentence. Luke says Jesus rolls up the scroll, hands it back to the attendant, the huperates, and sits down. This is the Jewish way. You stood to read the Scriptures and you sat down to teach. That is why the gospels often have Jesus sitting down when he teaches. When Jesus sits down everyone is looking attentively at him. They are all anticipating what he will say and wondering what he will do. What will the local boy made good say to us his hometown people, his friends and neighbors?

Luke 4:21-22 - Jesus says what I believe no one in the synagogue anticipated he would say. Isaiah 61 is fulfilled in your hearing right now today! Jesus is directly claiming to be the one the prophet spoke about who is filled with the Spirit to carry out God’s mission. He is claiming to be the Messiah and the Servant of the Lord! Luke says they were all amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. I think Jesus spoke a lot more about the passage and all Luke does here is summarize how impressed people were about Jesus’ teaching. He does this in other places in the gospel and Acts as well. All we get are the highlights that make the evening news. Remember he has a specific purpose in mind for Theophilus.

Jesus had spoken before in the synagogue, this wasn’t the first time they have heard him. Yet something is now different. I think that is the meaning behind the comment, isn’t this Joseph’s son. They are impressed and sense something is going on but they can’t get over the fact they know Jesus and have a specific set of expectations for him. He’s not the Messiah, but he just claimed he was. What’s going on here? He’s the local boy made famous and we have a claim on him. After all, he’s our village’s son and the honor and fame people are giving him we have a share in too. He is bringing Nazareth great face! But isn’t this Joseph’s boy? Isn’t this the man who built my table and fixed my door? How does he come by his gracious words? That is part of what is happening in the villagers that day. They are also wondering how they can cash in on Jesus’ fame and honor and bring blessing on their village as well. There would have been a sense of ownership and expectation of obligation that they felt toward Jesus. You belonged to your village just like you belonged to your family. It was the culture!

Luke 4:23-27 - If I am right then Jesus next words make much more sense. He has to break their expectations of him and their sense that he owes them something because he belongs to them. Jesus owes them nothing. He owes his heavenly Father everything. Were his brothers in attendance that day? Perhaps. How about Mary, was she listening behind the women’s screen? We do not know. It is possible she was and some of this story is her recollection or some of Jesus’ brothers.

Jesus says physician heal yourself! Luke would have enjoyed this! Do a miracle here like you did at Capernaum. Come on, this is your home town; we deserve a little benefit too! You owe us! Jesus then turns it all around. A prophet is not accepted in his own home town. There is too much familiarity. People can’t get past what they have known of Jesus and accept him now for who he is and what God wants to do through him. Then Jesus gives two Scriptural examples of miracles from the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, the two great miracle working prophets of the time of the kings. Both of the miracles he quotes were to benefit Gentiles! It’s as if Jesus was saying you want a miracle but I wasn’t sent to you. I’m going even to the Gentiles to give them God’s grace and favor. I’m going to set them free and proclaim to them the good news. But you I am leaving behind because you cannot accept me for who I am.

Luke 4:28-30 - The people in attendance that day at the synagogue, and it was probably packed, are furious with Jesus. How dare he reject his own home town! They become a mob bent on vengeance. They drive him out of the synagogue up to the top of the hill and cliff overlooking Nazareth. Today there is a large hill with a steep cliff overlooking the main town. They are going to throw Jesus down the cliff and kill him! They think because he had rejected their demands for a miracle and their sense of ownership over him that they have the right to judge him and execute him. They are absolutely furious! What had begun as a much anticipated day, Jesus was back home, had turned into an ugly mob! Kill him! This incident in Nazareth is like Jesus’ trial in Jerusalem. It prefigures his crucifixion, only here Jesus somehow escapes from the crowd. Luke implies that it was a supernatural escape. He shouldn’t have been able to do what he did.

What did this incident do to Mary and his family? Was this one of those things that pierced Mary’s soul with a sword? Jesus did return to Nazareth periodically, but it was never the same. Is this the same time as Mark’s incident when he reports Jesus could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief? Or does that come later? I think they are the same and this is the climax of that time. The bottom line is Jesus has broken ties with his hometown and their sense of ownership and Jesus’ obligation to them. He is bonded to no one but his Father!

Verses 31-44

Luk 4:31-44

Commentary On Luke 4:31-44

Galen Doughty

Luke 4:31-32 - Jesus goes down from Nazareth to Capernaum. Luke is correct; it is down from the hills around Nazareth on the northern edge of the Jezreel Valley to Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum is around 700 feet below sea level right at the level of the lake. Jesus would have dropped down to the lake on his way to Capernaum.

Capernaum became his ministry headquarters. It was strategically situated near the border of Galilee ruled by Herod Antipas and Philip’s territory to the north and east. If Herod had moved against Jesus as he had against John the Baptist Jesus could have easily escaped his territory and fled north into Philip’s jurisdiction. Capernaum was also the home of Peter, Andrew, James and John and perhaps a few of the other disciples. Jesus had friends there who could provide for his needs as he traveled around the towns of Galilee preaching and teaching.

He goes into the synagogue on the Sabbath and taught them just as he had done the same thing in Nazareth, only this time there is no ulterior motive or expectation to try and break. He teaches them and like the people’s response at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, Luke says the people are amazed at his authority. All rabbis would quote some other rabbi to give authority to their teaching. One would then stand on the shoulders of other rabbis going back generations and lend credibility to your insight. Jesus simply taught the Scriptures and preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God. He didn’t appeal to a higher authority because there was none! HE was the authority! This was so different than any other rabbi the people had heard and they were impressed by it.

Luke 4:33-37 - Jesus heals a demonized man. He was there in the synagogue. Did he frequent the synagogue and disrupt the worship and teaching there or had he heard Jesus was there and wanted some sort of confrontation and power encounter? Luke does not tell us. The demonized man shouts out, asking Jesus what he wants with them, probably meaning all demons not just the one or ones residing in the man. The demon wants to know if Jesus wants to destroy them. The word is apollumi, which means destroy or put an end to, abolish, destroy utterly. The demon then identifies Jesus as the Holy One of God. The title is not quite Messiah, or Son of God. It could be misconstrued to mean something else. In any case Jesus does not want demonic testimony about him because they will try and confuse people and twist the truth. Although here, it appears the demon is telling the truth. Perhaps they were forced to tell the truth by Jesus presence with them. Maybe because of his authority they had to tell the truth, they were trapped. Jesus tells it to be quiet and then orders the demon out of the man. The command is in the singular so there was only one demon and it was speaking of itself and all its fellows in v.34. Jesus simply orders it to come out. He does not send it to the Pit or tell it never to return or anything else. Presumably in this instance all of those things are understood, or there was no need as Jesus’ command applied his protection and freedom to the man so that the demon could not return again. Luke shows Jesus doing what he said he came to do and to fulfill, setting the captives and prisoners free.

The demon throws the man down, one last time giving a demonstration of its power, but then because of Jesus’ command it is forced to come out of the man. Jesus is in complete control not the demon. The people are amazed because he commands the demons with authority and power to leave and they do. No Jewish exorcist had such power and authority. My guess is they had elaborate rituals they would use to try and make a demon leave or there simply were no exorcists in Galilee and the local rabbis despite their knowledge of Scripture and tradition were helpless to do anything for a demonized man. Whichever the case, the news about Jesus spread rapidly throughout the countryside. Jesus’ ministry was about to become very public!

Luke 4:38-39 - Jesus goes to Simon’s house, presumably Simon Peter’s. His mother -in-law is sick with a serious fever. They asked Jesus to help. They, probably means Peter and his wife and children, her family. Jesus goes in, bends over her, rebukes the fever and it leaves her. At once she got up and did what a woman of her age and status would do; she waited on Jesus, and their guests.

Why did he bend over her? Perhaps he is getting close to her, or comforting her, speaking to her softly. The word for rebuke can also mean to charge with fault or admonish sharply. It is a curious word because it is the same Greek word Luke uses to describe Jesus commanding the demon to leave the man in the synagogue. Was the fever demonically caused? It does not appear to be so. Perhaps Luke is showing that Jesus has authority not only over demons but over human diseases as well. At any rate he heals Peter’s mother-in-law. This means Peter is married and has a family!

Luke 4:40-41 - This has all taken place on a Sabbath day so as soon as the Sabbath is over, after sunset, people flock to Peter’s house and bring the sick and the demonized to Jesus hoping he will heal them. Luke says he does. He lays his hands on them and heals them miraculously by the power of the Spirit working through him. Luke says he healed each one. No one is left out that night. He rebukes the demons and commands them to come out of people who were demonized. Luke again uses the word rebuke, the same word he used to describe Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law’s fever. They would shout that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus commands them to be silent because he does not want their testimony. They know he is the Messiah but I think Jesus is concerned that they will twist his mission and confuse the people. So he tells them to be silent. Plus do you really want demons to be the ones who are declaring you as Messiah? Jesus had enough trouble with the religious leaders to not have to deal with that.

Why so many demonized people in Galilee during Jesus’ ministry? I think because Satan increased his efforts to confuse, distract or sidetrack Jesus. He had been defeated by Jesus in the wilderness and now he wants to slow him down and keep him from doing what he came to do.

Satan has called in reinforcements! It also shows how vulnerable the common people were to demonic attack. Their spiritual condition was not healthy, because they were too easily allowing demons to come into their lives!

Luke 4:42-44 - Jesus basically is healing well into the night. At daybreak he goes out to a solitary place. Mark’s account says he went out to pray. Simon and the others go out to look for him. They find him and try and make him stay, probably because there are so many sick and demonized people who have come to be healed. Jesus replies that he must go on to other towns and preach the good news of the Kingdom of God because that is the central mission he has been given. Jesus’ priority was preaching the Kingdom and calling people to repent and believe the good news and come follow him. Healing and casting out demons were important to him but they were not central to his ministry. Preaching the Kingdom was the central task he had been given to do. Healing was a sign to validate his preaching that when he said the Kingdom of God was among you his healing ministry showed the people it was true.

The church today needs to learn the same lesson. Healing is important but it is not the central mission of the church, preaching the gospel is the central mission of the church. Jesus, after much prayer early in the morning had clarified his mission. He left many who needed healing in Capernaum and went on to other towns to preach. Jesus had understood that the enemy of the best is often the good. He could have stayed in Capernaum and healed for almost all of his ministry. He could have set up a healing clinic in Capernaum but then no one would have been taught the Kingdom and his disciples would have been healing assistants not apostles to evangelize the world. It is even possible that Jesus would have been so distracted by the needs of the people that he would have never gone to Jerusalem and his real mission of dying on the cross and rising again would have become sidetracked. That is why he left Capernaum and traveled to other villages and towns in Galilee to preach.

Luke says he preached in the synagogues of Judea. There are textual variants here that suggest scribes trying to correct Luke and substitute Galilee. Luke is not being precise in his geography in this verse. He probably means the land of the Jews rather than the Roman Province of Judea. It is clear from the following chapters that Jesus is still in Galilee and has not headed south as yet.

Questions by E.M. Zerr For Luke Chapter Four

1. With what was Jesus filled?

2. Where did the Spirit lead him?

3. By whom was he tempted ?

4. For how long?

5. What can be said about his diet?

6. State his condition of body.

7. What suggestion did the devil make for food?

8. Give the answer of Jesus.

9. Where was that written?

10. To what place did the devil take him?

11. What was shown him?

12. How long did it take?

13. State the offer of Satan.

14. Repeat Jesus reply.

15. Where next did he place him?

16. Give his proposition.

17. What quotation did he make ?

18. Repeat the reply of Jesus.

19. After this what did the devil do?

20. Was it to be permanent?

21. To what place did Jesus return?

22. What circulated about him?

23. Where did he teach?

24. To what village did he then come?

25. What had occurred there?

26. Into what building did he enter ?

27. Was this unusual?

28. On what day was it ?

29. Why did he stand up?

30. From what author did he read?

31. On what subject did he read?

32. After reading what did he do?

33. What application did he make of the reading?

34. How were the people affected?

35. What increased their astonishment?

36. Tell the prediction he made to them.

37. Where is a prophet rejected?

38. What happened in days of Elias ?

39. Were all widows favored by him?

40. Tell the favored man in the days of Eliaseus.

41. What effect did this speech have ?

42. Tell what they attempted to do.

43. How was it prevented?

44. Where was he teaching next?

45. What astonished his hearers?

46. Tell what character was in the synagogne.

47. For what did he beg?

48. What confession did he make?

49. Tell what Jesus said.

50. What happened then?

51. Tell the effect this had on the people.

52. How far did the fame of Jesus go?

53. Into whose house did Jesus next enter?

54. What was the other name of this man?

55. State whether he was a married man.

56. What work did Jesus perform here?

57. At sunset who were brought to Jesus?

58. State the favors they received.

59. What came out of many?

60. Why did Jesus not suffer them to speak ?

61. Where did Jesus go when it was day?

62. Tell the interest shown by the people.

63. What explanation did Jesus give them?

64. Where was he preaching next ?

Luke Chapter Four

By Ralph L. Starling

Jesus is led by the Spirit to the wilderness away

Where He fasted and hungered for forty days.

The Devil seized the opportunity to make his bid.

He challenged Jesus, “Take these stones and make bread.”

Jesus said, “man does not live by bread alone.

He needs the word of Go to get along.”

The Devil tries again from a high mountain

“Worship me & I’ll give you the world and what’s in it.”

Jesus cam back, “It is written in God’s Word,

Worship God and Him only shalt thou serve.”

The Devil then takes Him to the top of the Temple

“Cast thyself down, God won’t let you be cripples.”

For the time being the Devil gave up

Jesus said, “Don’t tempt God- you’ll be out of luck.”

The Devil left Him at least for a season.

The fame of Jesus grew thru out the region.

Back to Nazareth to the Synagogue to read.

He read from the Prophet Isaiah with ease

And explained it to them with great care

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears.”

You will surely say, “Physician, heal thyself,

But you have only to read history yourself.”

They were so angry they could burst.

They threatened to throw Him from the hill headfirst.

In Galilee He taught again on the Sabbath day.

A man with an unclean spirit with his voice raised.

“I know you are God’s Holy One!”

Jesus rebuked the devil and the man was on his own.

Later in the house of Simon Peter,

His wife’s mother was take with a fever.

Jesus stood over her and rebuked the fever.

And with that the fever left immediately.

As the sun was setting, many sick were brought to Him.

With His hands He healed every one of them.

At day He departed to a desert place.

The people found Him; He couldn’t escape.

He appealed to them that they must relent.

“I must continue to preach as I have been sent.”

He was able to leave and went to Galilee,

And entered the Synagogue there to teach.