GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 4:14-15
A Prophet in His Hometown
(Matthew 13:54-58; Mark 6:1-6)
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and he was praised by everyone.
These are two verses we might read in passing and simply move on to the synagogue of Nazareth, but today we will pause and consider what’s before us. And that means we need to ask two big questions about verse 14: What does it mean that Jesus was “in the power of the Spirit,” and why did news about him spread after his temptation?
The Holy Spirit had driven Jesus into the wilderness for his temptation (Mark 1:12, ἐκβάλλει “the Spirit threw him”). Now, Jesus came back in the Spirit’s power. This means simply that everything Jesus did was in agreement with the Holy Spirit and pleased God: “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Romans 8:8), but those in step with the Spirit do indeed please God with what they say, think, and do. Jesus showed his perfect human obedience by the things he did, and he had begun to show his divine nature as well. Luke does not elaborate on this, but the answer to the second question will help us to understand this more clearly.
“New about him spread.” How is this so? We understand this better if we realize the things that took place in Jesus’ life between the days of his temptation and the arrival at Nazareth. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not inform us about much of the first year of Jesus’ ministry. However, there was an interval of many months following the temptation until his arrival in Nazareth (Luke 4:16). How do we know this? John’s Gospel fills in a vast amount of information about this time (John 1:19-4:42). This included the following events:
▪ Jesus and John worked in the same area for a long time (John 1:28; 3:22-36).
▪ The day after one encounter between John and Jesus, two of John’s disciples began to follow Jesus (John 1:35-39). Andrew was one of them (John the Apostle was probably the other one).
▪ Andrew went to tell his brother Peter about Jesus (John 1:40-42).
▪ Jesus called Philip and Nathanael (John 1:43-51).
▪ In Cana in Galilee, Jesus and his small group of followers were invited to a wedding, and Jesus performed his first miracle there (John 2:1-11).
▪ Jesus and his followers stayed in Capernaum with his mother and brothers for a few days (John 2:12).
▪ Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover. While there, he drove out the salesmen from the temple with an improvised whip and had a confrontation with the Pharisees (John 2:12-25).
▪ Jesus met one Pharisees who was a member of the Sanhedrin—Nicodemus—who became a believer (John 3:1-21). It was then that Jesus spoke the famous words recorded as John 3:16.
▪ Jesus and his disciples spent time by the Jordan, teaching and baptizing in the vicinity of John the Baptist. John’s disciples were concerned that Jesus’ followers were growing in number, but John made this confession: “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:22-36).
▪ Jesus went to Samaria and spoke with a woman at the Well of Jacob at Shechem beneath Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. There he declared to her that he is the Messiah (John 4:1-42).
Knowing this, it becomes much more clear why news about Jesus was spreading all around the land. It was Jesus’ regular practice to teach in the synagogues. This was quite a bit like our Sunday morning worship today. It would be far more recognizable to us than the sacrificial worship happening at the temple. The congregation gathered, they sang hymns or psalms, and there were Scripture lessons read in a regular rotation or sequence. There were prayers. There was probably an offering that was taken. And whenever possible, someone would explain the Scriptures or expound on them. This was the role Jesus filled throughout Galilee, as a much sought-after preacher; the one every synagogue ruler hoped would appear in town.
It is still there, in regular worship as a group, that God wants us to gather to hear the word of God and to hear it explained. Don’t close yourself off from other Christians. Join together so that you can pray together, confess your sins and your faith together, hear the absolution together, and receive the sacrament together. This is God’s will for us. It’s an invitation to come and hear the best news ever: the forgiveness we have in Jesus.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota