Luke 4:14-17 - Teaching in the synagogues

4:14,15

Again we have Luke mentioning the Holy Spirit, this time saying that Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit. The presence and the effect of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ life was real, and His presence and effect in the lives of the apostles and early disciples after Pentecost was real. News spread about Jesus in the whole region. Now in Luke’s gospel we haven’t heard much yet of what Jesus has done, certainly nothing to explain why news about Jesus had spread. One possibility for the interest is because of the preaching of John the Baptist telling them that Jesus was the One they needed to follow. It is also possible that this follows the early miracles recorded in John’s gospel.

Jesus was teaching in the synagogues. This was the natural place for Jesus to be, though we are not told here what He taught, but the next section will.

4:16,17

Nazareth was where Jesus had been brought up. On the Sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue, “as was His custom”. So in some ways this was a typical Sabbath day for Jesus. Luke is actually the earliest record we have of Synagogue practices. Later writings indicate that the service would typically begin with a reading from the Law, this would be followed by a reading from the prophets. People were invited to read and to preach. This is why Jesus was allowed to preach, and why later in Acts we read of Paul being allowed to preach in synagogues. Jesus was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. The books of the Old Testament were kept on scrolls, one scroll for each prophet, though the minor prophets may all have been on a single scroll as they were counted as one book by the Jews.