BURKITT : | Lu 4:1 | Lu 4:2 | Lu 4:3 | Lu 4:4 | Lu 4:5-8 | Lu 4:9-13 | Lu 4:14-21 | Lu 4:22-24 | Lu 4:25-27 | Lu 4:28-30 | Lu 4:31-37 | Lu 4:38-39 | Lu 4:40-41 | Lu 4:42-44 |
Reference
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. (Luke 4:14-21 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Our blessed Saviour being thus fitted and prepared by his baptism and temptation for the execution of his ministerial office, he now enters upon the great work of preaching the gospel, and St. Luke here declares the first place he preached at, namely, Nazareth; and the first text he preached upon, Isa 61:1
Observe 1. The place where our Saviour preached; he bestowed his first sermon upon Nazareth, the place of his conception and education. For though Christ was born at Bethlehem, yet he was bred and brought up at Nazareth; there he had his poor, but painful education, working on his father’s trade, that of a carpenter. This prejudiced the Jews against him, who looked for a sceptre, not an axe, in the hand of him that was born King of the Jews. Our Saviour’s short and secret abode at Bethlehem, and his long and public living at Nazareth, occasioned him to be called Jesus of Nazareth; yet some conceived it was a nick-name, fastened by the devil upon our Saviour, that he might disguise the place of Christ’s nativity, and leave the Jews at a greater loss concerning their Messiah. Sure it is, that this name, Jesus of Nazareth, stuck upon our Saviour all his life; and at his death was fixed by Pilate on his cross. Yea, after his ascension, such as believed on were called, The sect of the Nazarenes, or the followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
Observe, 2. The text which our Saviour preached upon at Nazareth: he takes it out of the prophet Esaias, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. Lu 4:18 That is, God the Father hath poured forth his Holy Spirit without measure upon me, in all the gifts and graces of it, to fit and furnish me for the work of a mediator; and particularly, to preach the gospel to the poor in spirit, and to such as are poor in outward condition also, if meekened and humbled with the sight and sense of their sins. To bind up the broken-hearted; that is, to comfort them with the glad tidings of the gospel. To preach deliverance to the captives: to let such sinners know, who were slaves to sin and Satan, that a Deliverer is come, if they be willing to be delivered by him. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord: or to proclaim a spiritual jubilee in which God proffers pardon of sin and reconciliation with himself upon the terms of the gospel.
Learn hence, 1. That God stirreth up none to take upon them the office of the ministry, whom he hath not fitted and furnished with gifts for the regular discharge of it.
2. That Christ himself did not undertake the office of a mediator, but by the ordination of God the Holy Spirit: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he hath sent me to preach the gospel.
3. That no creature, angel or man, could perform the office of a mediator, but only Christ, who was consecrated to that office by an anointing from the Holy Spirit without measure: The Spirit of the Lord hath anointed me.
4. That the preaching of the gospel is the great ordinance which Christ himself made use of, and recommended to his apostles and ministers, for enlightening blind sinners, for comforting broken hearts, and for delivering captive souls from the slavery and dominion of sin and Satan: He hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to publish deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. What enemies then are they to the souls of men who have low and mean thoughts of this high and honourable ordinance of God, the preaching of the everlasting gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation?
Observe, 3. The behavior of our Saviour’s auditors, the men of Nazareth, under his preaching: their eyes were fixed, and their minds intent, upon him, and upon what was spoken by him: The eyes of all that were in the synagogue were fastened upon him: not closed with sleep, nor gazing about upon others; but fixed upon Christ the preacher.
Fixing of the eye is a great help to the attention of the ear, and the intention of the mind; a fastened eye is a mean to help us to a fixed heart; as a wandering eye is both a sign and cause of a wandering heart. O that our hearers would imitate our Saviour’s hearers under the word! They fastened their eyes upon him as if they meant to hear with their eyes as well as with their ears: and yet we have cause to expect that curiosity rather than piety caused this their attention; seeing, as you will find, Lu 4:29 that these very persons, who out of novelty were ready to eat his words, soon after out of cruelty were ready to devour the speaker: For they thrust him out of the city, led him to the brow of the hill, and would have cast him down headlong.
O blessed Saviour, what wonder is it that the persons of thy ministers are despised, and their doctrine neglected, when thou thyself, the first preacher of the gospel, and for thy first sermon at Nazareth, were thus ignominiously treated!
Observe, lastly, how Christ conforms to the ceremonies of the Jewish doctrine, who, in honor of the law and the prophets, stood up when they read them, and according to custom, sat down when they explained them. And although the synagogal worship was then loaden with rules and ceremonies of human invention, and also the lives and manners both of priests and people were much corrupted, yet both our Saviour and his disciples went to the synagogue, as members of the church of Nazareth, every sabbath-day, joining with them in the public worship.
From whence we may reasonably infer, that such Christians as do quietly and peaceably comply with the practice of the church in whose communion they live, in the observation of such indifferent rites as are used by her, act most agreeable to our Saviour’s practice and example.