Luke 4 Commentary

Following Jesus’s baptism by John, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness.

The devil approaches Jesus with the first of three temptations. He asks Jesus to use His divine powers to turn stones to bread after Christ had fasted forty days and nights in the wilderness. Jesus uses scripture to refute the devil.

The devil tempts Jesus a second time by offering Him immediate power and glory in exchange for worshiping him. Jesus rebukes the devil to depart and quotes Deuteronomy a second time. 

For the third temptation, the devil takes Jesus to the top of God's Temple in Jerusalem and tells Him to jump. The devil argues that this will publicly proclaim Jesus's identity as the Divine Messiah. The devil uses scripture in his attempt to deceive Jesus. Jesus rejects the temptation with another passage from Deuteronomy.

Jesus returns from the temptation in the wilderness and begins teaching at the synagogues in the district of Galilee. The news about Him spreads and He is praised by all.

Jesus goes to the Galilean town of Capernaum. On the Sabbath He enters a synagogue, where Jesus teaches and those in attendance are amazed at the authority with which He teaches. 

While Jesus is teaching in a Capernaum synagogue, a man with an unclean demon begins crying out and identifying Jesus as the Holy One of God. Jesus swiftly rebukes the demon to keep quiet and come out of the man. It does. The crowd's amazement at Jesus's authority increases because He not only teaches with authority, He even commands unclean demons and they obey Him. News of this amazing event spread all throughout the district of Galilee. This is the first specific miracle performed by Jesus that is explained in Luke's gospel. 

Luke records Jesus’s first miracle of physical healing in his Gospel. Jesus heals Simon’s (Peter’s) mother-in-law of a fever. 

Later that evening some people bring Jesus many who were demon-possessed. Jesus frees them from their spiritual bondage and commands the demons to be silent because they knew Him to be the Christ.

After a day and night of healings and deliverances from demon-possession, Jesus retreats from the crowds in search of solitude. He tells them that He must continue preaching the Kingdom of God in other cities.