He
closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
Luke 4:20-22
Luke 4 [18.] “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted,
to proclaim release to the captives,
recovering of sight to the blind,
to deliver those who are crushed,
and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Luke 4 [20.] He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4 [22.] All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
Luke 4 [23.] He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’” He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
Meaning:
On a Sabbath in Nazareth, his home town, Jesus stood up in the synagogue and read from the scroll of Isaiah (Luke 4:16): “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1). These verses tell what happened next. Mark and Matthew record a visit to Nazareth where the people took offence at him (Mark 6:1-3; Matthew 13:54), but Luke alone gives the sermon and its opening words.
- “He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down”
A synagogue service included prayers, readings from the Law and the Prophets, and an explanation by a qualified man. The “book” was a scroll, kept in a special chest and handed out by the attendant, the synagogue servant. A reader stood to read Scripture out of respect, then sat down to teach, as rabbis did. So when Jesus sat down, everyone knew the sermon was about to begin. Jesus had stopped reading in the middle of Isaiah’s sentence, after “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” He did not go on to the next words about the day of God’s vengeance. His coming now was to bring grace; judgement would come later.
- “The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him”
The room was silent and expectant. Reports of Jesus’ work in Capernaum had already reached Nazareth (Luke 4:14). The carpenter’s son they had watched grow up was now a teacher with a reputation, and everyone wanted to know what he would say. They may also have hoped that he would do for his own town the wonders he had done elsewhere, a hope Jesus would address directly in his next words.
- “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”
This is one of the boldest statements in the Gospels. For centuries Israel had read Isaiah’s promise of an anointed one who would bring good news to the poor, release to captives and sight to the blind, and the “acceptable year of the Lord,” a picture drawn from the year of jubilee, when Israel was to “proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants” (Leviticus 25:10). Jesus declares that the waiting is over. He is the one anointed by the Spirit (Luke 3:21-22), and the time of God’s favour has begun. “Today” is a key word in Luke. The angels told the shepherds, “For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior” (Luke 2:11); Jesus told Zacchaeus, “Today, salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9); and he promised the dying criminal, “today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Paul echoes it: “Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
- “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
At first the response seems positive. “All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.” Even officers sent to arrest Jesus later came back amazed that no one had ever spoken as he did. But admiration soon turned to doubt. They knew his family and his trade. How could the son of Joseph, a local craftsman, be the one Isaiah spoke of? Familiarity blinded them. Luke’s readers know what the people of Nazareth did not: Jesus was the son, “as was supposed,” of Joseph (Luke 3:23), but in truth the Son of God. John writes, “He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him” (John 1:11). The next verses show how quickly wonder became rejection (Luke 4:23-24; Luke 4:28-30).
The Significance of Luke 4:20-22
- God’s promises fulfilled in Jesus
The whole Old Testament looks forward to Christ, and Jesus himself later showed his disciples how the Scriptures pointed to him (Luke 24:44). Reading the Bible means listening for its fulfilment in him.
- Today is the day of grace
Jesus’ message is not only for the past. The acceptable year of the Lord is still open. Whoever hears his word today can receive his freedom and forgiveness today.
- Beware of familiarity
Those who know the most about Jesus can be the slowest to receive him. Hearing gracious words is not enough; they must be believed and obeyed. Church-goers, Bible readers and people raised in Christian homes face the same danger as Nazareth: to admire Jesus from a distance while refusing to let him be Lord.
Cross-References:
Isaiah 61:1: “because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble.” The prophecy Jesus fulfilled.
Leviticus 25:10: “proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.” The jubilee behind the acceptable year.
2 Corinthians 6:2: “Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.” The “today” of grace.
John 1:11: “He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him.” Rejection by his own people.
Conclusion: In Luke 4:20-22 Jesus closes the scroll of Isaiah, sits down to teach and declares, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The people of Nazareth marvel at his gracious words but stumble over his ordinary background, asking, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” The passage announces that the time of God’s favour has come in Jesus and warns against letting familiarity keep us from receiving him.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible