Глава 4

1–13. Temptation of Jesus Christ in the desert. – 14–15. Speech of Christ in Galilee. – 16–30. Sermon of Christ in the synagogue of Nazareth. – 31–44. Visit to Capernaum. Luke 4:1. Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert. Luke 4:2. There for forty days He was tempted by the devil and did not eat anything during these days, and after they were over, He finally became hungry. Luke 4:3. And the devil said to Him: If You are the Son of God, then command this stone to become bread. Luke 4:4. Jesus answered and said to him, “It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Luke 4:5. And, taking Him to a high mountain, the devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the universe in a moment of time, Luke 4:6. and the devil said to Him: I will give you power over all these kingdoms and their glory, for it has been given to me, and I give it to whomever I want; Luke 4:7. So, if You worship me, then everything will be Yours. Luke 4:8. Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan; It is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only. Luke 4:9. And he led Him to Jerusalem, and placed Him on the pinnacle of the church, and said to Him: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, Luke 4:10. for it is written: He will command His angels concerning You, to keep You; Luke 4:11. and they will bear You up in their hands, lest You dash Your foot against a stone. Luke 4:12. Jesus answered and said to him: It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Luke 4:13. And, having finished all the temptation, the devil departed from Him for the time being. The Evangelist Luke, in general, conveys the story of temptation in accordance with the Evangelist Matthew (Matthew 4:1-11). But in the order of individual temptations, the Evangelist Luke differs from Matthew: in second place he puts the temptation that Matthew puts in third place (the temptation on the wing of the church). Critics often point to this difference as evidence of a contradiction that generally exists between the Gospels, but in fact, this difference cannot be given particularly serious significance. It only testifies to the fact that the Evangelist Luke sets out the temptation not in chronological order, like Matthew, but systematically. Since the path from the desert, where the first temptation took place, to Jerusalem - where, as the Evangelist Matthew correctly reports, the second temptation took place - lay through the mountains, Luke, mentally walking along this path, decided, along the way, so to speak, to depict the temptation that took place on the mountain, earlier than the temptation that took place in Jerusalem. And the fact that the Evangelist Matthew correctly chronologically places this temptation on the mountain as the last is evidenced by the fact that it ends with the words of the Lord: “Get behind me, Satan.” It is unlikely that after such a prohibition Satan could turn to Christ with a new temptation. “For forty days He was tempted...” (see Mark 1:13). “I didn’t eat anything.” This is noted only by the Evangelist Luke. Christ observed complete abstinence from all food. "To this stone". In Matthew - “these stones”. Turning one stone into bread seemed enough for Satan. “The universe” (verse 5) is more precise than that of the Evangelist Matthew – “the world” (Matthew 4:8; cf. Luke 2:1). “In an instant of time” - at one point in time, in one moment (ἐν στιγμῇ χρόνου). This means that all the kingdoms of the world did not appear sequentially, one after another, before the eyes of Christ, but in one instantaneous image, despite the fact that they were in different parts of the world. “I will give authority over all these kingdoms...” As a result of the fall of people, the world really submitted to the power of the devil in the sense, of course, that the devil draws people into his nets and leads them in his own ways. He can, therefore, direct them to Christ if he wants. But, of course, it is a complete lie that this power was transferred to him (of course, by God). If he controls people, it is only because of his cunning and deceit. The only ruler of all is God (Dan.4:14). “You will bow down to me” - more precisely: “before me” (ἐνωπίον ἐμοῦ). From this it is clear that the devil means real worship. “Keep You” (verse 10). This addition is found only in the Evangelist Luke. “Jesus answered and said to him: It is said...”. More precisely: “Jesus answered and said to him that it was said: Thou shalt not tempt...” (ὅτι εἴρηται οὐκ). Evangelist Luke, therefore, uses the words “what is said” in the sense of “as said,” and Christ’s speech begins with the words “do not tempt.” It is clear that this sounds like a command to Satan from Christ Himself: “Do not tempt Me, Satan, the Lord Your God!” “And having finished all the temptation” - with these words the evangelist makes it clear that the devil exhausted all his art to tempt Christ and could not invent anything more. "Until Time". Such a convenient time for a new temptation turned out to be, according to the Evangelist Luke (Luke 22:3), the appearance of Judas the traitor before the enemies of Christ with a proposal to betray Him. Luke 4:14. And Jesus returned in strength of spirit to Galilee; and fame about Him spread throughout the surrounding country. Luke 4:15. He taught in their synagogues and was glorified by everyone. “In the strength of the spirit”, i.e. equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit. This power was reflected, of course, in the miracles that Christ began to perform. “Rumour about Him”, i.e. rumors about these miracles. From this it is clear that, according to Luke, the Lord’s activity in Galilee was quite long. “In their synagogues,” i.e. Galileans Luke 4:16. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and, as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. "Nazareth" (see comments on Matthew 2:23). “He was brought up” (see Luke 2:51 et seq.). "According to His wont". During His open activity, Christ used to visit synagogues on Saturdays. This remark shows that the event described further took place in the relatively late period of the Galilean activity of Christ (the “custom” could have been created over a certain period of time). “I got up to read.” Usually the head of the synagogue invited one of the people known to him to take upon himself the reading from the Holy Scriptures for the pilgrims gathered in the synagogue, and he, at the invitation of the head, stood up - the other pilgrims sat. But Christ, standing up Himself, thereby expressed a desire to read, and since He was quite well known to the leader of the synagogue as a local resident - the Evangelist Luke had not yet reported about His miracles in Nazareth - they gave Him a book or scroll. Luke 4:17. He was given the book of the prophet Isaiah; and He opened the book and found the place where it was written: "The Book of the Prophet Isaiah". Apparently, the reading of the section from the Law (“parasha”) was already completed when Christ expressed his desire to read. Therefore, the book of Isaiah was handed to Him and He read from it, probably the prescribed section (haftarah). The Evangelist, saying that Christ, as soon as he opened the book, immediately found the section he needed, obviously wants to note that the book of Isaiah was not opened by chance on a certain sheet, but that here was the work of Divine Providence. The book of Isaiah, like the others, of course, was a bundle of sheets wrapped around a rolling pin and tied with a cord. At that time they wrote only on one side of the sheet. Such scrolls were placed in a special box, with the heads of the rolling pins all at the top, and on each was written the name of a famous holy book, so that they were easy to find when needed. Luke 4:18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; For He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, and He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach freedom to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are afflicted, Luke 4:19. preach the favorable year of the Lord. See the commentary to the Explanatory Bible on the book of the prophet Isaiah (Is.61:1–3). To what was said there, it must be added that the Evangelist Luke gives here a prophecy based on the text of the Seventy, but with some changes. Then, in our Russian translation of the Gospel it reads: “for He anointed...”. Meanwhile, it would be more accurate to translate from Greek: “for the sake of what, because of which He (and) anointed” (οὗ ἕνεκεν ἔχρισε). Thus, according to the Greek text, the indwelling of the Spirit on Christ is prior to anointing or election, and according to the original text, which the Russian translation adheres to, the indwelling of the Spirit is conditioned by this very anointing. However, the essence of the matter in both texts - the original and the Seventy - remains unchanged: the Holy Spirit dwells on Christ, and He is the anointed one or the Messiah in the exclusive sense of the word. “Anointed” – dedicated, ordained (Blessed Theophylact). “Poor” - both materially and spiritually oppressed (see Matt. 5:3). Those who are brokenhearted are the same as those who mourn (see Matt. 5:4). Captives and blind are terms denoting spiritual slavery and ignorance of people whom the Messiah will free from this. “Seeing for the blind” is the increase of the Seventy. “To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Obviously, this contains an indication of the so-called jubilee year, which, indeed, due to the abundance of benefits assigned to it by law (Lev. 25:8 et seq.), was the best year established by God for the Jewish people. Of course, this “summer” refers to the Messianic time of salvation for the people of Israel and for all mankind. It is remarkable that this prophecy of Isaiah contains a designation for all types of anointing that existed in the Old Testament: a) prophetic anointing is indicated by the words: “to preach good news to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted”; b) royal: “preach” (proclaim) “to the captives,” etc. - all the prerogatives of the king, who is granted the right of pardon everywhere, and c) high priestly: “to preach summer...” because the coming of the year of jubilee was announced by the priests, by order of the high priest. Thus, Christ is Prophet, King and High Priest. It should also be noted that, using the words of verse 19 about “summer” or “year of the Lord” (ἐνιαυτὸν κυρίου), even the ancient heretics Valentinians, and then many church interpreters, argued that Christ’s activity lasted only one year. But the expression “year”, obviously, in the Evangelist Luke designates the messianic period in general, and how could this period seem to the evangelist to be as short as one year? Not to mention the fact that in the Gospel of John the ministry of Christ is defined as no less than three years... Luke 4:20. And, closing the book and giving it to the servant, he sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. The servant of the synagogue took from Christ the scroll of the book of Isaiah, which He had again rolled up, and Christ, intending to speak about the prophecy he had read, sat down, according to custom. Everyone turned their eyes to Him: it is clear that Christ at that time was already famous among the inhabitants of Nazareth. Luke 4:21. And He began to say to them: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. The evangelist reports only the main idea of ​​Christ's speech addressed to the pilgrims. “This scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” – the translation is not entirely accurate. More correctly: “this scripture (that is, this written thing; cf. Mark 12:10, where “scripture” also means a separate prophecy) has been fulfilled in your ears.” The voice of the One about whom Isaiah spoke has now reached the ears of the Nazarenes - Christ preaches deliverance to them and then, of course, will accomplish it (cf. Mark 1:15 - “the time is fulfilled”). Luke 4:22. And they all witnessed this to Him, and marveled at the words of grace that proceeded from His mouth, and said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” “They testified to Him,” i.e. expressed the idea that the rumors that reached them about Christ (verses 14 et seq.) quite accurately depicted His personality. “Words of grace”, i.e. pleasant speeches. “And they said...” . From the following response of Christ to these words of the Nazarenes, it is clear that in their words they expressed distrust that the son of Joseph could fulfill all the promises contained in the above passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah. Christ was for them a simple resident of Nazareth, and hitherto the Nazarenes had not seen in Him any special qualities that, in their opinion, the Messiah should have. Luke 4:23. He said to them: Of course, you will tell Me the saying: doctor! heal yourself; Do here, in Your fatherland, what we heard happened in Capernaum. “Of course,” – i.e. I am sure of it (cf. 1 Cor. 9:10). "Doctor..." . This proverb is often found among rabbis, as well as among Greek and Roman writers. Its meaning in the present case is as follows. Just as a doctor who wants to treat others must first demonstrate his skill on himself, so do you. If You want to act as the God-sent Deliverer of Your people (cf. verse 21 with verses 18-19), then first of all help Yourself to get rid of what prevents You from achieving Your goal - make us forget about Your insignificant origin and Your humble life, which You have led until now in Nazareth: perform such a miracle that would really and immediately exalt You in the eyes of everyone us. Then we will believe that You are sent from God. “In Your Fatherland” - in Your native city. "It happened in Capernaum". This is where the competition between an insignificant town like Nazareth and the rich Capernaum comes into play. Obviously, the Lord had previously been in Capernaum and performed miracles there, about which, however, the evangelist had not yet said anything. Luke 4:24. And he said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.” Luke 4:25. Truly I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up for three years and six months, so that there was a great famine throughout the whole land. Luke 4:26. and Elijah was not sent to any of them, but only to a widow in Zarephath of Sidon; Luke 4:27. There were also many lepers in Israel under the prophet Elisha, and not one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. Having said that the rejection of prophets by their fellow citizens is a well-known fact, Christ now, in order to explain His, which caught the eye of His fellow citizens, a certain preference for a foreign city - Capernaum, points out that in the Old Testament the prophets sometimes performed miracles not for their fellow citizens, but for strangers, even pagans. It did not rain for three and a half years during the reign of Elijah, according to the number of the Lord. Meanwhile, the book of Kings says that rain came in the third year (1 Kings 17:1, 18:1). In all likelihood, here, as in the Epistle of the Apostle James (James 5:17), these years are counted according to Jewish tradition (Yalkut Shimoni to 3 Kings), in which in general the figure 3 1/2 years was the usual term for designating a predominantly unhappy era (cf. Dan. 12:7). “All over the earth” is a hyperbolic expression. Zarephath of Sidon was a city dependent on Sidon and lying on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Nowadays it is the village of Surafend (cf. 1 Kings 17:9 et seq.). “Lepers” (see Matt. 8:1 et seq.). “In the presence of the prophet Elisha” (see 1 Kings 19:16 et seq.). Luke 4:28. Hearing this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with rage. Luke 4:29. and they got up and drove Him out of the city and led Him to the top of the mountain on which their city was built in order to overthrow Him; Luke 4:30. but He passed through the midst of them and departed. Enthusiasm for the speech of Christ quickly gives way in the souls of the Nazarenes to terrible rage against the One who dared to place them lower than the pagans. The latter turned out to be better in His mind than the Jews - those present in the synagogue could no longer tolerate this, and, despite the fact that it was the Sabbath day, they began to push Christ out of the Synagogue and then out of the city. The road from the city, which lay on the slopes of the mountains, rose sharply upward (on the western edge of the city), and the Nazarenes, apparently pushing Christ onto this road, would have quietly thrown Him off the cliff to which this road led and near which there was a cliff about forty feet above the valley below (this place is located above the Maronite church). But suddenly Christ stopped and, with His one commanding glance, forcing the people who were crowding Him to make way, he calmly walked among them. Since He obviously took the road to Capernaum, which leads straight from this cliff, those who were pressing Him had to stop: there further there was no possibility of accidentally pushing Christ off the cliff. Is this the same event as the one described by the evangelists Matthew (Matthew 13:54) and Mark (Mark 6:1–6)? No, this event is different. The story of the evangelist Luke refers to the beginning of the ministry of Christ, and the stories of the evangelists Matthew and Mark - to a later time. This is the first proof. Secondly, here Christ appears without His disciples, and there with His disciples. Thirdly, according to the Gospel of Luke, Christ leaves Nazareth after the described attempt on Him, and in Matthew and Mark he remains for some time in Nazareth even after the Nazarenes did not trust Him. Finally - and this is the most important thing - Matthew and Mark do not speak at all about the attempt on Christ, as reported here by the Evangelist Luke. Isn't it clear that Luke is describing a different event? Some similar details in the stories of him and the other two weather forecasters are explained simply by the fact that similar speeches about the origin of Christ should have been heard often among the ignorant Nazarenes. Luke 4:31. And he came to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. Luke 4:32. And they marveled at His teaching, for His word was with authority. “I came” – more precisely: I came down (κατῆλθεν). Nazareth lay above Capernaum, located near the Sea of ​​Tiberias (see Matt. 4:13). “His word was with authority” (cf. verse 14). Luke 4:33. There was a man in the synagogue who had an unclean spirit of demons, and he shouted in a loud voice: Luke 4:34. leave; What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? You have come to destroy us; I know You, who You are, the Holy One of God. Luke 4:35. Jesus rebuked him, saying: Be silent and come out of him. And the demon, having cast him down in the middle of the synagogue, came out of him without harming him in the least. Luke 4:36. And horror fell upon everyone, and they reasoned among themselves: what does it mean that He commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out? Luke 4:37. And the rumor about Him spread throughout all the surrounding places. “The unclean spirit of demons” - more correctly: “the unclean spirit of the demon.” To the word “demon” the adjective “unclean”, also used in Mark, was added due to the fact that among the Greeks the word “demon” (δαιμόνιον) did not necessarily mean an evil or unclean creature. "Leave" . This is not a verb, but simply an exclamation: “Ha!” (ἔα!), expressing surprise mixed with horror. “Without harming him in the least” is a remark found only in Luke. “What does this mean” - more precisely: what kind of word or speech is this? In verse 32, surprise is expressed at the teachings of Christ, here at His commands (verse 36). “That He” (verse 36) is more correct: because He: The Evangelist indicates the reason that caused surprise. "With power and strength". The first (ἐξουσία) means Christ, the second (δύναμις) means the power that comes from here. Luke 4:38. Leaving the synagogue, He entered Simon's house; Simonov's mother-in-law was possessed by a strong fever; and asked Him for her. Luke 4:39. Approaching her, He rebuked the fever; and left her. She immediately stood up and served them. (See Mark 1:29–31; Matt 8:14–15). “Coming out” – more precisely: “rising up” (ἀναστάς). In the synagogue the Lord taught while sitting. “He entered...” - Luke omits before verse 31 the mention of the calling of two pairs of brothers (cf. Mark 1:16-19), and therefore Christ appears here walking alone. "Severe fever." Such comparative accuracy in determining the disease is natural for Luke as a doctor. “They asked Him,” of course, for healing, Peter and his household. “Approaching her” - more precisely: “stood bending over her.” “Forbade fever.” This disease appears here as if it were a hostile personal force. Luke 4:40. When the sun set, all those who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him and He, laying His hands on each of them, healed them. Luke 4:41. Many demons also came out shouting and saying: You are the Christ, the Son of God. And He forbade them to say that they knew that He was the Christ. (See Mark 1:32–34; Matt 8:16). “Laying on hands” is a remark of one Luke (cf. Matt. 9:18). “Saying that they know” is more correct: “he did not allow them to speak, because they knew that He was the Messiah.” Luke 4:42. When the day came, He left the house and went into a deserted place, and the people sought Him and, coming to Him, restrained Him so that He would not leave them. Luke 4:43. But He said to them: I must preach the Kingdom of God to other cities too, for for this purpose I was sent. Luke 4:44. And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee. “The people” (or rather “crowds”) “sought Him.” Since the Evangelist Luke has not yet spoken about the calling of the apostles, then in him those who seek Christ are the people in general, and not Simon and those who were with him, as in Mark. “Having come to Him” - more precisely: “until they came to Him” (ἦλθον ἕως αύτοῦ). They did not finish looking for Christ before they found Him. “For this purpose I was sent,” – i.e. to preach everywhere in the Jewish country. "In the synagogues of Galilee". According to a more authentic reading: “Jewish.” But at the same time, by Judea we mean, of course, not the province of Judea, but the Jewish country in general, including Galilee (cf. Luke 1:5). You might be interested in: