Глава четвертая

Luke 4:1. Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert. The Lord was baptized in order to sanctify the waters for us who have a taste of grace. After Baptism, “he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,” for the Holy Spirit led Him into the struggle against the devil. He goes “into the wilderness” in order to give the devil a reason to attack himself, for he approaches us especially when we are secluded. Luke 4:2. There for forty days He was tempted by the devil and did not eat anything during these days, He fasts for “forty days” and does not exceed the fasting measure of Moses and Elijah, so as not to give Satan the idea that He is greater than them, but so that he approaches Him, thinking that He is a man, and at the same time in order not to seem incarnate only in a ghostly way. “Tempted” after Baptism to show us that after Baptism we will be faced with temptations. We fast because fasting is a great weapon in temptation, and because after baptism we should indulge not in sensual pleasures, but in fasting. and after they were over, he was finally 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 (Deut. 8:3) 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. The enemy attacks Him first with satiety, like Adam (Gen. 3), then with covetousness, “showing all kingdoms in Him.” How did you show it? Some say that he presented them to Him in thought. But I think that I showed them to Him not in thought, but sensually, putting them before His eyes in a ghost, and not in the imagination of the Lord. 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 (Ps. 90:11–12): He will command His angels for You, to keep You; Luke 4:11. and they will bear You up in their hands, lest You dash Your foot against a stone. Further, he attacks Him with vanity, for he says: “if you are the Son of God, throw yourself... down.” He spoke idle words, caressing Him, so that He, deceived by flattery and wanting to show Himself as the Son of God, would throw himself down and thus reveal to him who He was. But look how the Lord strikes him with Scripture. Luke 4:12. Jesus answered and said to him: It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. for no one should expose himself to obvious danger in self-delusion that God will help him. Note also that knowing the Scriptures is very useful; for the Lord also smote Satan with the Scriptures. “Man cannot live by bread alone,” this is Moses’ saying about manna (Deut. 8:3); for although the manna was not bread, it nevertheless fed the people. Likewise, the sayings of Moses are these: “Worship the Lord your God” and “do not tempt” (Deut. 6:13, 16). Luke 4:13. And, having finished all the temptation, Although the Lord was tempted by three temptations, Luke says that He ended all temptations, because the foundations of all temptations are these three: satiety, covetousness, and vanity. The Lord reflected the temptation of satiety with the words: “man cannot live by bread alone.” Before other temptations, this temptation was brought upon Him, just as it was upon Adam. For he could not stifle Adam with covetousness, since Adam, being alone, had no one to desire more against; nor with anger, for he had no one to be angry with; nor envy; but he stifled it with gluttony. The Lord repelled the temptation of covetousness by not falling or bowing before it. For when he sensually showed all the kingdoms in the ghost, the Lord did not submit to him. Some understood this about the kingdoms not of the senses, but of the imaginary, that he, for example, showed Him the kingdom of intemperance, the kingdom of envy and all sins in general, and said to Him, as it were: if You want to reign over all passions and have come for this purpose, to captivate those possessed by me, then fall and bow to me, and receive everyone over whom I reign. The Lord wants to reign and came for this purpose, but to reign not with sin, not without struggle, but after feat and victory. This is what some people thought. Anyone, let them understand it that way. The Lord also reflected the temptation of vanity with the words of Scripture. Lord, deliver us from these three heads of the serpent! the devil departed from Him before the time. 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. "Jesus Returned in Power of the Spirit". It seems to me that Jesus returned in a state of inspiration, for this means “in the power of the spirit.” Listen deeply to the Scripture, because then it is written: “in the power of the Spirit,” when He defeated the tempter and showed His power. The words: “departed from Him for a time” have the following meaning: the devil attacks the Lord with two feelings - pleasure and sorrow; With pleasure he attacked the Lord, for example, on the mountain; but retreated “from Him until the time,” that is, until the time of the Cross, for then he intended to attack Him with sorrow. 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. The Lord wished to reveal Himself to the Israelites, because He was anointed by God and the Father to save those living in the heavenly places. He arranges this wonderfully. Before others, He appears to the residents of Nazareth, with whom He was raised, in order to teach us that we must first do good to our own and teach them, and then pour out philanthropy on others. 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: When they handed Him the book, He unrolled it and found not what had come across by chance, but what He Himself desired. For do not think that He opened the book and by chance the place was found in which it was written about Him; it happened according to His will. What was written? Luke 4:18. (Isa.61:1) 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, “The Spirit of the Lord... anointed Me,” that is, consecrated Me, set Me up to preach the gospel to the “poor,” that is, to the pagans, who, having neither the law nor the prophets, were truly in great poverty. “The broken-hearted” were, perhaps, the Israelites, whose heart was first great and high and was the house of God, and later, when they began to serve idols and sin in various ways, their heart was broken and upset, becoming instead of the house of God a den of thieves. So, the Lord came to heal them, and to give the “captives liberation” and the “blind recovery of sight”, the pagans and the Israelites. For both these parts were both captives of Satan and blind. This can be understood about the dead as well. For they too, having been captive and crushed, through the Resurrection were freed from the power of hell. Luke 4:19. (Isa.61:2) preach the acceptable year of the Lord. He preached “the favorable year of the Lord.” What kind of favorable summer is this? Perhaps the future age, about which the Lord preached, saying: “And in that day you will not ask Me anything” (John 16:23), and again: “the time is coming... when the dead... will live” (John 5:25). But pleasant summer is also the time of the coming of the Lord in the flesh. Paul says about him: “now is the acceptable time... now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). 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. Luke 4:21. And He began to say to them: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Having read this, He said: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” obviously indicating within Himself to the listeners the One about whom this was written. 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?” The people, listening to Christ’s speech, were amazed at the “words of grace”; being amazed, he mocked Him, saying, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” Meanwhile, what prevented Him from being worthy of wonder and worship? Don't you see what works He does? Do you not hear the words He speaks? Even though you mock His father? About them, it could not be more true that we can say: “a stupid and foolish people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear” (Jer. 5:21). What does the Lord say to them? 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, you will say to Me:... do and... in your own homeland” the same miracles that you did in Capernaum. For this means: “doctor! heal yourself." This was a common saying among the Jews, which they addressed to sick doctors. Luke 4:24. And he said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.” But I tell you that I would do many signs among you, My compatriots, but I know a common passion that happens to everyone - to despise even the most excellent things, as soon as they cease to be rare, but become common and ordinary, and when everyone can freely enjoy them. For people always have the custom of caring for and marveling at the rare and strange, and despising the common and ordinary. Therefore, no prophet is valued in his own country, but if he comes from some other country, they are surprised at him. 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; So the Jewish widows did not accept Elijah, but the woman of Sarepta did (1 Kings 17:9-16). 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. And Elisha cleansed the foreigner from leprosy, because he showed faith in him (2 Kings 5:8-14), while his familiar compatriots did not believe him, and therefore were not cleansed. In the same way, you, My compatriots, consider Me worthy not of surprise, but of contempt, and therefore I do not perform signs. The inhabitants of Capernaum consider Me worthy of wonder, and I perform signs and am accepted by them. 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. Those in the synagogue who heard this were filled with rage, which is worthy of surprise, and thought to throw Him off the cliff. “But He, passing through the midst of them,” left, not because, however, He was running away from suffering, but because He was waiting for a certain time. For He came to suffer for us; and now, when His preaching was still beginning, He should not have given Himself up to death, but then die when He had taught enough. From this it is clear that when He was crucified, He was not crucified against His will, but voluntarily gave Himself up to death. Know that the homeland of the prophets is the Jewish synagogue, where they are in disgrace. The prophets were not accepted by her, but we, strangers, accepted them. For the widow, that is, the church of the pagans, received Elijah, that is, the prophetic word, when there was a spiritual famine in Judea, that is, a hunger for “hearing the words of God” (Am. 8:11). The prophet says about this widow: “She who is abandoned has many more children than she who has a husband” (Is. 54:1), and in another place: “Even a barren woman gives birth seven times, but she who has many children faints” (1 Sam. 2:5). 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. 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 do you care about 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. Since neither reason nor teaching attracts unbelievers to faith, the Lord adds miracles as the most effective means. So, he works miracles in Capernaum, for the inhabitants of this city were the most unfaithful and needed many miracles for faith. So, when He taught enough, and, moreover, as having authority (for He did not say: “This is what the Lord says,” but: “I say to you,” because He was not one of the prophets, but the true Son of God), after this He adds a miracle, namely: He heals the one tormented by a demon. The demon first reveals enmity so that his testimony is more reliable, then he brings evidence: “I know You who You are, the Holy One of God.” First he reproaches Him: why did you come here to destroy us? Then he caresses Him, thinking that the Lord, carried away by the caress, will leave him. But the Lord, teaching not to use the testimony and representation from the demon, says: “Be silent and come out of him.” However, he allows the demon to overthrow a person, so that those present would know that he truly has a demon, to which the words belonged, although the weapon was the person’s tongue. And they all spoke to each other, amazed at what had happened and saying: What is this word, that is, what is this command with which He commands: come out of him and be silent? Know that even today many have demons, namely those who fulfill the wishes of demons; for example, whoever is angry has the demon of anger. But when Jesus comes to the synagogue, that is, when the mind is concentrated and not scattered, then he will say to the demon of anger, hitherto indomitable: “shut up”; and he will immediately come out of the man, throwing him into the middle. Know what it means to throw yourself into the middle: a person should neither be completely angry and irritable, for this is characteristic of animals, nor completely angry, for this is characteristic of the insensitive, but follow the middle path and have anger against malice. So, when the evil spirit throws someone into the middle, it leaves him. 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. The Lord of all fed on the hospitality of the disciples, just as now He is received by Peter and heals his mother-in-law, so as to teach you not to refuse the favor of the poor. Not only heals her of her illness, but gives her good health and strength for service. If we accept Him, He will quench our fever, the fever of anger and lust, and will raise us up so that we will be able to serve Him, that is, to do what is pleasing to Him. 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. Look, I ask you, at the faith of the people, how “when the sun went down” they brought the sick and were not held back by time. 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. He does not allow demons to speak like this because he does not need praise from the unclean, for “praise is unpleasant in the mouth of a sinner” (Sir. 15:9), and because he does not want to kindle envy in the Jews when he is praised by everyone. 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 are looking for Him, although He has gone into an empty place, and they are holding Him back. But He does not limit itself to one place, but says that I must preach “the Kingdom of God...to other cities.” Therefore, we should not be lazy, not be content with one place of imprisonment, but go everywhere in order to benefit someone.