Luke 4:28

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, AND ALL THEY IN THE SYNAGOGUE, WHEN THEY HEARD THESE THINGS, WERE FILLED WITH WRATH - maddened at the severity with which it reflected upon them, and at those allusions to the pagan which brought such a storm of violence afterward on His apostle at Jerusalem (Acts 22:21)....

28._Were filled with wrath _They perceived that the object of those two examples, which Christ had produced, was to show, that the grace of God would be removed from them to others: (327) and therefore they considered that he had spoken to their dishonor. But, instead of having their consciences stung to the quick, and seeking a remedy for their vices by correcting them, they are only driven to madness. Thus ungodly men not only resist, with obstinacy, the judgments of God, but rise into cruelty against his servants. Hence it is evident, how forcible are the reproofs which proceed from the Spirit of God: for the minds of those who would willingly evade them, (328) are inflamed with rage. Again, when we see that the minds of men are so envenomed, that they become mad against God, whenever they are treated with some degree of roughness, we ought to implore the Spirit of meekne

14-30 Christ taught in their synagogues, their places of public worship, where they met to read, expound, and apply the word, to pray and praise. All the gifts and graces of the Spirit were upon him and on him, without measure. By Christ, sinners may be loosed from the bonds of guilt, and by his Spirit and grace from the bondage of corruption. He came by the word of his gospel, to bring light to those that sat in the dark, and by the power of his grace, to give sight to those that were blind. And he preached the acceptable year of the Lord. Let sinners attend to the Saviour's invitation when liberty is thus proclaimed. Christ's name was Wonderful; in nothing was he more so than in the word of his grace, and the power that went along with it. We may well wonder that he should speak such words of grace to such graceless wretches as mankind. Some prejudice often furnishes an objection agai...

Verse 28. _WERE FILLED WITH WRATH_] They seem to have drawn the following conclusion from what our Lord spoke: "The _Gentiles_ are more precious in the sight of God than the _Jews_; and to them his miracles of mercy and kindness shall be principally confined." This was pretty near the truth, as the event proved. Those who profit not by the light of God, while it is among them, shall have their candle extinguished. The kingdom of God was taken from the _Jews_, and given to the _Gentiles_; not because the Gentiles were _better_ than they were, but because, 1st. The Jews had _forfeited_ their privileges; and 2dly. Because Christ saw that the Gentiles would bring forth the _fruits_ of the kingdom....

FILLED WITH WRATH - They were enraged, probably, for the following reasons: * They saw that the cases applied to themselves, because they would not receive the miraculous evidences of his mission. * That he would direct his attention to others, and not to them. * That the “Gentiles” were objects of compassion with God, and that God often showed more favor to a “single” Gentile than to multitudes of Jews in the same circumstances. * That they might be “worse” than the Gentiles. And, * That it was a part of his design to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and not confine his labors to them only. On these accounts their favor was soon turned to wrath, and the whole transaction shows us: * That popular applause is of little value. * That the slightest circumstances may soon turn the warmest professed friendship to hatred. And, * That people are e

EXPOSITION LUKE 4:1 THE TEMPTATION. The consecration of our Lord in his baptism was immediately followed by what is known as his temptation. It is, perhaps, the most mysterious and least understood of any of the scenes of the public ministry related by the evangelists. It is related at some length by SS. Matthew and Luke, with very slight difference of detail, the principal one being the order in which the three great temptations occurred. In St. Mark the notice of this strange episode in the life is very short, but harmonizes perfectly with the longer accounts of SS. Matthew and Luke. St John omits it altogether; first, because, with the earlier written Gospels before him, he was aware that the Church of his Master already possessed ample details of the occurrence; and secondly, the

AND ALL THEY IN THE SYNAGOGUE,.... The ruler and minister, and the whole multitude of the common people that were met together there for worship; and who before were amazed at his eloquence, and the gracefulness of his delivery; and could not but approve of his ministry, though they could not account for it, how he should come by his qualifications for it: WHEN THEY HEARD THESE THINGS; these two instances of Elijah and Elisha, the one supplying the wants of a Sidonian woman, and the other healing a Syrian leper, when no notice were taken by them of poor widows and lepers in Israel: WERE FILLED WITH WRATH; for by these instances they perceived, that they were compared to the Israelites in the times of wicked Ahab and Jezebel; and that no miracles were to be wrought among them, or benefits conferred on them, though they were his townsmen; yea, that the Gentiles were preferred unto them:...

Luke 4:14. _And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee:_ Ah, dear brethren, if our Lord Jesus needed «the power of the Spirit», how much more do you and I need it! We have no power of our own, but he was the Son of God. He was a divine Teacher, and yet, when he went to his work, it was «in the power of the Spirit.» Tarry, brother, till you have that power; it is of no use for you to go without it. Luke 4:14. _And there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all._ There was a wondrous power about his teaching: «Never man spake like this man.» Perhaps his hearers did not understand what the power was; but they glorified the new Teacher who had come into their midst....

III. THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE -- CHAPTER 4:14-9:50 CHAPTER 4:14-44 _ 1. In the Synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4:14)_ 2. Unbelief and Rejection of Christ. (Luke 4:22) 3. A Demon Cast Out in Capernaum (Luke 4:33) 4. Peter's Wife's Mother Healed; Many Healed. (Luke 4:38 .) Luke 4:14 And now the description of the ministry of the Son of Man begins. The beginning is in His own city. How all written here is again in a very human manner. He had been brought up in that city and as His custom was “He went into the synagogue,” and as He had

JESUS IN NAZARETH (Mark 1:14 f.*, Matthew 4:12 *, Mark 6:1 *, Matthew 13:53 *). Lk. brings Jesus to Galilee, but, anxious to make the mission begin in His own town, departs from Mk.'s order (though it leads him into difficulty, see Luke 4:23), and puts the rejection at Nazareth (Mark 6) at the beginning of the ministry. The episode is prophetic of the later and larger rejection. And the activity which Jesus is said to have displayed outside Nazareth (Luke 4:23) is prophetic of the spread of