And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read.
All Commentaries on Luke 4:16 Go To Luke 4
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And He came to Nazareth. Note here that while Christ is said, in v14 , to have gone into Galilee, He is not said to have entered Nazareth which is situated there, as S. Matthew ( Matthew 4:13) has it, but Capernaum, and there to have done the things which S. Matthew relates in iv. to xiii, all of which S. Luke passes over here, and then He is said to have come to Nazareth. S. Luke wished at the very outset to state the reason why Christ would not teach in Nazareth, namely, that He was despised by His fellow-townsmen as being the son of a carpenter. And though this only happened subsequently, yet Christ foresaw that it would be the case, and therefore turned aside from Nazareth and went to Capernaum, which He made the seat of His ministry, as S. Matthew relates in ( Matthew 4:13).
And stood up for to read. It was (and still is) the custom among the Jews that each one should read the Hebrew books of Holy Scripture in the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, both that he might learn the law of God from it, and also that he might be stirred up to the worship, love, and service of God. Moreover, it was the part of the Rabbin and the teachers, such as Jesus was, to read the Holy Scripture publicly, to interpret it, to preach, and to teach.
