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.
Read Chapter 4
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Scripture speaks of Jesus himself as God and man, perfect in both natures. It speaks of the Father and the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit is shown as Christ’s partner when he descends in bodily shape as a dove on Christ, when the Son of God was baptized in the river, and when the Father spoke from heaven. So what greater testimony to us who are weak than that Christ signified with his own voice that he himself spoke by the prophets? Exposition on the Gospel of Luke
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 ...
These words having been read to the assembled people, all eyes focused on Jesus, wondering perhaps how he could read without having been taught. The Israelites used to say that the prophecies concerning Christ were fulfilled, either in the persons of some of their more glorious kings or at least in the holy prophets. They did not correctly understand what was written about him, so they missed the true direction and traveled down another path. He carefully guards against error by saying, “This day is this prophecy fulfilled in your ears,” that they might not again misinterpret the present prophecy. He expressly set himself before them in these words, as the person spoken of in the prophecy. It was he who preached the kingdom of heaven to the heathen. They were poor, having nothing—not God, not law, not prophets. Rather, he preached it to all who were without spiritual riches. He set the captives free; having overthrown the apostate tyrant Satan, he shed the divine and spiritual light on...
What does preaching the acceptable year of the Lord mean? It signifies the joyful tidings of his own advent, that the time of the Lord—yes, the Son—had arrived. For that was the acceptable year in which Christ was crucified on our behalf, because we then were made acceptable to God the Father as the fruit borne by him. That is why the Lord said, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself.” Truly he returned to life the third day, having trampled on the power of death. After that resurrection he said to his disciples, “All power has been given to me.” That too is in every respect an acceptable year. In it we were received into his family and were admitted to him, having washed away sin by holy baptism, and been made partakers of his divine nature by the communion of the Holy Spirit. That too is an acceptable year, in which he manifested his glory by inexpressible miracles. Commentary on Luke, Homily
Jesus plainly shows by these words that he took upon himself both the very name of Christ and its reality for our sakes. He humbled himself and submitted to the emptying of his glory for our sakes. “For the Spirit,” he says, “which by nature is in me by the sameness of our substance and deity, also descended upon me from outside of me. In the Jordan it came upon me in the form of a dove, not because it was not in me but in order to anoint me.” Why did he choose to be anointed? Because an ancient denunciation made us destitute of the Spirit. It said, “My Spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh.” Commentary on Luke, Homily
Now it was necessary that he should manifest himself to the Israelites and that the mystery of his incarnation should now shine forth to those who did not know him. Now that God the Father had anointed him to save the world, he very wisely orders this also [that his fame should now spread widely]. This favor he grants first to the people of Nazareth, because, humanly speaking, he had grown up among them. Having entered the synagogue, therefore, he takes the book to read. Having opened it, he selects a passage in the Prophets which declares the mystery concerning him. By these words he himself tells us very clearly by the voice of the prophet that he would both be made man and come to save the world. For we affirm that the Son was anointed in no other way than by having become like us according to the flesh and taking our nature. Being at once God and man, he both gives the Spirit to the creation in his divine nature and receives it from God the Father in his human nature. It is he who ...
Our Savior, after reading this prophecy through in the synagogue one day to a multitude of Jews, shut the book and said, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” He began his own teaching from that point. He began to preach the gospel to the poor, putting in the forefront of his blessings: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Yes, he proclaimed forgiveness to those who were hampered by evil spirits and bound for a long time like slaves by demons. He invited all to be free and to escape from the bonds of sin, when he said, “Come to me, all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.” To the blind he gave sight, giving the power of seeing to those whose bodily vision was destroyed. He showered those in ancient times who were blind in their minds to the truth with the vision of the light of true religion. The prophecy before us shows it to be essential that Christ himself should be the originator and leader of the gospel activ...
But to Christ the title Nazarene was destined to become a suitable one, from the hiding-place of His infancy, for which He went down and dwelt at Nazareth,
