The Gospel of Luke
The Public Presentation of Jesus: Lk 4,14-5,11
The first point we need to pick up is that there is a bracket round the chapter: verses 15 and 44 both speak of Jesus in the synagogue, where he is teaching in verse 14 and preaching in verse 44.
Following his temptation, the evangelist brings Jesus back to Galilee (4,14-15) and to his home village Nazareth and its synagogue (4,16). This leads into the opening speech of Jesus' ministry and its consequences (4,17-30).
Jesus then moves on to Capernaum (4,31). A series of healings follow at the end of the chapter, verses 31-44. These episodes are parallel with a similar presentation in the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark (Mk 1,21-35, though we will have to take note of the differences). This concludes with the summary of verses 43-44 and a new beginning in 5,1 ("Once").
The chapter is thus clearly divided into two parts by the two villages, Nazareth (4,16) and Capernaum (4,31). This means that taking it as a presentation of Jesus by word and deed is not satisfactory because there are different people present in each half. When we look at it more closely, we will see the distinctive purpose of the Nazareth sermon.
What is significant about the second part of chapter 4 is that Jesus has a period of ministry before calling any disciples - whereas in Mark, calling disciples is the first thing Jesus does (Mk 1,16-20). When we read the story of their call in chapter 5 as the conclusion to this section (5,1-11) we will see that the disciples are responding to Jesus' call having already heard his word (4,31) and having seen his healings, especially that of Simon's mother in law (4,38).
In modern terms, we could say the disciples have received catechesis before they make their commitment.
The consequences of reading this call of the disciples as a conclusion to the beginning of the ministry in chapter 4 also affects how we read what follows. This we will be exploring this further when we look at what happens after the call with the episodes from 5,12 up to 6,11.
We can now return to the main page and consider our reading plan for the chapter.