Jesus Begins His Teaching Ministry

Today we return to our study of Luke’s gospel, picking up in chapter 4. At this point, our Lord has just successfully resisted Satan’s temptations, and Luke is now ready to tell us about the beginning of Jesus’ teaching ministry.

In the first two verses of today’s passage, we find a summary statement of Christ’s initial work of public instruction. Luke explains that Jesus returned from the wilderness to Galilee, in the northern portion of the promised land. He taught in the synagogues and became known throughout the region, being glorified by all (vv. 14–15). As we will see, this is a general overview of things, for Jesus will come to be rejected by some in Galilee, most particularly many of the residents of Nazareth, the town where He grew up (Luke 4:16–30; see Luke 2:39–40). Note that Luke 4:14–15 says that our Savior came to Galilee and was teaching “in the power of the Spirit.” The same Holy Spirit who had come upon Jesus in His baptism to anoint Him for His messianic vocation and then led Him into the wilderness to be tempted continued to be with Him in His teaching (see Luke 3:21–22; 4:1–2). According to His humanity, Jesus lived His entire life and conducted His full ministry in submission to the Holy Spirit, trusting in His guidance and power, leaving us a model of what it means to walk by the Spirit (see Gal. 5:16).

Jesus conducted the initial phase of His teaching ministry in the synagogues. The synagogue system likely originated during the Babylonian exile when the temple had been destroyed and there was no place for God’s people to gather for worship and teaching (see 2 Kings 25:1–21). A synagogue was a gathering of Jewish men for prayer and instruction in God’s Word, and often they met in a room in a synagogue member’s private home, though larger towns had resources to construct dedicated synagogue buildings. On the Sabbath, the synagogue members would gather for worship, and any of the men could give an exhortation from God’s Word. As a male Jew, Jesus had the right to teach during the synagogue service, and after His ascension, the Apostles often took the opportunity to teach in the synagogues, where they would tell people that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament (e.g., see Acts 13:1–5).

We end our study today in the synagogue in Nazareth, with Jesus about to explain an Isaianic text (Luke 4:16–17). Next week, we will see how His teaching on Isaiah explains His own work.