Lk 4:14-22
14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. 15He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.
16He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read 17and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: 18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,/ because he has anointed me/ to bring glad tidings to the poor./ He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives/ and recovery of sight to the blind,/ to let the oppressed go free,/ 19and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”
20Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. 21He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”
SYNAGOGUE TEACHING: “Synagogue” comes from the Greek synagogue which means “assembly” and renders the Hebrew qahal. It came to mean a local gathering of Jews, and then the building where the Jews would congregate. Synagogues became the centers of both religious and communal life of the Jewish people probably from the time of the exile, when there was no temple, and especially after the destruction of the second temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
The synagogue was headed by an archon or “leader” who was responsible for keeping the congregation faithful to the Torah. Jairus, whose daughter Jesus healed, was head of a synagogue (Lk 8:49). The hazzan was responsible for discipline (like flogging offenders before the elders) and for teaching children. Synagogue services included prayers and the recitation of the Shema (“Hear O Israel”—Dt 6:4-9) and the reading of excerpts from the scroll of the Torah and of the Prophets. Any male could be called upon to pray or to read the portions of the Torah and of the Prophets and to give the sermon. In the Gospel, Jesus, who has returned to Nazareth, is given the task.
Unlike Mark and Matthew who situate Jesus’ homecoming
in the latter part of his ministry (Mk 6:1-6; Mt 13:54-58), Luke transposes it to the beginning. Jesus’ sermon in the synagogue is programmatic of his entire ministry. Jesus’ teaching is the fulfillment not only of the prophecy of Isaiah but of the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures. He comes as the fulfillment of the story and hopes of God’s people.