Commentary on Luke4

1Chapter 4

2[Luke 4:1] -- Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days. This, immediately after the baptism of the Lord, Matthew and Mark designate. One of them, after describing His baptism, immediately subjoined: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil (Matthew IV). The other wrote thus: And immediately the Spirit drove him into the desert, and he was there for forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan (Mark I). Indeed, lest anyone should doubt by which spirit he was led or driven into the desert, Luke prudently wrote first that Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and then added, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, so that nothing might be thought to have prevailed against Him from an unclean spirit, who, full of the Holy Spirit, walked as He willed and did what He willed. For even later, where it is clearly stated that He was taken up or set up on high by the devil, it reflects not on His weakness, but on the enemy's arrogance who thinks to impose necessity on the Savior's will. Therefore, Jesus is not driven into the desert by the power of any evil spirit, but by the will of His own good Spirit, He enters the place of combat, certain of victory, to defeat the adversary. Here He also rightly shows us the order of virtuous living, so that after receiving in baptism the remission of sins and the grace of the Holy Spirit, we may gird ourselves more tightly against new snares of the ancient enemy, withdraw our mind from the world, and, like the manna in the desert, learn to hunger only for the joys of eternal life.

3[Luke 4:2] -- And he ate nothing during those days, and when they were ended, he was hungry. The forty-day fast has authority both in the old books from the fast of Moses and Elijah, and from the Gospel, because the Lord fasted for the same number of days, demonstrating that the Gospel does not dissent from the law and the prophets. For the law is perceived in the person of Moses, and the prophets in the person of Elijah. Among them, he appeared gloriously on the mountain, so that it might more clearly stand out what the Apostle says about him: "Having a witness from the law and the prophets" (Romans 3). But in which part of the year is it more fitting that the observance of Lent should be established, if not adjacent and contiguous to the Lord’s Passion, because in it is signified this laborious life, which requires continence, to fast from the friendship of this world. Otherwise: the Lord fasted while he was tempted before death, still needing food. However, he ate and drank after the resurrection, already not needing food. For here he was showing our labor in himself, but there his consolation in us, defining both in forty days. For this number seems to signify the course of this age, in those who are called by grace, to him who did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5). For there are ten commandments of the law, now diffused by the grace of Christ throughout the world, and the world is fourfold, and ten times four makes forty. Because those redeemed by the Lord, he has gathered from the regions. From the East, and the West, and the North, and the sea. Thus fasting for forty days before the death of the flesh, as if he were crying out: Abstain from the desires of this world (1 Peter 2). But eating and drinking for forty days after the resurrection of the flesh, as if he were crying out: Behold, I am with you until the end of the age (Matthew 28). Fasting is indeed in the tribulation of struggle, because he who is in the contest abstains from everything. But food is in the hope of peace, which will not be perfect until our body, whose redemption we await, puts on immortality, which we do not yet attain by glory, but are nourished by hope. The Apostle shows that we engage in both together, saying: Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation (Romans 12). As if that were in food, this in fasting. For simultaneously, as we tread the Lord’s way, we fast from the vanity of the present age, and are refreshed by the promise of the future, not setting our hearts here, but feeding our hearts above. But the fact that the Lord was hungry after the days of fasting were ended, whereas nothing of the sort is written of Moses or Elijah when they fasted, happened so that he, fearing the temptation, would not flee away sad, whom he saw proclaimed with so many heavenly signs, and equal to the most excellent men in abstaining. For the humble God-man was hungry, so that he might not reveal to the enemy the sublime man-God.

4[Luke 4:3] -- The devil said to him: If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. The ancient enemy recognized that the redeemer of the human race had come into the world, his conqueror, and thus said through a possessed man: What have we to do with you, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? (Matt. VIII). However, when he first saw Him as vulnerable, observed Him able to endure mortal things due to His humanity, everything he suspected about His divinity came into doubt out of the pride of his arrogance. For nothing wise, except for the proud, doubted that He was God when he saw Him humble. Therefore, he turned to the means of temptations. But not like us who are pure humans, often shaken by attacking temptation, was the soul of our Redeemer troubled by the necessity of temptation. For our enemy, even if he was permitted to take Him to a high mountain, even if he proclaimed he would give Him the kingdoms of the world, even if he showed stones that could be turned into bread, still he could not shake the mind of the Mediator between God and men with temptation. For He graciously endured all these things outwardly, such that His mind inwardly, remaining attached to His divinity, remained unshaken. Even when it is said that He was troubled in spirit and groaned, He Himself divinely arranged how much He would be troubled humanly.

5[Luke 4:4] -- And Jesus answered him: It is written that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. The Lord replied in this way because it was his purpose to conquer the devil with humility, not with power. It should also be noted that the devil would not have had the occasion to tempt unless the Lord had begun to fast. According to that: Son, when you come to serve God, prepare your soul for temptation (Ecclesiasticus 2). But also, the very response of the Savior indicates that it was a man who was tempted: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Therefore, if anyone does not feed on the word of God, he does not live. Otherwise: Our enemy, while we are still placed in this life, the more he sees us rebelling against him, the more he strives to conquer us. For he neglects to strike those whom he feels he possesses in quiet right. Against us, however, he is incited all the more violently, because he is driven out of our hearts as if from the right of his own dwelling. For the Lord figured this in Himself under a certain dispensation, who did not allow the devil to tempt Him except after baptism, to indicate to us a certain sign of the future course of life, that His members would bear the sharper snares of temptations once they had progressed to God.

6[Luke 4:5] -- And the devil led him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. When God, made man, is said to be led by the devil, the mind recoils, human ears shudder to hear this. Yet we recognize these things are not incredible, if we consider other deeds in him. Certainly the devil is the head of all the wicked, and all the wicked are members of this head. Therefore, what wonder if he allowed himself to be led by him to a mountain, who also endured being crucified by his members? It is not unworthy of our Redeemer, who willed to be tempted, having come to be killed. For it was just that he should overcome our temptations with his own temptations, just as he came to conquer our death with his death. But indeed, worldly and temporal things are shown in a moment of time. For it does not so much indicate the speed of sight, as it expresses the fragility of fleeting power. For in a moment all these things pass away, and often the honor of the world departs before it arrives. For what can be long-lasting in the world, when even the ages themselves are not long-lasting?

7[Luke 4:6] -- And he said: I will give you all this power and their glory, for they have been delivered to me, and I give them to whom I will. Therefore, if you will fall down and worship before me, all will be yours. Arrogant and proud, he even speaks this out of boastfulness, not that he holds power over the whole world, such that the devil could give all kingdoms, since we know that many holy men were made kings by God. He says, if you will fall down and worship before me. Therefore, he who will worship the devil has already fallen.

8[Luke 4:8] -- And Jesus answered him, saying: It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. The devil said to the Savior: If thou wilt fall down and worship me, but hears in return that he ought rather to worship Him, the Lord and his God. Perhaps someone might ask how it agrees that here it is instructed that the Lord alone is to be served, with the Apostle’s word which says: But by love serve one another (Galatians V). But this is easily resolved by considering the origin of the Greek language from which the Scripture is translated, in which servitude is named in two ways with different meanings. It is called λατρεία, and it is called δουλεία. However, dulia is understood as common servitude, that is, whether offered to God or to anyone in the order of nature. From which also, servant, that is, δοῦλος, takes its name in Greek. Latria, however, is called that servitude which is due only to the worship of divinity, and is not to be shared by any creature. Hence also idolaters are named who spend vows, prayers, and sacrifices which were owed to God alone, upon idols. Therefore, we are commanded to serve one another by love, which is in Greek δουλεύειν. We are commanded to serve only God, which is in Greek λατρεύειν. Hence it is said: And Him only shalt thou serve, which is in Greek λατρεύσεις. And again: For we are the circumcision, serving the Spirit of God (Philippi. III), which is in Greek λατρεύοντες.

9[Luke 4:9] -- And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. So that whom neither gluttony nor avarice could overcome, he might tempt with vain glory, if perhaps by boasting of his victory he might cast him down.

10[Luke 4:9] -- And he said to him: If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence. In all temptations, the devil aims to understand if he is the Son of God, but the Lord so moderates his answer that he leaves him uncertain. Cast thyself down. The voice of the devil, by which he always desires all to fall downwards. Cast thyself, he says: he can persuade, but he cannot precipitate.

11[Luke 4:10-11] -- For it is written that he has commanded his angels concerning you, to keep you, and that they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. We read this in the ninetieth Psalm. Indeed, the prophecy there is not about Christ, but about a holy person. Therefore, the devil interprets the Scriptures wrongly. Certainly, if he had truly known it was written about the Savior, he should have quoted what follows in the same Psalm against himself: “You will tread on the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon” (Psalm XC). He speaks of the help of angels as if to a weak person, but he is silent about the trampling of himself, like a trickster.

12[Luke 4:12] -- And Jesus answering said to him: It is said: You shall not tempt the Lord your God. The devil's false arrows from the Scriptures, he breaks with the true shields of the Scriptures. And it is to be noted that he brought forth necessary testimonies only from Deuteronomy, to show the sacraments of the second law. You shall not tempt, he says, the Lord your God. For it was suggested to him as if to a man, that he should test by some sign how great he was, that is, how much he could do with God. This is done wrongly, when it is done. For it pertains to sound doctrine, when a man has something to do, not to tempt the Lord his God. For the Savior himself could indeed protect his disciples, to whom he said: If they persecute you in one city, flee to another (Matt. X). He provided an example of this beforehand. For though he had the power to lay down his life, and would not lay it down except when he wanted, yet as an infant he fled to Egypt with his parents carrying him. And he went up to the feast not openly, but secretly, while at other times he spoke openly to the angry Jews and to those listening with the most hostile intention, who yet were unable to lay hands on him because his hour had not yet come. So he who, by teaching and rebuking openly, and yet not allowing the rage of his enemies to have any effect on him, demonstrated the power of God, but by fleeing and hiding, he also taught the weakness of man, so that man should not dare to tempt God, when he has something to do to escape what must be avoided.

13[Luke 4:13] -- And when all temptation was finished, the devil departed from him for a time. You see, the devil himself is not persistent in effort, but usually yields to virtue. And although he never ceases to envy, he fears to persist, because he often flees from being triumphed over. Therefore, hearing the name of God, he departed (he says) for a time. Later, he came not to tempt, but to openly fight. Although often the ancient enemy, after he has inflicted the struggle of temptations on our mind, retreats temporarily from his own contest, not to end the malice he has inflicted, but so that, returning suddenly, he may burst in more easily and unexpectedly on hearts made secure through peace. It should be noted, however, that after the three deceptions of the tempter were exposed, he says that all temptation was finished. Because indeed, in these are embraced the origins and sources of all vices. With John attesting who said: For all that is in the world, is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2). And in the gospel parable, only three affairs of the reprobate exclude them from the feasts of eternal life. The first (he says) said: I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. The desire for a wife, like gluttony, concerns the lust of the flesh. The purchase of a villa, which is not devoid of greed, pertains to the pride of life. The trial of five yokes, that is, curiosity about physical things, which is vain glory, is related to the lust of the eyes. For curiosity prevails mostly through the eyes, and the Lord Himself is indeed tempted face to face as if by a stronger one. But we, having received the grace of the Spirit in baptism, enter the desert of virtues, when we undertake the Lenten fast, that is, determining to abstain from worldly enticements throughout our life, we are either tempted by hidden snares or sometimes even struck closer. He who, persuading, says: You are a strong man, eat and drink, and remain the same, should be guarded against, lest he unknowingly offers us the serpent’s old poison. And it must be said: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word of God. Indeed, many who have overcome the lust of the flesh are immediately tempted by greed and are often also overcome, so much so that they do not fear to worship the devil for the gifts offered. When many praise their continence, and even greater persons honor them, giving gifts, it happens that the victors over pleasures are conquered by love of money, and with growing madness over time, they not only do not refrain from consorting with the demon-filled rich whom they recognize through blatant crimes, but also bow their heads in worship and embrace them. Hence the Apostle says that greed is idolatry. If, following the Savior's example, they triumph over this by worshiping the Lord, their God, and serving Him alone for eternal joys, the third pestilence of vain glory will come, which exalts the victors over the previous vices because of their own strength, presuming that those placed on the height of virtues can no longer fall. And this is clearly to tempt God with curious eyes, boasting of one's merits. Against this, the Lord, increasing the disciples’ faith, said: When you have done all that is commanded you, say: We are unworthy servants; we have done what we ought to do (Luke XVII). For when He elsewhere commanded that we do not perform our righteousness before men, He added only fasting, almsgiving, and prayer in the same definition, opposing three weapons of defense against the triple weapon of the enemy: that fasting may drive away the lust of the flesh, almsgiving may drive away greed, and prayers may drive away the boast of merits. It is sufficient to have said these things about the principles of the gospel dispensation in one book; however, considering both our own peace and the benefit of the readers, let us look at the following deeds or words of the Savior more attentively from another beginning. For, as Augustine says, in some way the reader’s concentration is refreshed at the end of a book, like the traveler’s strength at a hostel.

14BOOK TWO. The ecclesiastical history relates that the most blessed Apostle John, up until almost the last moment of his life, preached the Gospel without any written indicators. But when, it says, knowledge of the three Gospels came to him, he is said to have approved the faith and truth of what was said, yet saw that some things were lacking, especially those that the Lord had done at the beginning of His preaching. For it is certain that in the first three Evangelists these seem to contain only those things which were done in that year when John the Baptist was either imprisoned or punished. Indeed, if you observe, immediately at the beginning of their narratives, after Matthew reports about the forty days of fasting and His temptation, he immediately added, saying: "But after John was delivered up, Jesus withdrew into Galilee" (Matthew 4:12). Similarly, Mark says: "After John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee" (Mark 1:14). And even Luke, before he begins to report any of Jesus' actions, says that Herod added this to all his other evils and shut John up in prison (Luke 3:20). Because, I say, these things seemed omitted by them, the Apostle John is said to have been asked to describe those things omitted before John's imprisonment by the Savior. And thus he says in the Gospel: "Jesus did this beginning of signs" (John 2:11). And again in another place indicating it, he says: "For John had not yet been cast into prison" (John 3:24). And it is clear that he describes those things that were done by Jesus before John was handed over. With the sayings of this recalled history, we took care to provide the prologue of this second book of ours, that is, to Luke, so that none of the readers would think that the things to be expounded in order were done immediately after the eleven days of fasting, but rather would understand that they followed after some miracles performed by the Lord, either in Judea or in Galilee.

15[Luke 4:14] -- And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding region. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. The power of the Spirit here means the signs of miracles. As also elsewhere, the Jews marveled. "Whence," they say, "does this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?" (Matt. XIII). That is, they refer wisdom to teaching, and power to deeds. Both are equally combined in this passage, as it declares that Jesus, having entered in the power of the Spirit, also taught in their synagogues. Hence, deservedly, he was magnified by those present and his fame spread through the absent ones. This could not happen unless by the evidence of his deeds or words manifest to those present. But anyone searching for the time and order of these events will find it in the Gospel of John, as has been mentioned. Setting aside other details, I will quote one testimony: "When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast" (John IV). It should be noted that first Jesus demonstrated the power of the Spirit and later dispensed the grace of doctrine; he recalls that first fame spread because of the miracles, and then the teaching was magnified. According to the order briefly commended in the Acts of the Apostles: "Jesus began to do and teach" (Acts I). For he first began to do, and then to teach, lest any teacher should presume to command his hearers things which he himself has not yet accomplished.

16[Luke 4:16] -- And He came to Nazareth, where He was brought up, and, according to His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Synagogue, in Greek, means congregation in Latin, which term was used to mean not only the assembly of many people, but also the house where the Jews gathered to hear or speak the word of God. Hence the Lord said to the high priest Annas: I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. Just as we also call the churches of the faithful both places and choirs. However, there is a difference between synagogue, which means congregation, and church, which means convocation, in that the people of the Old Testament were known by both terms, but the people of the New Testament are called only church. For, evidently, even animals and inanimate things can be gathered into one, but only those using reason can be called together. Therefore, it seemed proper to the apostolic writers and teachers that the people of the new grace, endowed with greater dignity, be called into the unity of the faith, rather than gathered, namely, to be referred to as the Church, and not the Synagogue. They would gather on the Sabbath in the synagogues, so that, as the Lord commanded: Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46), they would set aside worldly affairs and rest with a quiet heart to meditate on the teachings of the law. To this day, the indication of this devotion endures in the Church, which in some places, in memory of the ancient religion, is accustomed to recite on the Sabbath the song of Deuteronomy in which is contained the entire state of the ancient people, what they deserved when God was offended, and what when He was appeased. Otherwise, it would be out of order to recite the last song of Moses on the earlier days of the week after the sayings of the prophets. Therefore, Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day to complete the rite of the Mosaic law with the fullness of heavenly grace.

17[Luke 4:17] -- And he stood up to read, and the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Indeed, it is a sign of the most humble dispensation, by which God had come among men to serve, not to be served, that he did not disdain to take up the office of the reader. But with a higher providence, Luke began the account of the Lord’s deeds with the reading and explanation of the prophet, because all the Scriptures of prophecy reaching up to him were to be revealed through him to us, and in him were to be fulfilled. Wherefore he also explains both of these more clearly at the end of his Gospel, when, after first setting down the saying of the Savior: “For it is necessary that all things written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms about me be fulfilled” (Luke 24); then he immediately added: “Then he opened their understanding, so that they might understand the Scriptures” (ibid.). Therefore, Jesus stood up to read, in order to correct those whom he had not converted by the new operation of signs, with the testimony of prophetic reading.

18[Luke 4:17] -- And as he unrolled the book, he found the place where it was written. Beautifully does he receive the closed book of the prophet, but he reads it unrolled, for the mystery of his Incarnation was foretold by the voice of the prophets, and he first undertook to exhibit it and afterward opened it to be understood by mortals.

19[Luke 4:18] -- The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, etc. Speaking previously about the calling of the Gentiles and the confirmation of the Church through the prophet, the Savior, among other things, said: I am the Lord, in its time I will do this swiftly (Isaiah 60), and immediately he added this, which has been read here: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Not because the Lord God has a Lord God, but because, according to the dispensation of the assumed flesh, He says those things which are humble. To whom the Psalmist had already said: You loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions (Psalm 45). For when companions are mentioned, understand it to mean the nature of the flesh, by which God has us as companions of His substance. And because it was a spiritual anointing, and by no means of a human body, as it was with the priests of the Jews, therefore He is remembered as having been anointed above His companions, that is, other saints. This anointing was fulfilled at that time when He was baptized in the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove and remained on Him. Therefore, He was anointed with the oil of the spirit and heavenly power, so that He might enrich the poverty of human condition with the treasure of the eternal resurrection, remove the captivity of the mind, and enlighten the blindness of souls. Blessed are the poor, he says, because yours is the kingdom of God (Luke 6). And again: If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8). And again: Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (ibid.).

20[Luke 4:18] -- Release the broken into forgiveness. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of retribution. The sacrifice, he says, to God, is a broken spirit; a contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 50). And therefore he calls himself sent or anointed to heal the broken or contrite of heart; as also the Psalmist says of him: He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147). Or certainly to release the broken into forgiveness, to relieve those who had been oppressed by the heavy and unbearable weight of the law, and to admit them into the remission of spiritual grace. And this is to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Then indeed the true year of Jubilee, that is, the year of liberty, was at hand, the time, namely, of the Church, which journeyed as a pilgrim in the body away from the Lord. About which the Psalmist sings: You crown the year of your goodness (Psalm 65). For it was not only that year in which the Lord preached that was acceptable but also this one in which the Apostle preaches saying: Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (II Cor. 6). After the acceptable year of the Lord, he also proclaims the day of final retribution, saying: For the Son of Man is going to come in his glory with his angels, and then he will render to each according to his work (Matthew 16). Therefore, to evangelize all these things, he says he is sent because the Spirit of the Lord is upon him.

21[Luke 4:20] -- And when he had folded the scroll, he gave it back to the minister, and sat down. The Lord read the scroll aloud to all those present, and having read it, gave it back to the minister. For as he testifies elsewhere, when he was in the world, he spoke openly to the world, always teaching in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews were accustomed to gather. But as he was about to return to heaven, he entrusted the duty of preaching to those who from the beginning had seen him and had been ministers of the word. And it is right that he read while standing, but after returning the book, he sat down. For standing is the posture of one who is working; sitting is the posture of one who is resting or judging. For the Lord Jesus Christ, in order to make known to us the way of knowledge that was written about him, deigned to work in the flesh for a time. But after completing the duty of his holy dispensation, he chose disciples to follow his teaching, and restored himself to the throne of heavenly rest, from where he now dispenses all things with hidden judgment, and will appear as the manifest judge at the end of the whole age. At the same time, he mystically sets forth an example, that each preacher of his word should also be a doer of the same. Let him rise, read, and sit down: that is, let him work, preach, and thus expect the rewards of rest. And it is to be noted that he himself read the unfolded book, but gave it back to the minister closed. For he also taught his Church, through the Spirit of truth sent from the Father, in all truth, and yet admonished by his own example that not everything is to be said to everyone, but the word is to be dispensed by the teacher according to the capacity of the listeners, when he said: "I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."

22[Luke 4:20] -- And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him. And he began to say to them: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Indeed, it was fulfilled in that, as it had predicted: "And the Lord did great things, and preached even greater things." What greater testimony do we seek, therefore, than that he, who spoke in the prophets, confirmed with his own voice that he was the one? Removing the sacrileges of the faithless, who say there is one God of the Old Testament, another of the New, or who say that Christ began from the Virgin. For how could he begin from the Virgin, who spoke before the Virgin?

23[Luke 4:22] -- And all bore witness to him and marveled at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth. They bore witness to him, attesting truly, as he had said, that he was the one whom the prophets had sung about, truly anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and that they themselves, the poor, the blind, the captives, and the broken, needed his gifts in every way.

24[Luke 4:22] -- And they said: Is this not the son of Joseph? What blindness of the Nazarenes, who, though they recognize him by his words and deeds to be the Christ, despise him solely on account of his lineage. However, their error is our salvation and the condemnation of heretics. For they saw Jesus Christ so much as a man, that they called him the son of Joseph, and according to other evangelists, the carpenter, or the son of the carpenter. Among these things, it should be observed why Christ, appearing in the flesh, wanted to be called the son of a carpenter, or rather the carpenter himself. It is to be understood with sound intellect that even by this he taught that he was the son of the one who, before the ages, created God, who in the beginning made the heaven and the earth. For even if human things cannot be compared to divine things, it is still a perfect symbol because the father of Christ works with fire and spirit. Wherefore his precursor said of him as the carpenter's son: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke II). He who in this great house of the world makes vessels of different kinds. Indeed, he transforms vessels of wrath into vessels of mercy by softening them with the fire of the spirit. Hence Malachi rightly said, speaking in the person of the Father: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me, and suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple, and then he added shortly after: And he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them like gold and silver. But the Jews, ignorant of this sacrament, despise the works of divine power by contemplating his carnal lineage, as is evident not only from their preceding actions but also from the Lord’s subsequent words, when it is added:

25[Luke 4:23] -- And he said to them: Certainly you will quote me this proverb: Physician, heal yourself: whatever, etc. Their insane perfidy, although ignorant of sound faith, confesses it, calling the Lord Christ both a craftsman and a physician. For he is indeed the true craftsman, because all things were made through him. He is a physician, because all things were restored through him in heaven and on earth. And as he himself testifies about himself: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick (Mark II). And since we have said by what instrument he works as a craftsman, let us also say by what method he heals. Passing by, he saw a man blind from birth, he spat on the ground, and made mud with the saliva, and applied it to his eyes, and said to him: Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which means Sent. So he went and washed, and came back seeing (John IX). Recognize then the greatness of his healing method, and rejoice because through this you have deserved to be enlightened. The mud from the earth is the flesh of Christ. The saliva from the mouth is his divinity, because the head of Christ is God. The saliva mixed with the mud enlightens us when baptized in the pool of Siloam, because the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory (John I), which we could not comprehend before, being hindered by darkness. Therefore, you were created through the craftsman Christ, so that you might exist. You were recreated through the physician Christ, so that after wounds you might be healthy. Although he is advised by the scornful citizens to heal himself, that is, to perform miracles in his own country, he is not excused in vain by another Evangelist, because he could not perform any miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. Lest anyone should think that a lesser affection should be given to one's own country. Therefore, he loved the citizens, but they themselves deprived themselves of the love of their fatherland through spite.

26[Luke 4:24] -- He said: Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. That the Lord Christ is called a prophet in the Scriptures, Moses is a witness, who said: God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers like me (Deut. XVIII). Not only he who is the head and Lord of the prophets but also Elijah, Jeremiah, and the rest of the prophets were held in less regard in their own country than in distant cities. For it is almost natural that citizens always envy their fellow citizens. For they do not consider the man's present works, but remember his fragile childhood, as if they themselves had not reached mature age through the same stages of life.

27[Luke 4:25] -- Truly I say to you, there were many widows in the days of Elijah in Israel when the sky was closed for three years, etc. It is not (he says) that I withhold divine benefits from the disdainful citizens, contrary to the deeds of the prophets. For just as when famine once afflicted the whole land, no one in Judea was found worthy of hospitality to Elijah, but a widow of a foreign nation was sought, who, by the grace of faith, should be visited by such a great prophet. And just as among the many lepers there, only Naaman the Syrian, because he sought devoutly, deserved to be cured by the prophet Elisha, so here you will be deprived of the heavenly gift for no other reason than envy and faithlessness. If you were to critically examine the deeds of the prophets, and now allegorically study them, you would indeed find that the Lord, in the faithlessness and arrogance of His own homeland, from which He was not received, has noted the pride of the Jews. But by the name of Capernaum, which is interpreted as the field of consolation, He foretold the salvation of the Gentiles, where greater signs are daily performed by the apostles and the successors of the apostles, not so much in the healing of bodies as in the healing of souls. Therefore, the widow to whom Elijah was sent represents the Church of the Gentiles, which, long deserted by its Maker, nurtured with meager provision, that is, taught with the word devoid of fruit, the people ignorant of the true faith—as if it were a poor son—until the prophetic word came, which, when the fleece of Israel was dried up, with the door of heaven closed, was in danger of famine in Judea, would be nourished there and would simultaneously nourish, and thus, received by those who believed, would both refresh the believers and be refreshed by them. Hence, it is fittingly said that this same widow lived in Sarepta of Sidon. Sidon means useless hunting; Sarepta, on the other hand, denotes fire or famine of bread. For where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Rom. 5). Where efforts were directed to acquiring superfluous things, like a concern for hunting, where there was a dire thirst and a famine of spiritual bread, there the flour and oil are blessed by the prophetic word, that is, the fruit and joy of charity, or the grace of the Lord's body and the anointing of chrism, were enriched by the inexhaustible gift of the heavenly word. So far the oil of spiritual joy and the flour of blessing in the vessels has not run out, while the rest of the nations who do not believe are in misery for the lack of divine bread, and are devoted to useless hunting. For she herself, wonderfully intending to make a mystical bread before she died, testified that she wished to gather two sticks, expressing the sign of the cross not only by the name of the wood but also by the number of the woods, by which the bread of eternal life was prepared for us.

28[Luke 4:27] -- And there were many lepers in Israel under Elisha the prophet, and none of them were cleansed, except Naaman the Syrian. Because the story is well-known, it is necessary to disclose a few things about the mystery. And thus Naaman the Syrian, who is interpreted as "beauty," represents the people of the nations, once stained by the leprosy of unbelief and sins, but purified from all foulness of mind and body through the sacrament of baptism. Advised by a captured girl, which is the grace of divine inspiration, which the Jews could not keep but the Gentiles seized, he was urged to hope for salvation and to be washed seven times. Because obviously, the only type of baptism that regenerates by the Holy Spirit saves. Hence it is rightly remembered that his flesh appeared like the flesh of a small child after the washing. Either because grace as a mother begets all baptized in Christ to a single infancy, or more likely he is to be understood as the child of whom it was said: A child is born to us, a son is given to us (Isaiah 9). By whose body through baptism the whole offspring of believers is united. And so that you may know all the prefigured sacraments of baptism here, in which we are commanded to renounce Satan and to confess faith, Naaman declares that he will no longer make offerings to foreign gods, but will serve the Lord alone in all things. He also rejoices to take with him a portion of the Holy Land, because the baptized must also be confirmed by participation in the body of the Lord. Therefore, worthily, Naaman, whose body is washed by water while his heart is washed by faith, that is, the people of the nations, is preferred to the Jews, who are sullied by the leprosy of obstinacy. Worthily, the widow of Zarephath, that is, the Church, desiring to be renewed by the wood of the cross, is refreshed with the bread of the holy body and the anointing of the life-giving Spirit, while the Jews perish from the famine of the word. And it is proven that the Lord denied the gifts of virtues to His fellow citizens not because of His inability, but because of their envy, and by this example the whole nation was ultimately forsaken by Him, not because they were not loved, but because they themselves did not desire to be loved, evidently, as the teachers dispersed throughout the whole world for the salvation of the nations. But what the Lord declared about the Jews, they themselves testified by deed about themselves. For it follows:

29[Luke 4:28] -- And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue upon hearing these things, and they rose up and drove Him out of the city. Indeed, the sacrileges of the Jews, which the Lord had foretold long before through the prophet, saying: "They repay me evil for good" (Psalm 35), He teaches in the Gospel to have been completed. For while He was spreading benefits among the people, they inflicted injuries. Nor is it surprising that they lost salvation, who drove the Savior out of their borders. For the Lord is moral, and He who taught His apostles by His own example to become all things to all men, neither rejects the willing, nor binds the unwilling, nor resists those who cast Him out, nor fails those who ask. Thus, elsewhere, He left the Gerasenes, as they could not bear His powers, as if they were weak and ungrateful. At the same time, understand that it was not out of necessity but a voluntary passion of the body; not captured by the Jews, but offered by Himself. For indeed, when He wills, He is captured; when He wills, He escapes; when He wills, He is suspended; when He wills, He is not held.

30[Luke 4:29] -- And they led him, it says, to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way. O inheritance worse than the disciples' teacher! The devil tempts the Lord with words, the Jews with deeds. The former says, Throw yourself down; the latter attack to throw him down. Indeed, the Lord had ascended to the brow of the hill to be thrown down, but through the midst of them, with the mind of the furious suddenly changed or stunned, he descended, for he preferred to heal rather than to destroy them, so that seeing their wicked attempts frustrated, they might desist from demanding his death henceforth. For the hour of his passion had not yet come, which was not to be on any Sabbath, but on the Preparation of the Passover. Nor had he yet approached the place of passion, which was not in Nazareth, but prefigured in Jerusalem by the blood of sacrifices. Nor had he chosen the kind of death, which was proclaimed from the beginning as crucifixion. Therefore, he wished not to be thrown down by the Nazarenes, not to be stoned by the Jerusalemites, not to be killed among the Bethlehemite children by Herod, nor to be consummated by any other death. For what sign of regal power would shine forth in such a death, whereby the forehead of the faithful might be armed? But only the banner of the cross was awaited, the figure of which could be traced with the swiftest motion of the right hand against the temptations of the malignant enemy, and the same figure could also be considered a type of singular monarchy. As the Apostle, expounding the triumph of the cross, says: At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth (Philippians 2). For this is why the peaks of the same cross extend to the heavens, the depths reach the underworld, and the arms cover the earth.

31[Luke 4:31] -- And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath. Behold the mercy of the Lord the Savior: neither moved by indignation, nor offended by wickedness, nor violated by injury, he does not abandon Judea; rather, forgetting the injury, but mindful of mercy, sometimes teaching, sometimes liberating, sometimes healing, he soothes the hearts of the faithful people. But that he especially grants the gifts of his healing and teaching on Sabbaths, shows that he is not under the law, but above the law, who also came to fulfill the law, not to dissolve it, choosing not the Jewish Sabbath, on which it is not lawful to light a fire or move hand and foot, but the true Sabbath and the rest beloved to the Lord, if, caring for the salvation of souls, we abstain from servile work, that is, from all illicit things.

32[Luke 4:32] -- And they were amazed at his teaching, because his word was with authority. The word of the teacher is made with authority when he performs the things he teaches. For he who destroys his own words with deeds is scorned. Whom, on the contrary, the Apostle instituting against the teacher says: Let no one despise your youth (1 Tim. 4). But uniquely the Lord and principally alone spoke from good authority, because he committed none from bad weakness. For from the power of divinity he had that which he ministered to us through the innocence of his humanity. In another way, his word was with authority, or as another evangelist says, he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Because the scribes were giving the people the precepts they learned through the law. But he, as the author and fulfiller of the law, either by changing or by augmenting what seemed less, acting freely, substituted them.

33[Luke 4:33] -- And in the synagogue there was a man having an unclean demon. Rightly in the synagogue was the man who had the unclean spirit, because he had lost the Holy Spirit. For the devil had entered where Christ had left. As even now some say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

34[Luke 4:34] -- And he cried out with a loud voice saying: Leave us alone; what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Pause a little (he said), cease tormenting me, to whom there is no fellowship with our deceit. And indeed: For what partnership has light with darkness? Or what fellowship has Christ with Belial? (II Cor. VI.)

35[Luke 4:34] -- Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God. This is not a confession of will, for which the reward of confessing follows, but an extortion of necessity which compels the unwilling. And just as if runaway slaves, after much time, see their master, they plead for nothing but to be spared the lashes, thus also the demons, seeing the Lord suddenly dwelling on earth, believed that he had come to judge them. The presence of the Savior is torment for the demons.

36[Luke 4:35] -- And Jesus rebuked him, saying: Be silent, and come out of him. Since by the envy of the devil death entered into the world (Wisdom II), therefore against the very author of death, the remedy of salvation had first to operate: firstly, the serpentine tongue, so that no longer might it spread its venom, had to be stopped; and then the woman who was first deceived, to be cured from the fever of carnal desire; thirdly, the man who listened to the words of the deceitful wife, to be chastised from the leprosy of his error. That there might be the same order of restoration in this gospel as there was of the fall.

37[Luke 4:35] -- And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, it came out of him, and did not harm him at all. By divine permission, the man to be liberated from the demon is cast down in their midst, so that the power of the Savior shown might invite more to the faith and to the way of salvation. But as it is said, it did not harm him at all, it seems to contradict Mark, who says: And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him (Mark I). Unless we understand that Mark said convulsing him, which Luke said: And when it had thrown him in the midst, that what follows: And it did not harm him, is understood to mean that this throwing about of his limbs and torment did not weaken him, as demons are accustomed to leave even with some limbs cut off or torn out. Hence those who were present, trembling at such integral restoration of health, though not yet believing, rightly said to one another:

38[Luke 4:36] -- Because he commands unclean spirits with authority and power, and they depart. For holy men also can expel demons, but they do so by the word of God, whereas the Word of God itself performs miracles by its own power.

39[Luke 4:38] -- Rising from the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a severe fever. If we say that a man delivered from a demon signifies a mind morally cleansed from unclean thoughts, it follows that the woman afflicted with a fever, but cured by the command of the Lord, represents the flesh restrained from the fervor of its own desires by the precepts of continence. For all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and blasphemy are the fury of unclean spirits. And fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (Eph. IV), represent the fever of enticing flesh.

40[Luke 4:38] -- And they asked him concerning her. Standing over her, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. Now the Savior, being asked, sometimes cures the sick voluntarily, showing that he always responds to the faithful for the passions of sins by prayers, and grants understanding in things they least comprehend in themselves, or even absolves the things not understood. As the Psalmist requests: “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults” (Ps. XVIII).

41[Luke 4:39] -- And immediately she rose and served them. It is natural for those recovering from fever, as health begins, to feel faint and sense the discomfort of their illness, but the health granted by the Lord’s command returns fully at once. Not only does it return entirely, but it comes with such strength that she immediately serves those who had aided her. And, according to the laws of allegory, the members that served impurity unto iniquity to bear fruit unto death should now serve righteousness unto eternal life (Rom. VI).

42[Luke 4:40] -- When the sun was setting, all those who had sick people with various diseases brought them to him. And he, laying hands on each of them, cured them. The setting of the sun signifies the passion and death of the one who said: "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." And as the sun sets, more demoniacs than before, more sick are healed. Because he, living temporally in the flesh, taught few of the Jews, but having trampled the kingdom of death, he transmitted the gifts of faith and salvation to all the nations throughout the world. Of which ministers, as if heralds of life and light, the Psalmist sings: "Prepare the way for him who rides upon the sunset." (Psalm 67). Indeed, the Lord ascended upon the sunset, because from where he lay down in the passion, from there he manifested his greater glory by rising again.

43[Luke 4:41] -- Demons also went out from many, crying out and saying: "You are the Son of God." And rebuking them, he would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ. Demons confessed the Son of God, and, as the evangelist bears witness, they knew he was the Christ. For the devil, having recognized a man exhausted by fasting for forty days, and being unable to tempt him, even to find out if he were the Son of God, now, through the power of signs, either understood or rather suspected that he was the Son of God. Therefore, he did not persuade the Jews to crucify him because he thought he was not Christ or the Son of God, but because he did not foresee that he would be condemned by his death. Indeed, about this mystery hidden from ages, the Apostle says: "None of the rulers of this age understood it; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2). And why the Lord forbids demons to speak about him, the Psalmist reveals, who says: "To the sinner, however, God said: Why do you recount my ordinances?" (Psalm 49) and so on: lest anyone, while hearing the preacher, follow the one who errs. For the devil is an unworthy teacher, who often mixes falsehood with truth, to cover the testimony of fraud with the appearance of truth. But at other times, not only demons who unwillingly confessed are commanded to be silent about Christ, but also those who willingly wanted to confess after being healed by him. Indeed, even the apostles, who were to preach about him throughout the whole world after the resurrection, were absolutely commanded to be silent about him before his passion, lest, once his divine majesty was proclaimed, the dispensation of the passion be deferred, and, with the passion delayed, the salvation of the world, which was to come through this, be denied.

44[Luke 4:42] -- But when the day came, he went out to a deserted place, and the crowds sought him, and came to him. If the death of the Lord is expressed by the setting sun, why is not his resurrection indicated by the returning day? The light revealed by which he is sought by the crowds of believers, found in the desert of the nations, is detained, lest he go away. Especially since this happened on the first day of the Sabbath, on which the resurrection was celebrated, the departure, the search, and the finding occurred.