Luke 4:16-19 16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and according to his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling it, he found the place where it has been written,
As Jesus journeyed through Galilee, he returned to his hometown of Nazareth (1:26; 2:4, 39, 51; 4:24). Little is known about his early life, though we get hints that his family still lived there, including Mary and his half-brothers and sisters naturally born of Mary and Joseph. There is no reference to Joseph after the episode at the temple when Jesus was twelve. Jesus was evidently known to some as the son of the carpenter (Mark 6:3). Luke also notes that Jesus made it his practice to go to the local synagogue each Sabbath.
The synagogue was where the Scripture scrolls were kept and the local boys and men were taught the Torah. The synagogue in Nazareth was likely the place where Jesus learned and memorized the Scripture. The scroll of Isaiah given to him was one he had probably read countless times and knew exactly where to turn as his inaugural message. He probably even knew what the part of the scroll visible looked like, with its particular marks and handwriting. One of the elements of synagogue worship was the reading of Scripture and an explanation of it, as evident in this passage.
The words Jesus chose to read from Isaiah (61:1a, b, d [c is omitted]; 58:6d; and 61:2a) spoke deeply to the needs of his time. Many people lived at the subsistence level, with just enough to eat from day to day. There was no welfare system, so if people did not work, they did not eat. If they were sick, there was little medical care, and what was available was very primitive. If they happened to be in prison, they were lucky to get food and even luckier to get out alive. The average life expectancy at that time was only about 30 years old. Jesus came with the message that people needed. His ministry was a clear fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy to those who opened their hearts to recognize him as the Messiah. As the story goes on, people from the very beginning of his ministry rejected him and hardened their hearts. This story serves two purposes: it provides good news to those looking for salvation, like those in John’s ministry, but it also confronts people with a choice to accept Jesus, which people of Nazareth refused to do.
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