Luke 4–6

The Temptation of Christ

Matt. 4:1–11; Mark 1:12, 13

4Then ^aJesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and ^bwas led by the Spirit ¹into the wilderness, ²being ²tempted for forty days by the devil. And ^cin those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

³And the devil said to Him, “If You are ^dthe Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

⁴But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ^e‘Man shall not live by bread alone, ³but by every word of God.’ ”

⁵⁴Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for ^fthis has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

⁸And Jesus answered and said to him, ⁵“Get behind Me, Satan! ⁶For it is written, ^g‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

^9hThen he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. ¹⁰For it is written:

ⁱ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,’

¹¹and,

^j‘In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

¹²And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ^k‘You shall not ⁷tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

¹³Now when the devil had ended every ⁸temptation, he departed from Him ^luntil an opportune time.

Acceptance Throughout Galilee

Matt. 4:12; Mark 1:14

^14mThen Jesus returned ⁿin the power of the Spirit to ^oGalilee, and ^pnews of Him went out through all the surrounding region. ¹⁵And He ^qtaught in their synagogues, ^rbeing glorified by all.

Rejection at Nazareth

¹⁶So He came to ^sNazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, ^tHe went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. ¹⁷And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

¹⁸“The ^uSpirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me ⁹to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To ^vset at liberty those who are ¹oppressed;

¹⁹To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

²⁰Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is ^wfulfilled in your hearing.” ²²So all bore witness to Him, and ^xmarveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, ^y“Is this not Joseph’s son?”

²³He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in ^zCapernaum, ²do also here in ^aYour country.’ ” ²⁴Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no ^bprophet is accepted in his own country. ²⁵But I tell you truly, ^cmany widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; ²⁶but to none of them was Elijah sent except to ³Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ^27dAnd many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were ^efilled with ⁴wrath, ^29fand rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. ³⁰Then ^gpassing through the midst of them, He went His way.

Demons are Cast Out

Mark 1:21–28

³¹Then ^hHe went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. ³²And they were ⁱastonished at His teaching, ^jfor His word was with authority. ^33kNow in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? ^lI know who You are—^mthe Holy One of God!”

³⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ⁵“Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. ³⁶Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” ³⁷And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

Peter’s Mother-in-Law Healed

Matt. 8:14, 15; Mark 1:29–31

³⁸ⁿNow He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was ⁶sick with a high fever, and they ^omade request of Him concerning her. ³⁹So He stood over her and ^prebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

Jesus Ministers Throughout Galilee

Matt. 4:23–25; 8:16, 17; Mark 1:32–39

^40qWhen the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. ^41rAnd demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, ^s“You are ⁷the Christ, the Son of God!”

And He, ^trebuking them, did not allow them to ⁸speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.

^42uNow when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; ⁴³but He said to them, “I must ^vpreach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” ^44wAnd He was preaching in the synagogues of ⁹Galilee.

The First Disciples are Called

5So ^ait was, as the multitude pressed about Him to ^bhear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, ²and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. ³Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He ^csat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

⁴When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, ^d“Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught ^enothing; nevertheless ^fat Your word I will let down the net.” ⁶And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. ⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ^g“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

⁹For he and all who were with him were ^hastonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; ¹⁰and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. ⁱFrom now on you will catch men.” ¹¹So when they had brought their boats to land, ^jthey ¹forsook all and followed Him.

A Leper is Cleansed

Matt. 8:2–4; Mark 1:40–45

^12kAnd it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of ^lleprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and ²implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

¹³Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” ^mImmediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ⁿAnd He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, ^ojust as Moses commanded.”

¹⁵However, ^pthe report went around concerning Him all the more; and ^qgreat multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.

A Paralytic is Healed

Matt. 9:1–8; Mark 2:1–12

^16rSo He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and ^sprayed.

¹⁷Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present ³to heal them. ^18tThen behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. ¹⁹And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst ^ubefore Jesus.

²⁰When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

^21vAnd the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? ^wWho can forgive sins but God alone?”

²²But when Jesus ^xperceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? ²³Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? ²⁴But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, ^y“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

²⁵Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, ^zglorifying God. ²⁶And they were all amazed, and they ^aglorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

Matthew is Called

Matt. 9:9; Mark 2:13, 14

^27bAfter these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ^c “Follow Me.” ²⁸So he left all, rose up, and ^dfollowed Him.

Jesus Eats with Sinners

Matt. 9:10–13; Mark 2:15–17

^29eThen Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And ^fthere were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. ³⁰⁴And their scribes and the Pharisees ⁵complained against His disciples, saying, ^g“Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ^32hI have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Jesus Teaches…