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— Miller. It is strang e to th in k of Jesus being preached to Sabbath afte r Sab bath. When He began His public work He still regu larly frequented th e syna gogue. This was, in fact, th e center from which H is work developed itself. It is thu s evident th a t Jesu s was a devout lover of th e house of God.-r- StalkeY. v. 17. H e found th e place. There was nothing fo rtu itou s in Christ’s choice of His first tex t in N azareth. The occasion was a marked one. He tu rn ed in calm self possession to th e first th ree verses of Is. 61, describing w hat should be th e work and office of th e destined Redeemer and Savior of man.—Vaughan. This seems to imply th a t He especially selected th is portion and th a t it was no t a p a rt of th e stated lesson for the day.—Wilcock. v. 18. Thp Spirit is upon me. This contains a statem en t of th e doctrine of th e T rin ity , F ath e r, Son and Holy Spirit operating distinctly b u t harmoniously in effecting m an’s salvation.—Alford. To preach th e gospel. I t was as a con quering K ing th a t th e Jews were expect ing th e ir Messiah to be anointed, bu t th e wonderful rep resen tation of th is verse is of a Savior.— Torrey. In these words th e Lord tells precisely the p u r pose for which He had been anointed and sent. If He ha'd come to announce or offer to Israel th e earth ly kingdom for which they were looking, He’ would certainly have mentioned it here, bu t H is mission was a preaching mission. He had come as the anointed prophet. Accordingly He read so much of the passage in Isaiah 61 as pertained to His first coming and then He closed the book. W hat next follows in the pro phecy is th e clause, “a n d ' th e day of vengeance of our God;” and then refer ences to the blessings of th e earthly kingdom which will be fulfilled in His second advent.-—Mauro. Tlo th e poor. The troubles th a t afflict hum anity and th a t are to be abolished by Christ are figuratively described as (1) poverty, (2) captivity, (3 ) blindness, (4) op pression. His gospel is (1 ) a social gospel— “ to th e poor” ; (2 ) a healing gospel— “ to th e broken-hearted” ; (3) an emancipating gospel—r-“ deliverance” ; (4) an enlightening gospel.— Dawson. v. 19. The acceptable year of th e Lord. The allusion is to th e year of jubilee (Lev. 25). The benefits of this jubilee were: (1) The Israelite who had sold himself into slavery received his freedom. (2 ) Fam ilies which had
alienated th e ir patrim ony received it back again. (3 ) A generous amnesty was granted those who were in debt. All these are most appropriate figures of the sp iritual, blessings which Christ was to confer upon men.— Gibson. v. 20. Gave book to th e m inister. “Chazzan.” The rolls were in charge of the chazzan or atten d a n t who handed them to the reader and received them back when read.— Dummelow. ■Sat down. They read th e Scriptures stand ing, an a ttitu d e of respect. They talked sitting, an a ttitu d e of authority.— Speaker’s Commentary. Eyes of all. It scarcely needed th a t He should say w hat th e application was. The audi ence felt as He read, th a t th e tex t said so. As soon as th e book had delivered its message He presented H imself as th e fulfilment of th e prophecy. No other preacher ever could do thu s.—Arnot. F asten ed on Him. A favorite word of Luke who uses it eleven times. E lse where it is only found in 2 Cor. 3 :7 , 13. The attitu d e of Jesus was th a t now for the first tim e He intended no t only to read .but to preach.— F a rra r. * v. 21. Began to say un to them . This was th e them e of His discourse— th a t He was th e anointed one of whom th e prophet spoke. It is evident from verse 22 th a t He expatiated a t some length on th is topic.—Horn. Com. Three points make Him prom inent and unique: (1) The relation between His person and His Word; (2) The consciousness He had of H imself and H is tru th ; (3) His knowledge of H imself and His tru th were th roughou t perfect and self-con sistent.— F airb airn . This S cripture is fulfilled. Note Christ’s self assertion. If you will search for th e most essential characteristics and outstanding differ en tia of th e words of Jesus Christ, it was H is unhesitating persistence in pushing into th e fron t H is testimony about Himself. There is nothing par allel to th a t anywhere else amongst th e men whom th e world recognizes as being religious geniuses or g reat moral teach ers. W hat characterizes as perfectly unique our Lord’s teaching is no t only th e things He said abou t God or the deep tru th s th a t He gave, b u t w hat He said about Himself. His message was not, “ Believe in God and do rig h t,” bu t “ Believe in me and follow me.” This undeniable characteristic is only w ar ran ted on the supposition th a t He was th e Son of God and His work th e salva tion of th e world.—Maclaren.
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