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Luke

About this book
Chapter 4

1 Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he endured temptations from the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone.’” 5 Then the devil led him up to a high place and showed him in a flash all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “To you I will grant this whole realm—and the glory that goes along with it, for it has been relinquished to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. 7 So then, if you will worship me, all this will be yours.” 8 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” 9 Then the devil brought him to Jerusalem, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ 11 and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 So when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until a more opportune time. 14 Then Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the surrounding countryside. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by all. 16 Now Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,⁠ 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives⁠ and the regaining of sight to the blind,⁠ to set free those who are oppressed,⁠ 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to tell them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled even as you heard it being read.” 22 All were speaking well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. They said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”⁠ 23 Jesus said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me the proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ and say, ‘What we have heard that you did in Capernaum, do here in your hometown too.’” 24 And he added, “I tell you the truth, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.⁠ 25 But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up three and a half years and there was a great famine over all the land. 26 Yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a woman who was a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But he passed through the crowd and went on his way. 31 So he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he began to teach the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching because he spoke with authority. 33 Now in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! Leave us alone, Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 35 But Jesus rebuked him: “Silence! Come out of him!” Then, after the demon threw the man down in their midst, he came out of him without hurting him. 36 They were all amazed and began to say to one another, “What’s happening here? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 So the news about him spread into all areas of the region. 38 After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So he stood over her, commanded the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them. 40 As the sun was setting, all those who had any relatives sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus. He placed his hands on every one of them and healed them.⁠ 41 Demons also came out of many, crying out, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ. 42 The next morning Jesus departed and went to a deserted place. Yet the crowds were seeking him, and they came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But Jesus said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do.” 44 So he continued to preach in the synagogues of Judea.

Texts in conversation

Compare Mark 6:4 and Luke 4:24 and Gospel of Thomas 31

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

In Mark, Jesus connects a prophet's rejection with failed healings. The Gospel of Thomas has separate sayings about a prophet and a doctor, but their language is closer to Luke's version, where Jesus also mentions a doctor.

Passages

Mark 6:4

New Testament
3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And so they took offense at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, and among his relatives, and in his own house.” 5 He was not able to do a miracle there, except to lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
60–75 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Mark

Luke 4:24

New Testament
22 All were speaking well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. They said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” 23 Jesus said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me the proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ and say, ‘What we have heard that you did in Capernaum, do here in your hometown too.’” 24 And he added, “I tell you the truth, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up three and a half years and there was a great famine over all the land.
75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

Gospel of Thomas 31

Nag Hammadi
30 Jesus said, “Where there are three gods, they are gods; where there are two or one, I am with him.” 31 Jesus said, “No prophet is accepted in his own village; no physician heals those who know him.” 32 Jesus said, “A city built on a high mountain and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... The upshot of these comparisons among the four canonical Gospels is that Luke’s version of the saying is most likely a case of his copying Mark’s text, with the notable exception that Luke substitutes dektos (“acceptable”) for Mark’s atimos (“without honor”). The impact of this conclusion becomes clear when we turn to Thomas’ version of the saying in the first half of P.Oxy. 1.30–35: “A prophet is not acceptable [dektos] in his hometown.” In wording and word order, the Greek of Thomas’ saying basically follows that of Mark. Both begin with “there is not” (ouk estin), with the noun “prophet” following and the phrase “in his hometown” concluding the saying. The major difference is that (1) Thomas shares with Luke the form of a simple declarative sentence with a single negative particle; and, more important, (2) Thomas and Luke alone, among all the versions, use the adjective “acceptable” (dektos)—which, as we have seen, is most probably due to Luke’s redactional hand. Thus, in a simple sentence forming half of logion 31, we have both Thomas’ tendency to mesh Synoptic versions of a saying and his tendency to imitate some striking elements of Luke’s redaction of his sources. As a matter of fact, the influence of Luke’s version, as well as Thomas’ tendency to mesh the Synoptics, may be seen as well in the second half of logion 31 in the Greek fragment: “. . . a physician [iatros] does not do healings [poiei therapeias] for those who know him.” Just prior to Luke 4:24, in v 23, Jesus ironically says to the contentious audience in the Nazareth synagogue: “You will surely quote me this proverb, ‘Physician [iatre], heal [therapeuson] yourself.” That the Greek version of Thomas places the saying about a physician not being able to heal right after the saying about the rejected prophet (instead of right before, as in Luke) may reflect Thomas’ tendency to mesh. For it is Mark (followed by Matthew) that states right after the saying on the dishonored prophet (Mark 6:4) that Jesus could not perform any miracle there except for the fact that he healed (etherapeusen) a few sick people (Mark 6:5). ...”
John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016), 5:98–100.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Mark 6:4 and Luke 4:24 and Gospel of Thomas 31

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