Although the Lord was tempted by three temptations, Luke says that He finished all temptations, because the foundations of all temptations are these three: gluttony, covetousness, and vanity. The Lord repelled the temptation of satiety with the words: "Man shall not live by bread alone." Before all other temptations, He brought this temptation upon Him, as well as upon Adam. For he could not stumble Adam with covetousness, since Adam, being alone, had no one more to desire against; nor with anger, for he had no one to be angry with; nor envy; but stumbled him with gluttony. The Lord repelled the temptation of covetousness by not falling, not bowing down before him. For when he sensually showed all the kingdoms in a ghost, the Lord did not submit to him. Some understood this about kingdoms not sensual, but conceivable, that he, for example, showed Him the kingdom of intemperance, the kingdom of envy, and in general of all sins, and said to Him as it were: "If Thou wouldst reign over all passions, and for this purpose Thou hast come to captivate those possessed by me, then fall down and worship me, and receive all over whom I reign." The Lord wants to reign and has come to do so, but to reign not with sin, not without struggle, but after podvig and victory. That is what some have understood. To anyone, let them understand it. The Lord also repelled the temptation of vanity with the words of the Scriptures. Lord, deliver us from these three heads of the serpent! "Jesus returned in the power of the spirit." It seems to me that Jesus returned in a state of inspiration, for that means "in the power of the Spirit." Pay deep attention to the Scriptures, for then it is written, "In the power of the Spirit," when He overcame the tempter and manifested His power. The words: "departed from Him for a time" have the following meaning: the devil attacks the Lord with two feelings, pleasure and sorrow; with pleasure he attacked the Lord, for example, on a mountain; but he departed from Him until the time, that is, until the time of the Cross, for then he intended to attack Him with sorrow.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went in, according to his custom, on the Sabbath day into the synagogue, and arose to read. They gave him the book of the prophet Isaiah; and he opened the book, and found a place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; for he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, and has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, to restore sight to the blind, to set the afflicted at liberty, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And having closed the book and given it to the attendant, he sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And he began to say to them, "This day this scripture has been fulfilled which you have heard."

The Lord wished to reveal Himself to the Israelites, because He was also anointed by God and the Father in order to save those who dwell in the heavenly places. He arranges this wonderfully. Before others, He appears to the inhabitants of Nazareth, with whom He was brought up, in order to teach us that we must first do good to our own and teach them, and then pour out love for mankind on others as well. When they gave Him a book, He unfolded it and found not what He happened to come across, but what He Himself desired. For do not think that He opened the book and happened to find the passage in which it is written about Him; it happened according to His will. What was written? "The Spirit of the Lord anointed Me," that is, He consecrated Me, He appointed Me to preach the gospel to the "poor," that is, the Gentiles, who, having neither law nor prophets, were indeed in great poverty. The "brokenhearted" were, perhaps, the Israelites, whose hearts were at first great and lofty and were the house of God, but later, when they began to serve idols and sin in various ways, their hearts were broken and upset, becoming instead of the house of God a den of thieves. Thus, the Lord came to heal them, and to give "deliverance to the captives" and "sight to the blind," the Gentiles and the Israelites. For both of these parts were both captive to Satan and blind. This can also be understood about the dead. For they, too, having been captive and broken, were freed from the power of hell through the Resurrection. — He preached "the year of the Lord's acceptance." What kind of favorable summer is this? Perhaps also the age to come, of which the Lord preached, saying: "And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing" (John 16:23), and again: "The time is coming when the dead shall live" (John 5:25). But a pleasant summer is also the time of the Lord's coming in the flesh. Of him Paul says: "Now is the time of favor, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). Having read this, He said: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled which you have heard," evidently indicating in Himself to the hearers of Him of Whom it is written.

And they all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the words of grace that proceeded out of His mouth, and said, Is this not Joseph's son? He said to them, "Surely you will say to Me the proverb, 'Physician!' heal Thyself; do here in Thy homeland what we have heard in Capernaum. And he said, "Verily I say to you, no prophet is received in his own country." Verily I say unto you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up for three years and six months, so that there was a great famine in all the land, and Elijah was not sent to any of them, but only to the widow in Zarephath of Sidon. and there were many lepers in Israel under Elisha the prophet, and not one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. When all in the synagogue heard this, they were filled with rage, and arose, and drove him out of the city, and led him to the top of the mountain on which their city was built, to overthrow him; but he passed through the midst of them and departed.

The people, listening to the speech of Christ, were amazed at the words of grace; and being amazed, he mocked Him, saying, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" Meanwhile, what prevented Him from being worthy of wonder and worship? Do you not see what works He does? Do you not hear what words He speaks? In spite of this, do you mock His father? Of them, it could not be more justly said: "A foolish and foolish people, who have eyes and do not see, who have ears and do not hear" (Jeremiah 5:21). What then does the Lord say to them? Of course, you will say to Me: Do in Your homeland the same miracles that You did in Capernaum. For this means: "Physician! heal Thyself." This was a common saying among the Jews, which they addressed to sick doctors. But I say to you that I would do many signs among you, My countrymen, but I know the common passion that happens to all, to despise even the most excellent works, as soon as they cease to be rare, but become common and common, and when all can freely enjoy them. For it is always the custom of men to take care of the rare and strange and to marvel at it, and to despise the general and the ordinary. Therefore no prophet is valued in his own country, but if he comes from any other country, he is surprised. In the same way, the widows of Judah did not receive Elijah, but the Zarephath woman did. And Elisha cleansed the foreigner from leprosy, because he showed faith in him, while his fellow countrymen did not believe him, and therefore were not cleansed. In the same way, you, My countrymen, consider Me worthy not of wonder, but of contempt, and therefore I do not do signs. But the inhabitants of Capernaum consider Me worthy of wonder, and I do signs, and I am accepted by them. Those who heard this in the synagogue were filled with rage, which is worthy of wonder, and thought to throw Him off the cliff. But He, having passed through the midst of them, departed, not because He was fleeing from suffering, but because He was waiting for a certain time. For He came to suffer for us; and now, when His preaching was still beginning, He was not to give Himself over to death, but to die when He had already taught enough. From this it is clear that when He was crucified, He was not crucified against His will, but voluntarily gave Himself up to death. "Know that the homeland of the prophets is the synagogue of the Jews, where they are in disgrace. The prophets are not received by her, but we, strangers, have received them. For the widow, that is, the church of the Gentiles, received Elijah, that is, the prophetic word, when there was a spiritual famine in Judea, that is, a hunger for hearing the word of God (Amos 8:11). Of this widow the prophet says: "She who is forsaken has many more children than she who has a husband" (Isaiah 54:1), and in another place: "Even she who is barren gives birth seven times, but she who has many children faints" (1 Samuel 2:5).

And he came to Capernaum, the city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they marveled at His teaching, for His word was with authority. There was a man in the synagogue who had an unclean spirit of demons, and he cried out with a loud voice, "Leave it alone; what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Thou hast come to destroy us; I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God. Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent and come out of him." And the demon threw him down in the midst [of the synagogue] and went out of him without harming him in the least. And terror fell upon all, and they reasoned among themselves: What does it mean that He commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they go out? And the rumor of Him spread throughout all the surrounding places.

Since neither reason nor teaching attracts the unbelievers to faith, the Lord adds miracles as the most effective means. And so, he works miracles in Capernaum, for the inhabitants of this city were the most unfaithful and needed many miracles for faith. And so, when He has taught enough, and moreover as having authority (for He did not say, "This saith the Lord," but, "I say unto you," because He was not one of the prophets, but the true Son of God), then He adds a miracle, namely, He heals him who is tormented by a demon. The demon first reveals enmity, so that his testimony would be more reliable, then he gives testimony: "I know Thee, who Thou art Thou that art the Holy One of God." First He reproaches Him: "Why hast Thou come here to destroy us?" Then he caresses Him, thinking that the Lord, carried away by the caress, will leave him. But the Lord, teaching not to use the testimony and representation of the demon, says: "Be silent and come out of him." However, it allows the demon to overthrow a person, so that those present will know that he truly has a demon, to whom the words belonged, although the man's tongue was the tool. And they all said to one another, marveling at what had happened, and saying, What is this word, that is, what is this commandment, which he commands, come out of it, and be silent? "Know that even now many have demons, namely those who fulfill the wishes of demons; For example, he who is angry has the demon of wrath. But when Jesus comes to the synagogue, that is, when the mind is concentrated and not scattered, then He will say to the demon of wrath, hitherto uncontrollable: "Be silent"; and immediately he will come out of the man, throwing him into the middle. What does it mean to throw into the middle, know this: a man must not be completely angry and irritable, for this is characteristic of beasts, nor completely angerless, for this is characteristic of an insensible person, but walk the middle path and have anger against malice. Therefore, when the evil spirit throws someone into the middle, it departs from him.