Quotes & Notes on:     Luke 4:23   John Wesley,  Notes On the New Testament (1755):  Ye will surely say-That is, your approbation now outweighs your prejudices. But it will not be so long. You will soon ask, why my love does not begin at home? Why I do not work miracles here, rather than at Capernaum? It is because of your unbelief. Nor is it any new thing for me to be despised in my own country. So were both Elijah and Elisha, and thereby driven to work miracles among heathens, rather than in Israel. Reginald Fuller's Preaching the Lectionary (1984):  To be posted.   William Baird, Interpreter's Commentary, 1971:  To be posted.   J. McNicol, The New Bible Commentary, 1954:  To be posted.   I.H. Marshall, The New Bible Commentary, 1970:  To be posted.   David Guzik, Study Guide: To be posted.   Chuck Smith, Study Guide: To be posted.   Catechism of the Catholic Church: To be posted.   J. Norval Geldenhuys, Bible Expositor, 1960: To be posted.   Abingdon Bible Commentary (1929): To be posted.   D.D. Whedon, Commentary on Luke, 1866: To be posted.   Joseph Parker, People's Bible, 1901: To be posted.   Anchor Bible: To be posted.   The Fourfold Gospel:  Jesus quoted a familiar proverb, the meaning of which is this: he was part of Nazareth, and hence the claims of Nazareth upon him were superior to those of Capernaum, and therefore Nazareth should have been blessed by his healing. But the expression was evidently used contemptuously, as if they said, "You can do big things at Capernaum, but you can not do them here. You can not deceive us; we know you." Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: * Physician. Lu 6:42; Ro 2:21,22 * whatsoever. Mt 4:13; 11:23,24 Joh 4:48 * do. Joh 2:3; 4:28; 7:3,4; Ro 11:34,35; 2Co 5:16 * thy country. Mt 13:54; Mr 6:1   Robertson's Word Pictures: Doubtless (pantôs). Adverb. Literally, at any rate, certainly, assuredly. Cf. Ac 21:22; 28:4. This parable (tên parabolên tautên). See discussion on Mt 13:1ff. Here the word has a special application to a crisp proverb which involves a comparison. The word physician is the point of comparison. Luke the physician alone gives this saying of Jesus. The proverb means that the physician was expected to take his own medicine and to heal himself. The word parabolê in the N.T. is confined to the Synoptic Gospels except Heb 9:9; 11:19. This use for a proverb occurs also in Lu 5:36; 6:39. This proverb in various forms appears not only among the Jews, but in Euripides and Aeschylus among the Greeks, and in Cicero's Letters. Hobart quotes the same idea from Galen, and the Chinese used to demand it of their physicians. The point of the parable seems to be that the people were expecting him to make good his claim to the Messiahship by doing here in Nazareth what they had heard of his doing in Capernaum and elsewhere. "Establish your claims by direct evidence" (Easton). This same appeal (Vincent) was addressed to Christ on the Cross (Mt 27:40,42). There is a tone of sarcasm towards Jesus in both cases. Heard done (êkousamen genomena). The use of this second aorist middle participle genomena after êkousamen is a neat Greek idiom. It is punctiliar action in indirect discourse after this verb of sensation or emotion (Robertson, Grammar, pp. 1040-42, 1122-24). Do also here (poiêson kai hôde). Ingressive aorist active imperative. Do it here in thy own country and town and do it now. Jesus applies the proverb to himself as an interpretation of their real attitude towards himself.   William Burkitt's Notes: No comment on this verse.   Family Bible Notes:  Heal thyself; this was a proverb, the meaning of which here was, What you are said to have done among strangers, do here among your acquaintance.   1599 Geneva Bible Notes: No comment on this verse.   People's New Testament Commentary:  Physician, heal thyself. This seems to have been answered to their whispered words and the thoughts he read in their hearts. They had heard of his fame in Capernaum, but they knew him as a poor young man, and his family was poor. "If he has such power as fame reports, let him better his own condition." He replied to their proverb with another, often verified, "No prophet is acceptable in his own country."   Albert Barnes' Commentary:  Physician, heal thyself. This proverb was probably in common use at that time. The meaning is this: Suppose that a man should attempt to heal another when he was himself diseased in the same manner; it would be natural to ask him first to cure himself, and thus to render it manifest that he was worthy of confidence. The connection of this proverb, here, is this: "You profess to be the Messiah. You have wrought miracles at Capernaum. You profess to be able to deliver us from our maladies, our sins, our afflictions. Show that you have the power, that you are worthy of our confidence, by working miracles here, as you profess to have done at Capernaum." It does not refer, therefore, to any purification of his own, or imply any reflection on him for setting up to teach them. It was only a demand that he would show the proper evidence by miracles why they should trust in him, and he proceeds to show them why he would not give them this evidence. Whatsoever we have heard done. Whatsoever we have heard that thou hast done. It would seem, from this, that Christ had before this wrought miracles in Capernaum, though the evangelist has not recorded them. In Capernaum. Capernaum was on the north-west corner of the Sea of Tiberias, and was not far from Nazareth. It is not improbable that some of those who then heard him might have been present and witnessed some of his miracles at Capernaum.   Jamieson-Faussett Brown:   this proverb--like our "Charity begins at home." whatsoever, &c.--"Strange rumors have reached our ears of Thy doings at Capernaum; but if such power resides in Thee to cure the ills of humanity, why has none of it yet come nearer home, and why is all this alleged power reserved for strangers?" His choice of Capernaum as a place of residence since entering on public life was, it seems, already well known at Nazareth; and when He did come thither, to give no displays of His power when distant places were ringing with His fame, wounded their pride. He had indeed "laid his hands on a few sick folk and healed them" (Mr 6:5); but this seems to have been done quite privately the general unbelief precluding anything more open.   Spurgeon Devotional Commentary:  No comment on this verse.   Adam Clarke's Commentary: That is, heal the broken-hearted in thy own country, as the latter clause of the verse explains it; but they were far from being in a proper spirit to receive the salvation which he was ready to communicate; and therefore they were not healed.   Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary: No comment on this verse.   More       Although accepted by others, Jesus is rejected by his own.. - William Baird, Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary, p. 680 Jesus understands his own mission as fulfilling the ancient prophecy. - William Baird, Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary, p. 680 No prophet is acceptable in his village;  no physician heals those who know him. - Gospel of Thomas, as cited in Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary, p. 680 He is the great preacher who preaches to himself. - Joseph Parker, People's Bible, Vol. 21, p. 225 The more obvious application today is that while the Church is losing ground in America and Western Europe, it is making spectacular gains in some other parts of the world. Reginald H. Fuller, Preaching the Lectionary, p. 459 Though grace be the theme, and Jesus be the preacher, there is a power in a wicked human will and perverse human passions that can defeat all the appliances that God, within the laws of his wise government, can bring to bear upon them. D.D. Whedon, Commentary on the Gospels, Vol. Luke-John, p. 60 Why should He show such grace and make such claims? J. McNicol, New Bible Commentary (1954), p. 848 The point in his reference to Elijah and Elisha is that they were sent to Gentiles, not Israelites -- a hint of his own mission. Henry H. Halley, Halley's Bible Handbook, p. 498 Fulfillment in your hearing does not guarantee acceptance. Wayne A. Meeks, Ed., HarperCollins Study Bible, p. 1963 A person of spiritual discernment may find in all the discourses of our Lord a peculiar sweetness, gravity, and becomingness, such as is not to be found in the same degree, not even in those of the apostles. John Wesley, Notes Upon the New Testament, Vol. 1, on vs. 22

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