4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed 1 me to proclaim good news 2 to the poor. 3
He has sent me 4 to proclaim release 5 to the captives
and the regaining of sight 6 to the blind,
to set free 7 those who are oppressed, 8
5:12 While 9 Jesus 10 was in one of the towns, 11 a man came 12 to him who was covered with 13 leprosy. 14 When 15 he saw Jesus, he bowed down with his face to the ground 16 and begged him, 17 “Lord, if 18 you are willing, you can make me clean.”
5:17 Now on 19 one of those days, while he was teaching, there were Pharisees 20 and teachers of the law 21 sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), 22 and the power of the Lord was with him 23 to heal.
10:21 On that same occasion 24 Jesus 25 rejoiced 26 in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise 27 you, Father, Lord 28 of heaven and earth, because 29 you have hidden these things from the wise 30 and intelligent, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. 31
1 sn The phrase he has anointed me is an allusion back to Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:21-22.
2 tn Grk “to evangelize,” “to preach the gospel.”
3 sn The poor is a key term in Luke. It refers to the pious poor and indicates Jesus’ desire to reach out to those the world tends to forget or mistreat. It is like 1:52 in force and also will be echoed in 6:20 (also 1 Pet 2:11-25). Jesus is commissioned to do this.
4 tc The majority of
5 sn The release in view here is comprehensive, both at a physical level and a spiritual one, as the entire ministry of Jesus makes clear (Luke 1:77-79; 7:47; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43).
6 sn Again, as with the previous phrase, regaining of sight may well mean more than simply miraculously restoring physical sight, which itself pictures a deeper reality (Luke 1:77-79; 18:35-43).
7 sn The essence of Jesus’ messianic work is expressed in the phrase to set free. This line from Isa 58 says that Jesus will do what the nation had failed to do. It makes the proclamation messianic, not merely prophetic, because Jesus doesn’t just proclaim the message – he brings the deliverance. The word translated set free is the same Greek word (ἄφεσις, afesi") translated release earlier in the verse.
8 sn Again, as with the previous phrases, oppressed may well mean more than simply political or economic oppression, but a deeper reality of oppression by sin (Luke 1:77-79; 18:35-43).
9 tn Grk “And it happened that while.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
10 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Or “cities.”
12 tn Grk “towns, behold, a man covered with leprosy.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou, “behold”) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
13 tn Grk “full of leprosy” (an idiom for a severe condition).
14 sn The ancient term for leprosy covers a wider array of conditions than what is called leprosy today. A leper was totally ostracized from society until he was declared cured (Lev 13:45-46).
15 tn Grk “And seeing.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, δέ (de) has not been translated here. The participle ἰδών (idwn) has been taken temporally.
16 tn Grk “he fell on his face”; an idiom for bowing down with one’s face to the ground.
17 tn Grk “and begged him, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
18 tn This is a third class condition. The report portrays the leper making no presumptions about whether Jesus will heal him or not.
19 tn Grk “And it happened that on.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
20 sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.
21 tn That is, those who were skilled in the teaching and interpretation of the OT law. These are called “experts in the law” (Grk “scribes”) in v. 21.
22 sn Jesus was now attracting attention outside of Galilee as far away as Jerusalem, the main city of Israel.
map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
23 tc Most
24 tn Grk “In that same hour” (L&N 67.1).
25 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 sn Jesus rejoiced. The account of the mission in 10:1-24 ends with several remarks about joy.
27 tn Or “thank.”
28 sn The title Lord is an important name for God, showing his sovereignty, but it is interesting that it comes next to a reference to the Father, a term indicative of God’s care. The two concepts are often related in the NT; see Eph 1:3-6.
29 tn Or “that.”
30 sn See 1 Cor 1:26-31.
31 tn Grk “for (to do) thus was well pleasing before you,” BDAG 325 s.v. ἔμπροσθεν 1.δ; speaking of something taking place “before” God is a reverential way of avoiding direct connection of the action to him.
32 sn The term distracted means “to be pulled away” by something (L&N 25.238). It is a narrative comment that makes clear who is right in the account.
33 tn Grk “with much serving.”
34 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that the following was a result of Martha’s distraction.
35 tn The negative οὐ (ou) used with the verb expects a positive reply. Martha expected Jesus to respond and rebuke Mary.
36 tn Grk “has left me to serve alone.”
37 tn The conjunction οὖν (oun, “then, therefore”) has not been translated here.
38 tn The syntactical relationship between vv. 24-25 is disputed. The question turns on whether v. 25 is connected to v. 24 or not. A lack of a clear connective makes an independent idea more likely. However, one must then determine what the beginning of the sentence connects to. Though it makes for slightly awkward English, the translation has opted to connect it to “he will answer” so that this functions, in effect, as an apodosis. One could end the sentence after “us” and begin a new sentence with “He will answer” to make simpler sentences, although the connection between the two sentences is thereby less clear. The point of the passage, however, is clear. Once the door is shut, because one failed to come in through the narrow way, it is closed permanently. The moral: Do not be too late in deciding to respond.
39 tn Or “the master of the household.”
40 tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”
41 tn Or “Sir.”
42 tn Grk “Open to us.”
43 tn Grk “and answering, he will say to you.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will answer you.”
44 sn For the imagery behind the statement “I do not know where you come from,” see Ps 138:6; Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Hos 5:3.