WEEK 29 | SUNDAY | LUKE 4-5

This week’s Year in the Gospels readings are from Luke 4-5. Here are the daily readings:

Monday: Luke 4:1-13
Tuesday: Luke 4:14-30
Wednesday: Luke 4:31-5:11
Thursday: Luke 5:12-26
Friday: Luke 5:27-39

This Week’s Full Reading

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.

5:1 Now Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing around him to hear the word of God. ² He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. ⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” ⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing! But at your word I will lower the nets.” ⁶ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets started to tear. ⁷ So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they were about to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For Peter and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s business partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people!” ¹¹ So when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

¹² While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came to him who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed down with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” ¹³ So he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ Then he ordered the man to tell no one, but commanded him, “Go and show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ¹⁵ But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds were gathering together to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses. ¹⁶ Yet Jesus himself frequently withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.

¹⁷ Now on one of those days, while he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. ¹⁸ Just then some men showed up, carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They were trying to bring him in and place him before Jesus. ¹⁹ But since they found no way to carry him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down on the stretcher through the roof tiles right in front of Jesus. ²⁰ When Jesus saw their faith he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” ²¹ Then the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this man who is uttering blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ²² When Jesus perceived their hostile thoughts, he said to them, “Why are you raising objections within yourselves? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? ²⁴ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralyzed man—“I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he stood up before them, picked up the stretcher he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. ²⁶ Then astonishment seized them all, and they glorified God. They were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen incredible things today.”

²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. ²⁸ And he got up and followed him, leaving everything behind.

²⁹ Then Levi gave a great banquet in his house for Jesus, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and their experts in the law complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ Jesus answered them, “Those who are well don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

³³ Then they said to him, “John’s disciples frequently fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours continue to eat and drink.” ³⁴ So Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? ³⁵ But those days are coming, and when the bridegroom is taken from them, at that time they will fast.” ³⁶ He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸ Instead new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹  No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”

The previous translation is from the NET Bible translation. Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.