This is Luke's version of the opening moments of Jesus' public ministry. Having successfully weathered the long days in the wilderness and the scandalous temptations offered by the devil, Jesus turns his face and feet towards his homeland. He "returned to Galilee."

The Messiah, however, is the same Jesus who had been raised there as a craftsman's son. Luke stresses how the returning Jesus is "filled with the power of the Spirit," a "power" most often linked to apostolic witnesses. By mentioning its presence now, Luke affirms Jesus' unquestioned authority to teach, perhaps even alluding to some other tangible sign or sense of power that rested upon Jesus. Others quickly recognized as well a sense of authority about Jesus for Luke declares that "a report about him spread" quickly around his …