NOTES for Luk 4:16
In the Synagogue, already in the era of the Second Temple, a custom had developed: every believing Jew could read and comment on the Torah during worship. This custom later passed from synagogue practice into church practice, so that both in the earliest Christian and in early Christian times there were church preachers who were neither deacons nor presbyters nor bishops, but belonged to that active core of the church community without which the Church in those days was unthinkable.
There was such an active core in the Synagogue as well. In Judea, and in Palestine generally, in Gospel times it usually consisted of members of the Pharisaic brotherhood, to which many synagogues belonged. In such synagogues, the brotherhood included the overwhelming majority of the parishioners, and naturally the council of elders and the synagogue rabbinate as well. The Pharisees were active preachers and missionaries, and preaching was constantly heard in their synagogues; if not everyone preached, then very many did. But in general, any believing Jew could give a sermon if he had something to say.
It appears that Jesus made use of this opportunity. He, of course, immediately spoke about the Messiah and the messianic Kingdom, since in the synagogues at that time the corresponding passage from the Book of Isaiah was being read. His speech consisted not in words, but in eloquent silence. After reading the text, He said nothing more and simply sat down. In doing so, He was letting those present understand that He had nothing to say: He is here, He has come, and that is all He wanted to communicate to the people gathered there.
In fact, very often an encounter with Christ happens just like this: He simply stands before a person and is silent. He lets Himself be seen, determining nothing in advance, demanding nothing, insisting on nothing, and trying to convince no one of anything. A person is free to choose, and he must choose for himself. Face to face with the Messiah who has appeared to the world. As then in Nazareth.