“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.He has sent me to heal the broken hearted,to proclaim release to the captives,recovering of sight to the blind,to deliver those who are crushed,and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
(World English Bible)
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In the synagogue at Nazareth the people grow furious with Jesus. They force him out of the town and lead him to the edge of the hill it is built on, meaning to throw him off the cliff, but he passes through the middle of them and goes on his way (Luke 4:28–30). The chapter also says that John the Baptizer had been arrested and locked up in prison (Matthew 4:12; Mark 1:14; Luke 3:20).
had been arrested. the had locked him up in prison. When learned that John had been handed over, he left and went back to . He went in the power of the Spirit, and word about him spread through all the surrounding area.
He moved from to , a town by the sea in the land of and . This was so that the words spoken through the would come true:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,toward the sea, beyond the ,Galilee of the :the people who sat in darknesssaw a great light;to those who sat in the land of death’s shadow,to them light has dawned.”
From then on, Matthew says, Jesus began to preach. His message was “, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near!” In Mark, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom. He said, “The time has come, and God’s Kingdom is near! Repent, and believe in the Good News.”
He taught in the of Galilee, and everyone praised him.
Jesus came to Nazareth, the town where he had grown up. On the day, as he usually did, he went to the synagogue, and he stood up to read.
He was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled it and found the place that says:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,because he has me to bring the poor good news.He has sent me to heal those whose hearts are broken,to announce freedom for the captivesand sight again for the blind,to rescue those who are crushed,and to announce the year of the Lord’s favor.”
He rolled the scroll up again, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was on him.
Then he began to speak. “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
All of them spoke of him, and they were amazed at how gracious his words were. “Isn’t this ’s son?” they asked.
Jesus said to them, “I’m sure you will quote me the old saying: ‘Physician, heal yourself! We’ve heard about all that was done in Capernaum. Do it here in your hometown too.’”
Then he said, “I tell you for certain, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.
“But this is the truth: there were many widows in Israel in the days of . That was when the sky held back its rain for three years and six months, and the whole land suffered a great famine. Elijah was sent to none of them. He was sent only to a widow at , in the land of . And there were many people with in Israel in the time of the prophet, yet not one of them was made clean except , the Syrian.”
As they listened, everyone in the synagogue grew furious.
They rose up, forced him out of town, and led him to the edge of the hill their town was built on, meaning to throw him off the cliff.
But he passed through the middle of them and went on his way.