SOON AFTER the visit to Cana, and the cure of the nobleman's son, Jesus
walked over to his old home at Nazareth, which was only six miles away.
He thought of his sisters in that city, who were now grown women with
children of their own, and he longed to see them. He thought, too, of
the boys with whom in other days he had played and had sat in the
school, now men with families; of his former neighbors, whom he had not
seen for nearly a year. His heart was full of love for his own people,
and he felt that out of the power God had given him he could speak to
them words that would do them good.
Of course, the people of Nazareth had heard wonderful stories about
their former townsman; that he had suddenly come forth as a great
teacher, speaking truths such as never had been heard before; and
especially, that he had done wondrous works of curing the sick at Cana
and at Capernaum. All these reports were surprising to the people of
Nazareth, because among them Jesus had never shown any signs of
greatness. He had sat in his seat in the church, but had never spoken
from the pulpit; and they had known him as a good young man, kind and
gentle toward all, and an honest, skilful workman at his trade. But they
had never thought of him as a teacher, or a prophet bearing a message
from God, or as a worker of wonders, such as they had heard of his doing
in Cana and Capernaum.
[Illustration: The people in the synagogue at Nazareth did not care for
the words of Jesus. In their rage and fury they leaped from their seats
and dragged him out of doors.]
It was expected that Jesus on the Sabbath day would speak in the church
at Nazareth (they called their church "the synagogue," a word that
means "a meeting of the people"); and everybody was present to see him
and to hear him. In a gallery on one side were his sisters, looking and
listening, but unseen, because the women's gallery in all Jewish
churches was covered with a lattice-work. There on the floor, seated on
rugs or mats, were his neighbors and the people who had seen him grow up
from a boy to a man. They were present, not to learn, but to listen and
judge his words, and especially to see what great things he might do.
Jesus walked up to the platform, and the officer in charge handed him
the rolls on which were written the lessons for the day. This officer
was at the same time the janitor or keeper of the building and the
teacher of the school held there during the week. This man may have been
the teacher who had taught Jesus as a boy to read. One of the lessons
for that day was in the sixty-first chapter of the book of Isaiah the
prophet. A part of it read thus:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he hath set me apart to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to say that the prisoners shall be set free,
That the blind shall have their sight again,
That the poor and suffering shall be given freedom,
That the time of favor from God has come."
While Jesus was reading from the Bible, he stood up, and all who were
present also stood, for the Jews showed their respect for the Bible by
standing whenever it was read. When he had finished the reading, he
folded up the roll, handed it back to the officer, and sat down, and the
people also sat down likewise. Often the man who preached in the
synagogue or church was seated while speaking. Jesus began by saying:
"Today this word of the prophet has come to pass in your hearing."
And he went on to tell in simple, gentle words how he had been sent to
preach to the poor, to set the prisoners free, to give sight to the
blind and to bring the news of God's goodness to men. At first the
people listened with the deepest interest, and their hearts were touched
by his kind and tender words.
But soon they began to whisper among themselves. One said, "Why should
this carpenter try to teach us?" And another, "This man is no teacher!
He is only the son of Joseph the carpenter! We know his brothers, and
his sisters are living here." And some began to say, "Why does he not do
here some of the wonderful things that they say he has done in other
places? We want to see some of his marvelous cures with sick people!"
Jesus knew their thoughts, but he would not do wonders merely to be seen
by men. He said to them:
"I know that you are saying, 'Let us see some wonderful work, like that
on the nobleman's son in Capernaum.' I tell you in truth, that no
prophet or teacher has honor among his own people.
"You remember that in the days of Elijah the prophet, when the sky was
shut up for three years and six months, and no rain fell, there was a
great famine in the land and a need of bread. At that time there were
many widows in the land of Israel, yet Elijah was not sent to any of
these, but to a widow woman in Zarephath of Zidon, a foreigner and a
Gentile. And in the time of Elisha the prophet after Elijah, there were
many lepers in the land of Israel, yet none of these was made clean of
his leprosy, but only Naaman the Syrian."
These words, telling how God had chosen foreigners instead of Israelites
for his works of wonder, made the people in the church very angry, for
they did not care for the words of Jesus; they only wished to see him do
some miracle or wonderful act. They would not listen to him; in their
rage and fury, they leaped from their seats; they rushed upon the
platform; they seized hold of Jesus and dragged him out of doors. They
took him up to the top of the hill above the city, and would have thrown
him down its steep side to his death. But the time for Jesus to die had
not yet come. By the power of God, Jesus slipped quietly out of their
hands and went away. He walked away very sadly from Nazareth, for he had
longed to bring the good news of God's blessings first of all to his own
people.
[Illustration: Approach to Jerusalem, from the railroad station on the
southwest]
[Illustration: Jewish fishermen by the Sea of Galilee]
Four Fishermen Called