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Chapter 24—“Is Not This the Carpenter’s Son?”
This chapter is based on
Luke 4:16-30
.
Across the bright days of Christ’s ministry in Galilee, one
shadow lay—the people of Nazareth rejected Him. “Is not this the
carpenter’s son?” they said.
Matthew 13:55
. During His youth, Jesus
had worshiped among His brethren in the synagogue at Nazareth.
Since the opening of His ministry He had been absent from them, but
as He again appeared, their expectation was excited to the highest
pitch. Here were the familiar faces He had known from infancy.
Here were His mother, His brothers and sisters, and all eyes were
turned on Him as He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and took
His place among the worshipers.
In the regular service the elder exhorted the people still to hope
for the Coming One, who would bring in a glorious reign and banish
all oppression. He sought to encourage his hearers by rehearsing the
evidence that the Messiah’s coming was near. He kept prominent
the thought that He would appear at the head of armies to deliver
Israel.
When a rabbi was present he was expected to deliver the sermon,
and any Israelite might give the reading from the prophets. Upon this
Sabbath Jesus was requested to take part in the service. He “stood
up to read; and there was given to Him the book of the prophet
Isaiah.” RSV. The scripture He read was understood as referring to
the Messiah:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He hath anointed Me to preach the
gospel to the poor.
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He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted
To preach deliverance to the captives
And recovering of sight to the blind,
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