As he begins his ministry, Jesus returns to the synagogue in Nazareth, where he grew up, and reads from Isaiah. After reading, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me... to preach the gospel to the poor," he declares, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" — an audacious claim to be the fulfillment of that very prophecy. At first the people marvel at his gracious words, but soon they reject him for being too familiar: "Is not this Joseph's son?" The fact that he was hardest to be recognized in the very place he was most familiar shows that faith is a response to revelation, not to familiarity.
Luke 4:16-30
Discussion Question
The people of Nazareth thought they knew Jesus too well, and that very familiarity kept them from recognizing him. Are there places in our own lives where familiarity gets in the way of real recognition?
Find & Copy the Verse
Look up the verse and type or paste it in exactly as written.
Luke 4:18-19
Quiz
Which prophet's writing did Jesus read from in the Nazareth synagogue?
