LESSON VI.

Jesus commences his public Ministry.

FROM LUKE IV.

AND Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the country round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all,

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Esaias was delivered to him. And having unrolled* the Book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart, to preach deliverance to the captives, and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he rolled up the book, and he gave it again to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bore testimony to him, and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded from his mouth. And they said, Is not this the son of Joseph? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself :

* Unrolled.-Books were not, in those days, made of separate leaves bound together, but were rolls of parchment. From this circumstance we have the word volume, which signifies a roll. The different books of the Old Testament were kept in the synagogues or places of worship in separate rolls, as they still are by the Jews: and the roll which contained the prophecies of Isaiah was put into his hands.

+ To this the Vulgate, with some of the ancient versions, adds,' and the day of retribution.'

whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy own country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias,* when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, only to Sarepta, of Sidon, to a widow woman. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus, the prophet; and none of them, but only Naaman, the Syrian, was cleansed. And all they in the synagogue, hearing these things, were filled with anger, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he, passing through the midst of them, went away.

WORDS, &C. TO BE EXPLAINED IN LESSON VI.

WHERE did Jesus teach when he came to Nazareth?

What book was given him when he went into the Syna

gogue?

Repeat what he read?

What did he say after he had read this?

What objection did they make to him?

What did Jesus say to this?

What did he say about the widows?

What about the lepers?

How did the people receive this?

How did he escape from them?

* Elias or Elijah.—The reference is to 2 Kings, or, according to the Douay, 3 Kings xvii. 9—24.

+ Eliseus or Elisha.-The reference is to 2 Kings, or according to the Douay, 4 Kings v.

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LESSON VII. ·

Jesus works Miracles.

FROM LUKE IV. AND V.

AND [Jesus] came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath-days. And they were astonished at his manner of teaching for his word was with authority. And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean demon, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone: what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art: the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent, and come out of him. And the demon having thrown him in the midst [of the assembly] came out of him, without injuring him. And they were all amazed and spake among themselves, saying, What meaneth this! that with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they came out. And the fame of him went out into every place of the surrounding country.

And he, rising up out of the synagogue, went into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother had been seized with a violent fever; and they besought him for her. And he, standing over her, rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and served them. Now when the sun was set,* all they that had any sick of whatever disease, brought them unto him; and he, laying his hands on every one of them, healed

* Because the Sabbath being ended, the people were at liberty to carry the sick.

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them. Demons also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he, rebuking them, suffered them not to speak for they knew that he was Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place and the people sought him, and came unto him, and urged him, that he should not depart from them. And he said unto them I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. And he preached in the

synagogues of Galilee.

And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret;* and saw two barkst aground near the edge of the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And going up into one of the barks, which was Simon's, he desired him to thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the bark. Now, when he had ceased speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering, said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. And having done this, they enclosed a multitude of fishes; and their net broke. And they beckoned unto their companions who were in the other bark, to come and help

*Lake of Gennesaret.-A fresh-water lake through which the river Jordan runs, called also the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias, and the Sea of Chinneroth.

+ Barks, called ships in the Authorized and Rheims Versions, but every thing mentioned respecting them indicates that they were small fishing vessels. Josephus describes them as having but four or five men to each. The word bark is preferred to ship, as conveying the idea of a smaller vessel. The word boat will be used to translate a still smaller kind of vessel, mentioned in the Gospels.

them. And they came, and filled both the barks, so that they were almost sinking.

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For terror seized upon him and upon all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. And so in like manner on James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And having brought their barks to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

And it came to pass, when he was in one of the [neighbouring] cities, behold a man full of leprosy; who, seeing, Jesus, fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And stretching forth his hand, he touched him saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. And he charged him to tell no man. But go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.* Yet so much the more the fame of him spread abroad: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew into solitary places, and prayed.

* Show thyself to the priest, &c.-The priests under the Mosaic law were the judges whether any one were affected with leprosy, or cleansed from it. Jesus knew that if the priests were aware that this leprous man had been cured by him, they might have refused to acknowledge that he was clean. Jesus therefore directed him to go at once, without speaking of the matter, and present his offering to the priest as one cured of leprosy, that he, by receiving the offering, might give his testimony to his cure.