Daily Bible Reading 10th May 2026 // Luke 4:31-44
31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. 33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. 39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
In this passage we now see the message of good tidings that Jesus had proclaimed in the synagogue unfolded and exemplified in the incidents that took place in Capernaum. It is as if Luke, after recording that earlier scene in Nazareth, was now saying to us, 'For example... this!' This section of the gospel can be studied in different ways. On the one hand, we could look at it as a description of the meaning of the Sabbath. For what happened in it all took place on the Sabbath Day. We may surely find a significance in this. It tells us that this is what a Sabbath should be like, what, in fact, the Sabbath was designed and ordained of God to be - a day of blessing, renewal, refreshment, a day of the right hand of the Most High. We see the power of God at work in the synagogue in the morning; in a private home in the afternoon; and in the street, and in the open air in the evening. We should notice the words used by his audience to describe the nature of his work - 'with authority and power' (36). Exactly! In this connection let us remember that Luke, in common with the other gospel writers, is writing from the standpoint of the resurrection and victory of Christ, looking back and viewing all from the standpoint of the kingship and lordship of Christ. He is interpreting and explaining how it was that Christ could do these things, and on what basis. This opens up what could be called the 'doctrine' of miracles, and we shall need to say something about this in the Notes that follow.