Daily Bible Reading 11th 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.
The significance of the miracles that Jesus wrought is, in the first instance, that they stand in the record as a testimony to the fact that 'miracle' is what the whole story of the gospel is about. It is the story of God's miraculous intervention in the human situation. But more: if we think of Jesus as having come as the King of the kingdom He proclaimed, then the miracles may be regarded as the credentials of the King who had come from God, the evidence that His claim to kingship was not an idle one. Considered thus, the miracles and signs assume a notable significance as proving that He was the promised King and the fulfilment of the age-long hopes and yearnings of the Old Testament. The New Testament Church had a great clarion call in its preaching and testimony - 'Jesus is Lord', and it is this that the gospel writers are concerned to communicate to their readers, and this is their purpose in recording the miracles. Thus we see His Lordship manifested and exercised over nature and the elements, over disease, devils and death. They demonstrate His absolute authority in all these realms. Nor is this all, either. The miracles are evidences and tokens of the new order that Christ came to inaugurate. The kingdom has come, albeit only in its firstfruits as yet, and we await its glorious consummation. The miracles have a forward look. C.S. Lewis illustrates this point well when he likens them to the snowdrops that appear in the early months of the year. They are the harbingers of spring. There may be storms still to come, and the weather bleak and desolate; but the tokens of spring have been seen, and it is sure to come. So the miracles tell us that grace has decisively breached this weary, sin-sick world of ours, and that a new day is about to dawn. In these works of His power man has been privileged, so to speak, to have a brief glance at the last chapter of the story, to see how it all ends. In this sense, the words of the well-known hymn are particularly applicable: 'Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord'.