Daily Bible Reading 12th 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 the miracles mentioned in these verses there is another note besides the authority of Christ ringing through them which is equally vital and characteristic of the gospel, namely His compassion. The word itself, indeed, is not mentioned (Mark uses it in his parallel passage (1:41)), but its reality can hardly be in question, as we may gather particularly from 40, where loving hands were laid on every one of them. From which we may gather that the Lordship of Christ is a compassionate one, and that the compassion of Christ is a strong, vital, authoritative thing, with nothing maudlin or sentimental about it. Nor should we miss the connection between the manifestation of authority and compassion, on the one hand, and the life of prayer which our Lord lived. In 42 we read that Jesus departed and went into a desert place - to pray. This was the fountainhead of all the blessing that gladdened hearts and homes in Capernaum in these days. The lesson for us is simple and plain. It is prayer that releases the authority and compassion of God upon men's lives. If we want to see the power of God manifest in our day, and the compassionate touch of the Saviour's hand upon broken lives around us, we must be much in prayer to God, for in no other way will this be. It is when we ask how many, or how few, prayer meetings there are throughout the Church, and how many, or how few, people attend them, that we come upon the reason why the Church is so barren of life and power and authority. A prayerless Church is a Church that is dead.