Daily Bible Reading 24th October 2026 // Luke 4:25-27
25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
The theme of 'counting the cost' which runs through the parable of the great supper (16-24) is continued and further defined in the remaining verses of the chapter. The enthusiasm of the multitudes that followed Jesus (25) was uncomprehending and based on misunderstanding; they thought of Him as a Messiah going to Jerusalem for victory, and He here disabuses them of this false idea. His business in Jerusalem was the winning of a victory, but very differently from their notions of it: it was an exacting and dangerous task, calling for men who would be disciples indeed, who would let nothing stand in the way of absolute loyalty. Like the guest in 15, they had not realised what the invitation to enter the kingdom implied. There are two dangers inherent in the interpretation of our Lord's radical words in 26, however. One is to take them with harsh literalness - as alas is sometimes done, to the immeasurable hurt and damage to family relationships. The other danger is so to deny the literalness of the words as to take the sting out of them, and the tremendousness of their challenge. It is not necessary, in fact, to fall into either danger. On the one hand the context, and on the other hand the parallel passages (Matthew 6:24 - 'hate the one and love the other' - and Matthew 10:37 - 'he that loveth father or mother more than me....') show that what is meant is that a choice must be made between natural affection and loyalty to Christ. More of this in tomorrow's Note.