had given to him such relief;
but he journeyed leisurely, for on the following day he was still on the
road, and was met by some of his servants who had been sent to cheer him
with the glad word of his son's recovery. He inquired when the boy had
begun to amend, and was told that at the seventh hour on the yesterday
the fever had left him. That was the time at which Christ had said, "Thy
son liveth." The man's belief ripened fast, and both he and his
household accepted the gospel.[388] This was the second miracle wrought
by Jesus when in Cana, though in this instance the subject of the
blessing was in Capernaum.

Our Lord's fame spread through all the region round about. During a
period not definitely stated, He taught in the synagogs of the towns and
was received with favor, being glorified of all.[389] He then returned
to Nazareth, His former home, and as was his custom, attended the
synagog on the Sabbath day. Many times as boy and man He had sat in that
house of worship, listening to the reading of the law and the prophets
and to the commentaries or Targums[390] relating thereto, as delivered
by appointed readers; but now, as a recognized teacher of legal age He
was eligible to take the reader's place. On this occasion He stood up to
read, when the service had reached the stage at which extracts from the
prophetical books were to be read to the congregation. The minister in
charge handed Him the roll, or book, of Isaiah; He turned to the part
known to us as the beginning of the sixty-first chapter, and read: "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 broken-hearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord."[391] Handing the book to the minister, He sat down.
It was allowable for the reader in the service of the Jewish synagog to
make comments in explanation of what had been read; but to do so he must
sit. When Jesus took His seat the people knew that He was about to
expound the text, and "the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue
were fastened on him." The scripture He had quoted was one recognized by
all classes as specifically referring to the Messiah, for whose coming
the nation waited. The first sentence of our Lord's commentary was
startling; it involved no labored analysis, no scholastic
interpretation,