out him. And now he was at home with his friends and family
again.

On the Sabbath morning he went to the old familiar synagogue. There
was a full congregation that day, for everyone supposed that Jesus
would preach. He had never preached in Nazareth before.

When the time came to read the Scripture lesson, Jesus walked up to
the front. He took the roll from the minister, and found the place he
wanted. It was in the book of the Prophet Isaiah. He began to read:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the
broken-hearted, to preach liberty to the prisoners and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set free those who suffer, and to say that God
will be good to his people."

Jesus stopped reading and handed the roll back to the minister. He sat
down in the seat from which Jewish preachers always spoke to the
people in the synagogue.

The whole congregation was very still, waiting to hear what Jesus had
to say. That was an exciting lesson he had read from the Scriptures.
It made the people think of the Messiah. Someday a preacher would be
able to say, "This has all come true!" And that would mean that the
Messiah had come.

Jesus looked around at the faces he knew so well. Thirty years he had
lived among these people. Now he was back to tell them something that
they had never known before.

He began to speak.

"Today," he said, "you are seeing this Scripture lesson come true."

[Illustration]

A thrill ran through the audience. The Scripture had come true? The
Messiah was really here? Could he mean that _he_ was the Messiah?
The people gasped. Some laughed. Others were angry. They started to
talk among themselves.

"The Messiah? Him? Why, that's only Jesus! The carpenter's son!"

"Everybody knows who Jesus is! Lived down the street since I don't
know when!"

"Who does he think he is?"

Jesus again raised his voice above the others':

"I know what you are going to say. You are going to quote that old
saying, 'Doctor, cure yourself.' You are going to tell me to start
doing the things I am supposed to have done in Capernaum. I'm not
surprised. A servant of God never gets any honor among his own people.
The same thing happened to the prophets long ago.

"Don't expect me to do anything wonderful here in Nazareth. You
wouldn't believe it if you saw it. Why do you think you ought to get
any special favors from God?"

A great roar