The man pleaded, “Sir, please come and heal my son. He’ll die if you don’t come quickly.”

Jesus had compassion on him and said, “Go in peace. Your son will live.”

The father looked at Jesus, and suddenly believed him. On his way home, his servants met him and said, “Your son lives!”

The official asked them, “What time did he get better?”

They said, “The fever left him about one in the afternoon.”

The father knew it was the exact hour Jesus said his son was healed. The man’s entire family put their trust in Jesus as the Christ.

After that Jesus went to Nazareth (where he had grown up as a child). He went to the synagogue as he normally did. He stood, and the book of Isaiah was handed to him. He read:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor;
to heal the brokenhearted,
to announce pardon to prisoners,
to recover sight to the blind,
to give liberty to the oppressed,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Once he had read this, he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant. He then sat down. Everyone in the synagogue looked at him. Finally he said, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled.”

Everyone was amazed. They said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son who grew up in our town?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “I know what you are thinking. You’re saying, ‘We heard about his miracles in other cities. We want to see some here.’ ”

“Oh, the saying is true, ‘A prophet will be honored, except in his own town.’ In the great famine during the time of Elijah, there were many widows in Israel, but God provided for a Gentile widow. During the time of Elisha, there were many people in Israel with the disease of leprosy, but God healed a Gentile from Syria.”

The people in the synagogue were furious. They grabbed him and led him out of the city. They headed to the place where they executed people by throwing them off a cliff. When they got there, they realized he wasn’t with them. He had turned, walked through the crowd, and left.

After that time, Jesus no longer lived in Nazareth, but settled in Capernaum.