Volume 2

Jesus Preaches on the Sabbath
213
Peter's mother-in-law, who was then lying sick.
Jesus went around Capharnaum to His Mother's dwelling,
where about five women together with Peter,
Andrew, James, and John were assembled. They went out
to meet Him, and there were great rejoicings at His coming
and His miracles. He took a meal here, and then
went straight back to Capharnaum for the Sabbath. The
women remained at home.
A great concourse of people and many sick were
gathered at Capharnaum. The possessed ran crying about
the streets as Jesus approached. He commanded them to
be silent, and passed along through them to the synagogue.
After the prayer, a stiff-necked Pharisee by the
name of Manasses was called upon, for it was his turn to
read the Scriptures aloud. But Jesus told them to give
Him the roll, that He would do the reading. They
obeyed, and He read from the beginning of the First
Book of Moses down to the account of the murmuring of
the Children of Israel. He spoke of the ingratitude of
their fathers, of the mercy of God toward them, and of
the nearness of the Kingdom, warning them to beware of
acting as their fathers had done. He explained all the errors
and crooked ways of their fathers by a comparison
with their own erroneous notions, drawing a parallel between
the Promised Land of those far-off times and the
Kingdom now so near. Then He read the first chapter of
Isaias, which He interpreted as referring to the present.
He spoke of crime and its punishment, of their long waiting
for a Prophet, and of how they would treat Him now
that they had Him. He cited the various animals, all of
which knew their master, although they, His hearers,
knew Hinl not. He spoke of the One that longed to help
thenl, picturing to them the woeful appearance He would
present in consequence of their outrages upon Him, also
of the punishment in store for Jerusalem, and of the small
number of the elect when all this would take place. The