26-01

After Jesus refused Satan’s temptations

Jesus did not do the wrong things Satan tried to get him to do, so Jesus defeated him.

26-02

the village where he had lived when he was a child

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but Joseph and Mary were from Nazareth. They moved back to Nazareth when Jesus was a young boy and lived there after that.

the place of worship

This was not the main Temple in Jerusalem where the Jews offered sacrifices. There were smaller buildings in many towns where the Jews worshiped and prayed together every week. This was one of those places.

a scroll

A scroll was a long sheet of paper or leather that was rolled up and had writing on it.

a scroll with the messages of the prophet Isaiah

This was a copy of the scroll that Isaiah had written hundreds of years before.

26-03

proclaim good news to the poor

This means to tell poor and needy people the good message that God will help them.

to set prisoners free

This means to tell people who are wrongfully in prison that they will be released.

26-04

The things I just read to you, they are happening right now

Jesus wanted to say that God was causing this passage about the Messiah to happen at that time. This meant that Jesus was the Messiah.

Isn’t this the son of Joseph?

The people were not asking if he was Joseph’s son or not. They were wondering how he could be the Messiah since they thought he was only the son of an ordinary man.

26-05

people never accept a prophet in the town he grew up in

Jesus was perhaps speaking a Jewish proverb. This proverb meant that people do not recognize the authority of a prophet who has grown up among them. Since Jesus grew up in Nazareth, the people there would not believe he was the Messiah.

he sent Elijah to a widow in a different nation

Jesus is referring to a story in the Old Testament about the prophet Elijah. God provided food for that widow during a famine so she could take care of Elijah.

26-06

Elisha

Elisha was God’s prophet who came after Elijah. Like Elijah, Elisha confronted Israelite kings who were sinning against God and he did miracles that God gave him power to do.

He only healed the skin disease of Naaman

Jesus is again referring to a story in the Old Testament. God healed Naaman because he obeyed what Elisha told him to do.

they were furious at him

The Jews did not want to hear that God had blessed any people besides themselves, so they were very angry at what Jesus said.

26-07

Jesus walked through the crowd

The crowd was trying to seize and kill Jesus. We do not know how Jesus was able to walk through the middle of them. Perhaps God confused them or prevented them from seeing Jesus. As a result, they were not able to do to Jesus what they had planned to do.

26-09

who had demons in them

These people were controlled by evil spirits.

You are the Son of God!

Even the demons knew that Jesus was the Son of God.

26-10

apostles

Jesus chose these 12 men from among his many disciples to be apostles. They spent more time with Jesus than his other disciples. And he later gave the apostles more authority than he gave his other disciples.