Spread of Jesus' Fame

During the second year of His ministry, the crowds that were attracted to Jesus grew increasingly large, especially as He moved about the region around the Sea of Galilee.

When Jesus returned to Galilee filled with the Holy Spirit, people all over that region began talking about Him. As He spoke in the synagogues, everyone enjoyed and spoke highly of His teaching.

At this time, Jesus moved from His hometown, Nazareth, to Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. (Isaiah’s prophecy about “people living in darkness seeing a great light” was fulfilled as Jesus taught here.)

Jesus officially called four fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James, and John) who had been learning from Him to be His followers while in this region. Then, He continued teaching about God’s kingdom all over Galilee and healed people of their diseases. Jesus’ fame got around the entire Roman province of Syria, so people brought their sick—mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually—Jesus healed all of them! The more He healed, the more people came. They came from Galilee at first. But then crowds started coming from the "Ten Towns" on the other side of the lake, and all the way from Jerusalem and Judea, and Perea on the other side of the Jordan River.

After this, He went back to Nazareth (His hometown). Just like every other Sabbath, He went to the meeting place. He stood to read and was given an Isaiah scroll. He unrolled it and found this well-known prophecy about the coming of Messiah:

“God's Spirit is on Me. He chose Me to preach Good news to the poor, to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the burdened and battered free, and to announce, ‘This is God's year to act!’”

Every eye in the place watched Him intently as He rolled up the scroll, returned it to the assistant, and sat down to teach. Then He said, “This Scripture was fulfilled as you listened.”

Everyone there was surprised at His speaking ability. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son, the one we’ve known since He was a boy?” “How did he get so wise all of a sudden?” “He’s just a carpenter—Mary's boy.” His brothers are James, Justus, Jude, and Simon. Who does he think he is?” The little they knew about Him kept them from seeing the big picture, and they became offended. Jesus responded:

“Of course you’re going to quote the proverb, ‘Doctor, heal yourself. We heard you did great miracles in Capernaum. Do them here in your hometown.’ Well, it’s true: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. You must know there were plenty of widows in Israel during those three and a half years of drought and famine, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Zarephath in Sidon. And there were plenty of lepers in Israel during Elisha’s time, but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian.”

That made them angry. They threw Him out of the synagogue and out of the village. They took Him to a cliff so they could throw Him off, but He slipped right through their hands and headed to Capernaum, where He taught the people on the Sabbath. Again, people were amazed and impressed with His clear, confident, authoritative teaching.

A demon-possessed man yelled, “Hey! Why are you here, Jesus, Nazarene? Are You here to destroy us? I know You are the Holy One of God. Why have You come?”

Jesus rebuffed him: “That’s enough! Let the man go!” Right in front of the crowd, the demon threw the man down and left without hurting him. If they weren’t amazed before, they were now.

“What’s this? Someone with such power and authority that He casts out demons with His word?”

Everyone in the entire area was talking about Jesus, and the news spread like wildfire.