4:23
In 4:17 we read that Jesus preached “repent”. Now we read that He taught in the synagogues. Synagogues allowed visiting teachers to speak. So Jesus, and later Paul, took advantage of this custom. Jesus proclaimed the good news of the kingdom. “Kingdom” means reign, rule or authority. The Jews were under the rule, reign and authority of the Romans, and had been under various other powers for much of their history. So coming under the rule of God was good news for them. The problem was that they did not understand what this meant, many thinking of it in nationalistic terms, and specifically freedom from Rome. This is why Jesus taught about the kingdom, for they needed to understand what it really means, and so do we! He also healed “every disease and sickness among the people”. So we have preaching, teaching and healing. So often in our churches we will focus on just one of these. To do this is to present an incomplete picture.
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