Salvation is something God does in us; what we do is only a response to His work in us. Seeing how God reached Saul encourages us to believe that God can reach people in our lives who are very far from Him. Through our brokenness, God fills us and uses us.

We see many parallels between Elijah and John’s life, all leading to Christ. We see how King Herod tries to please both God’s prophet and his sin, only to be consumed by the latter. Do we hold our peccadillos along with God’s word?

The passage shows the rejection of Jesus by his Hometown Nazareth. Rather than attributing Jesus’s works to God, they chose to remain perplexed by his earthly credentials, thus taking offense. Are we offended by the Gospel? Or are we moved to true faith in Christ?

Scribes were learned men of Jewish law. Not only do the Spirit-appointed teachers and preachers bring out knowledge and wisdom from the whole bible, but we, laymen, too are called to be disciples filled with understanding of all of Christ’s words.