“No Prophet is Accepted in his Hometown”

Jesus Christ’s life on earth is an example for each of us and a model for living our lives. Going home to witness, however, proved to be very difficult and received a response that should not be surprising to us, especially if you are a believer in Jesus Christ who has relatives and parents that don’t know the Lord.After going through the temptation in the wilderness, He returned to Galilee, His home, to share His knowledge. He returned with the Holy Spirit present–he was no longer just the son of Joseph the carpenter:

He was no longer living as a carpenter but now as a teacher, and everyone had heard about Him. His life was open for everyone to see, and He did what was customary to Him as he grew up there–He went to the synagogue.

Luke 4:16-21
He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

Isaiah 61:1-2

 ¹ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, 
    because the LORD has anointed Me
    to bring good news to the poor. 
    He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and freedom to the prisoners;

    ² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, 
    and the day of our God’s vengeance; 
    to comfort all who mourn.

Jesus declares Himself to be the Messiah and the Deliverer; yet, they still regarded Him as Joseph’s son. Sometimes in your ministry to those who are most familiar with you and your life when you were growing from childhood into adulthood, you will not be taken seriously. There is a lot of history that affects those closest to you, and even your own family members may question the change and difference in your life that they see in you. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck on where people may still see you. Your response is to continue to do what is necessary, and you may have to graciously move on to another area where you can continue to be obedient to God and serve Him.

In our text in Luke chapter 4, Jesus was not removed from the synagogue because of his comments about the Messiah–he was removed because of His references to Gentiles who believed in the Word of God and had faith in contrast to the unbelief of the Jews. They took exception to His comments that they would not believe and yet Gentiles would believe His Word.

Luke 4:22-30

²² They were all speaking well of Him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from His mouth, yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

    ²³ Then He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself.’ ‘All we’ve heard that took place in Capernaum, do here in Your hometown also.’ “

    ²⁴ He also said, ” I assure you: No prophet is accepted in his hometown. ²⁵But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days,when the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them—but to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷ And in the prophet Elisha’s time, there were many in Israel who had serious skin diseases, yet not one of them was healed —only Naaman the Syrian.”

    ²⁸ When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged. ²⁹ They got up, drove Him out of town, and brought Him to the edge of the hill their town was built on, intending to hurl Him over the cliff. ³⁰ But He passed right through the crowd and went on His way.

Here are the references that Christ was noting in the passage of Gentiles believing and trusting the Word:

1 Kings 17:13-15

¹³ Then Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. Only make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterwards, you may make some for yourself and your son, ¹⁴ for this is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the surface of the land. ‘ “

    ¹⁵ So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. She and he and her household ate for many days.

2 Kings 5:13-15

¹³ But his servants approached and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more [should you do it] when he tells you, ‘Wash and be clean’?” ¹⁴ So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the command of the man of God. Then his skin was restored [and became] like the skin of a small boy, and he was clean.

    ¹⁵ Then Naaman and his whole company went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, “I know there’s no God in the whole world except in Israel. Therefore, please accept a gift from your servant.”

By standing in the Word of God, you will ultimately be successful in everything that you attempt in life.  It begins with believing and trusting in His Word.

We need to realize that the rejection of those we know may be hard to deal with, we must still focus upon carrying out God’s will for our life by walking in Spirit and in truth. It is about being a good witness to others in all that we do for the glory of God.