1Start
The people of Nazareth wondered at Jesus’s words. Then they asked, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:22).
2Read Together
They had watched him grow up in their town as the carpenter’s son (Matthew 13:55). It was hard for them to accept that someone so familiar could teach with such power.
Luke 4:24 · King James Version
24And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luke 4:28–30 · King James Version
28And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. 30But he passing through the midst of them went his way,
3What It Teaches
Jesus said, “No prophet is accepted in his own country” (Luke 4:24). He reminded them that Elijah was sent to a widow in Sarepta and Elisha healed Naaman the Syrian, both outsiders, while many in Israel went without (Luke 4:25–27).
The crowd was so angry that they took him to the edge of the hill their town was built on, to throw him off (Luke 4:28–29). “But he passing through the midst of them went his way” (Luke 4:30).
In Capernaum, another town in Galilee, people “were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power” (Luke 4:31–32). The same Jesus was rejected in one town and welcomed in the next.
Familiar things can be easy to overlook. Prayer, the sacrament, and the scriptures can start to feel ordinary, and the Savior still speaks through each of them.
4Talk About It
The people of Nazareth knew Jesus too well to see who he was. What familiar blessing in our lives might we be overlooking?