10 - A Prophet at Home

For most of the past 30 years Jesus has been a normal young man in Nazareth, except, of course, for the fact that He has done nothing to disobey God. He had become the village carpenter, working alongside Joseph His stepfather, and He was regularly found studying in the synagogue and known to be a godly man by the whole village (Lk. 2:52). But over the last few months God has done some profound things in His life. He has been baptized in the Holy Spirit, fasted for forty days, was tempted by the devil himself and has ministered healing & deliverance to many people on numerous occasions. He has even risen up as a prophet and has driven the commercial activities off the temple grounds in a stormy confrontation during Passover. In other words, He is not the same person He was before leaving Nazareth. He is returning as the Messiah of Israel and the Holy Spirit is proving His claims in powerful ways.

What we see in this passage is an illustration of the principle that "a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household" (Mt. 13:57). Rather than rejoicing at what God is doing through someone raised in their own village, Nazareth exhibits more hostility toward the Lord than any other town in Galilee. Unfortunately, Jesus is modeling a pattern of rejection experienced by all who try to minister to the people closest to them.

 

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