Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country

T'oros Roslin Gospels, Canon Table with Isaiah, 1262.   Hromkla scriptorium, Cilicia/Walters Ms. W.539, fol.5v, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives 

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  

 

So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His own way.

 

 - Luke 4:14–30 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan after His Baptism and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "  And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"   Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.  

 

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  Luke tells us once more of the direct role the Holy Spirit has in this beginning of Christ's ministry (see also Luke 3:16, 22; 4:1).

 

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:  "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  My study bible comments here that Christ, being the eternal Son of God, did not "become" the world's anointed Savior, but has always been our Savior from before the foundation of the world.  It notes that it was Christ who spoke through Isaiah who said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me" (Isaiah 61:1).  Christ does note say that "the Spirit has come upon Me."  When the Spirit of the LORD descended upon Jesus at His Baptism (see Luke 3:22), this was a sign which revealed an eternal, not temporal, truth to the people. 

 

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."   Christ explains that Isaiah's proclaimed acceptable year of the LORD is the time of the Incarnation, when the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth (see 2 Corinthians 6:2).  

 

 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His own way.  My study bible comments that this double response in which the people both marveled and also rejected Him occurs frequently in those who encounter Christ (see also Luke 11:14-16, John 9:16).  Christ's being rejected in His own country is a fulfillment of the rejection of Old Testament prophets such as Elijah, and also Elisha (both of whom Jesus mentions here), and it foreshadows Christ's rejection by the whole of the Jewish nation at His trial before Pilate (John 9:14-15).  Christ accepts death according to the will of the Father, and not at the will of the people or the religious leaders.  Here, the hour of His Passion has not yet come (see John 8:20).  

Jesus says, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country."  This is such an important statement that all four of the Gospels include it (see also Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, John 4:44).  Jesus brings to mind, by way of explanation to His townspeople, the stories of Elijah and Elisha, in which they were not sent by God to perform miraculous signs and healings except to foreigners, and not to their own people.  Indeed, Matthew and Mark explain that Jesus could not perform any great signs in Nazareth because of His fellow townspeople's lack of faith (Matthew 13:58, Mark 6:5-6).  They just can't believe that Christ could be anything except the person they remember as Joseph's son.  They marvel at the gracious words He speaks which apparently are a kind of surprising revelation to them.  But they have also heard of the works He's done elsewhere by this time, and Jesus anticipates that they will demand such among themselves as a kind of proof of this new status He's gained:  "Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country."   But consistently throughout the Gospels Jesus refuses to produce signs and "proofs" on demand.   The manifestations of His divine power happen in response to faith.  In giving the examples of Elijah and Elisha, this is what Christ has attempted to explain to the townspeople.  Rather than comprehending and considering what He's telling them, they respond with an outrage predictable to those familiar with the Gospels and Jesus' ministry.  How dare He tell them that the lack of proofs, or manifestation of signs, has something to do with them, something lacking in them?  Their outrage is indicative both of their lack of faith and their lack of recognition of any kind of authority in Jesus, and reflects the greater rejection that is to come in Jerusalem for similar reasons.   Psychologically, this outrage is a reflection of what is commonly called "projection," in which our own internal darkness or ignorance -- a lack of knowledge about what is within ourselves -- results in the projection of our own flaws onto others.  The darkness within us acts as a kind of mirror, where what we accuse others of being is a reflection of something within ourselves.  In this case, Jesus tells them the truth about themselves.  Rather than possessing the ability to look within in an honest way, and trusting in the words and motives of Christ, they respond with a predictable outrage at the Person they perceive as accuser.  Repeatedly, Jesus says in the Gospels that those who love the Father will also be able to "hear" Him.  In John chapter 8, Jesus says to those among the Pharisees who wish to kill Him:  "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God" (John 8:42-47).  He also speaks of this phenomenon of projection when He teaches that we don't dare correct or condemn someone when we haven't dealt with our own bigger flaws:  "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:1-4).   In today's reading, the townspeople of Nazareth come off as quite judgmental and set in their ways.  The way their society has viewed and understood Jesus and His family has to be the correct one, and nothing can happen that upsets this perception, unless it is flattering to the townspeople.  One cannot help but wonder at the ways in which the lives of Mary and Jesus might have been difficult, except for the fact that the humility with which we understand them to have lived their lives serves as a kind of protection against conflict with the arrogant.  But now, in the setting of our reading, is the time for truth to be revealed, for Jesus to reveal Himself, and for the manifestation of the Kingdom.  As Jesus says, reading the prophecy of Isaiah, to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.   The outrage and rejection of God's truth only serves as judgment against those who refuse it.