And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown…” When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. Luke 4:24, 28-30

As the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. Which means when Jesus went home for a visit, it didn’t go so great. He attended synagogue and volunteered to read. When He sat back down and said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21), they seemed cool with it. Jesus was being gracious enough—odd but gracious, so they “spoke well of him” (v.22)

But then Jesus didn’t return the favor. Knowing their hearts, He responded with, “No prophet is accepted in his hometown” (v.24 NIV). It was a dig. He followed up with a reminder that Elijah and Elisha weren’t’ sent to heal their own people, because it would’ve been a waste of time.

Jesus effectively told His hometown crowd they had the same issue as their Old Testament relatives—and they came unglued. So much so, they wanted Him dead. With scant provocation from the guy they’d known for thirty years, the Nazarenes became so insanely offended and incensed that they drove Jesus out of town and up a hill so they could throw Him off a cliff. They were going to murder Mary and Joseph’s boy.

Extreme? Yes. Expected? You bet. That day Jesus had read from the prophet Isaiah, who proclaimed the coming Messiah along with the response the Messiah’s presence would engender from humankind: He would be “despised and rejected” (Isaiah 53:3).

Sad.

These people knew Jesus. They should’ve been all the more in awe of God’s power and authority clearly on display in Him. What the heck else could it be? He was the carpenter who grew up with them, and now He was preaching and healing all over the place. But we tend to reject anything or anyone that represents a big change in understanding or perspective, even if it comes from someone familiar—especially from someone familiar. The notion that what they thought they knew could be wrong was as incomprehensible as the notion of changing your mind in a Facebook argument. So they hardened their hearts, hated Him, and tried to push Him off a cliff.

In doing so, they fulfilled Old Testament prophecy: “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem” (Isaiah 53:3 NIV). Oh, the irony.

PRAYER FOCUS

Ask God to give you the humility necessary to hear truth when it’s spoken, as well as the wisdom and clarity to know how to respond.

MOVING FORWARD

• Are you more likely to accept advice or godly counsel from a close friend or a mere acquaintance? Why or why not?
• What caused people to despise and reject Jesus? What was it that caused you to reject Him prior to your salvation?
• When was the last time you changed your perspective or realized you were wrong about something significant? (Note: if it’s hard to remember, that might be something to work on.)