City Life Starter

Written by Efe Abbe

The Word

²² And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”²³ And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.

Luke 4:22-24 ESV

6 He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. ² And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? ³ Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. ⁴ And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” ⁵ And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And he marveled because of their unbelief.

Mark 6:1-6 ESV

Reflection

By reading in parallel the accounts of Mark, Matthew, and Luke about Jesus’ rejection in his hometown of Nazareth, we get confirmation that a good number of those who “knew” Jesus from boyhood rejected Him.

Jesus had just read from Isaiah (61:1-2a) and told His listeners that He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy. While they marvelled at His words, Jesus, as He always does, addressed the true motivation for their amazement. The Messiah had come, but in their minds, He had come as their Messiah and they felt entitled to Jesus’ power, after all this was His hometown.

Their familiarity led to pride, which led to contempt, and ultimately unbelief.

Jesus, however, was unmoved because He didn’t need their affirmation or approval; He already had the Father’s approval, witnessed and confirmed by the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:22).

Application

It is possible to know a lot about Jesus, be amazed by His words and power, yet still reject Him.

Some reject Jesus as simply a great teacher or another prophet. Others reject Him because they find receiving God’s grace for their sins through Jesus offensive, so they remain content to simply know of His words and ways, never moving from mental assent to trust. There are also those who, after taking the faith step to trust Jesus, become complacent in discipleship because they think they have Jesus and His ways all figured out.

The common thread in these situations is contempt and pride arising from a perceived familiarity of Jesus and none of us is immune. God’s gift of truly seeing Jesus and trusting Him as Savior and Lord can only take root in humble hearts.

Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, please forgive my contempt and pride when I have felt I was overly familiar with You and Your ways. Please give me a heart that is humble with the utmost reverence for You, amen.