Jesus Dissed in His Hometown, Part 1

“Familiarity breeds contempt” is an old adage that is very applicable to this sad episode in Jesus’ life, chronicled in all three synoptic gospels and explained somewhat in two passages of John gospel. Unlike Mark (Matthew’s and Luke’s source for this story) and Matthew, who tell this story toward the end of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, Luke places his narrative about Jesus’ homecoming at the beginning of His public ministry in Galilee:

“He came to Nazareth, where He had grown up, and went according to His custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read, and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

“‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.’

“Rolling up the scroll, He handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at Him. He said, to them, ‘Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.’ And all spoke highly of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from His mouth. They also asked, ‘Isn’t this the son of Joseph?’ He said to them, ‘Surely, you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done at Capernaum’. And He said, ‘Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in the land of Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.’ When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl Him down headlong. But He passed through the midst of them and went away” (Luke 4:16-30).

This certainly is in stark contrast to Luke’s earlier words about how Jesus was accepted by the people of the other synagogues He’d visited in Galilee: “He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all” (4:15). Even the people of Nazareth at first “spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth”, but also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” (4:22).

Luke’s account comprises the gospel readings for the 3rd and 4th Sundays in Ordinary Time in the Church’s liturgical cycle C (next in 2010).