No prophet is accepted in his home town, by his/her relatives, his people, the world and even by the people who call themselves God’s children.
See prophets are not accepted by the world
Prophets are God’s messengers called by God. See who is a prophet and the calling of a prophet.
No prophet is accepted in his hometown
No God prophet is accepted in his/her hometown. God prophets are the true prophets while Satan prophets are the false prophets.
See how to distinguish true prophets from false prophets.
Jesus was and is a prophet. For Jesus to start His ministry, He had to move from Nazareth to Capernaum.
Mt 4:13,17 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim. From that time Jesus began to preach.
Later, when Jesus went to preach in Nazareth, He was not accepted and it is in Nazareth where He said, ‘A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house’ (Mt 13:57).
Mk 6:4: But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
The people in His hometown (Nazareth) started questioning not accepting and Jesus did not do many miracles.
Mt 13:54-55: And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
Mt 13:56-58: And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Reason no prophet is accepted in his hometown
Familiarity
The major reason no prophet is accepted in his/her hometown is familiarity.
When Jesus began His ministry and His people heard about it, they accused Him of having gone mad, and acting on that belief, tried to take charge of Him as if He did not know what he was doing.
Mk 3:21: And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
And His family believed Him not. John 7:5: For neither did his brethren believe in him.
When the people of Nazareth heard Jesus preaching, they could not find any fault in His preaching but because He had dwelt among them for 30 years, His face, voice and appearance familiar to them, they could not receive His doctrine but question.
Whence has this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? (Mt 13:54-56).
The Bible says they were both astonished and offended. They saw Jesus heal people, but they couldn’t get past the fact that they knew his mother, brothers and sisters. After all, Jesus was only a carpenter to them. He did not have the proper academic or religious credentials.
His people in Nazareth were more reluctant to accept not only Jesus’ teachings but the man himself. They knew Jesus the carpenter, not the Messiah. And because they thought they already knew Him they’ve made their conclusions and Jesus could not change their assumptions about who He is.
How often do our preconceived notions or past experiences limit our ability to accept something or someone new?
We are quick to come to conclusions, even without all the information. Nazareth thought they knew Jesus, but they did not know the whole story. They would not accept that even though he was a carpenter, even though he was a man, that he was also fully God.
We should not be so rash to close off ourselves from the continued working of God in and through people. We should not be so prideful as to think we already know the full picture.
Like with Jesus going back to his hometown showing himself to be more than they expected we should know that God is full of surprises and is quick to go beyond our expectations.
Every person runs first to his/her hometown, people and family for acceptance and s/he is accepted but this is not so with a prophet. In fact his/her hometown, relatives and family is in fact the last place s/he expects to be accepted.
As a prophet, the potential trap of hopelessly trying to have your hometown and family appreciate and benefit from your work has a dangerous capacity to exhaust and destroy you.
It’s hard to talk with people who have known you for a long time, especially about spiritual matters. They think they know you.
God bless
