“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place”
In today’s reading, Jesus is in Nazareth, the place where he grew up. However, when He proclaims the Good News of who He is and what He has brought, many question and outright deny Him.
What is a prophet? A prophet is “one who spoke, acted, or wrote under the extraordinary influence of God to make known the divine counsels and will. Yet commonly associated with this primary function to proclaim the word of God, a prophet also prophesied by foretelling future events. His role, then, was to both proclaim and to make the proclamation credible.” [1]
Search: Prophecy
What does “his own country” mean in this reading? The “country” is Nazareth, which is a village within Galilee where Jesus was raised. (cf. Mt. 2:23) “Following an earlier incident recorded in Lk 4:16-30, this episode marks the second rejection of Jesus by his kinsfolk.” [2]
Why does Jesus say, “A prophet is not without honor except…in his own house”? This saying is unique to Mark’s Gospel. We do not see it in other parts of the Bible but it does point to the eventually rejection of Jesus by the greater nation.
Why was Jesus rejected? There are a few levels to the rejection. On a broad macro scale, it shows the rejection of the people of God. It is exactly why Jesus came to this world; to save us from ourselves. We, God’s children, sinned and rejected God so He sent His only begotten Son to die for us even when we still rejected Him. “Comparing himself to previous Hebrew prophets whom the people rejected, Jesus intimates his own eventual rejection by the nation especially in view of the dishonor his own relatives had shown him (Mk 3:21) and now his townspeople as well.” (Footnotes Mk. 6:4) This episode shows us that the people who knew Christ and saw Him grow rejected Him. This leads to the other level, which is that the people of Nazareth lacked faith in Jesus. They saw Jesus grow up and only saw Him as a man and not the Son of God. “Jesus appeared at the synagogue to preach. Nazareth was his home, his country, where he had lived since his childhood. Where he had relatives, and was well-known; all of which should have made his ministry easier there than elsewhere. Instead, it was an occasion for rejection. After a moment of amazement at his wisdom and his miracles, the Nazarenes incredulously reject him…” [3]
Thinking of our own lives, we know that sometimes it can be hard to live out our faith in our hometowns. It is easy to travel to third world countries or another region and be missionaries, but harder to go home to our family and friends and be Christ’s disciple to them. We must never be afraid even if family, friends, or our “hometown” rejects us. We must find ways to break through the walls that we set up and learn to show charity and mercy.
Discussion Questions
Why is it often hard to proclaim the Good News in our own house?
Discuss a time that you were successful in proclaiming the Good News at home or in your “own town” (i.e. work, community, school).
Why did Jesus not perform any miracles? Jesus did not perform any “mighty deeds” because they rejected Him. Jesus will not force Himself on us. This also means that we can reject His miracles and grace. As it says, Jesus still performed some healings. This shows how great God’s mercy is to all. He will always find a way to bring salvation to everyone.
[1] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 446
[2] Ignatius Study Bible Mk. 6:1
[3] Fr. Gabriel, Divine Intimacy pg. 98