22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy[a] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit
31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
3 Things We Can Learn from This Passage
1. Family and friends may reject us
Jesus said in verse 24, “No prophet is accepted in his hometown.” The locals were surprised and marvelled at the things Jesus taught. All of the things He said were true yet they could not accept Him. They criticized Him for being merely a son of Joseph, a carpenter. Perhaps their envy or jealousy fueled their reactions.
The greatest people tend to have the harshest critics and opponents.When you are excelling and successful in your pursuits for God, you will need to accept the reality that your closest loved ones may not value your achievements in the same way.
2. God’s Truth Offends
Sometimes people do not want to hear the truth as they do not want their illusions destroyed. Jesus taught them about the sovereignty of God, and how He chose some people over the many, and also how He chose the foreign Gentiles over the Jews. The people were furious when they heard this from Jesus. The Gospel message is offensive to sinners.
3. Following the Jesus Way
Despite all of the trials, what did Jesus do? He continued ministering and teaching people. He moved on as if nothing happened from his last ministry.
As a follower of Christ, we are also called to do the same as Christ. If we are experiencing challenges, trials or opposition in our ministry, let us keep moving forward for God is always with us and He will never leave us.
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