Jesus went to his hometown and taught the people in their synagogue. They were amazed and said, «Where did He get this wisdom and these special powers? Isn't He the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary his mother and aren't James, Joseph, Simon and Judas his brothers? Aren't all his sisters living here? How did he get all this?». And so they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, «The only place where prophets are not welcome is their hometown and in their own family». And He did not perform many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Source: http://evangeli.net/gospel/
Analysis
Today's passage is a repeat passage, but it is a significant passage, and I believe repeating it is not harmful. However, as usual I will merely add my thoughts here. Here, Jesus is shown to be rejected, by His own neighbors, His own kin, His own blood. How does one feel when they are rejected by those closest to them? We don't realize this everyday, but Jesus' believers are people far from home, people Jesus met in the streets, in the lakes, in various cities, but not His hometown. Instead, His folk mocked Him and rejected Him, this of course affected Jesus deeply. This event may be part of the reason why Jesus said that "the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." What can we analyze though in a logical perspective?
Why is it that His own kin would reject Him. It may be because of jealousy, or disappointment, how so? These people had known Jesus since He was young, as such they had formed hard rooted societal expectations of what Jesus should be. And when Jesus defies those expectations, it is understandable to say that they would be disappointed in Jesus. And of course, seeing that their own blood became so much greater than themselves certainly rubbed them the wrong way. They become jealous as they feel, "How can a mere son of a carpenter be what He is now? When we stay in the lower classes?" It is ironic that Jesus will eventually take the place as the suffering and oppressed to elevate His kin's status and free them from eternal death. As such, the rejection was caused by social stigma, disappointment, and jealousy.
It wasn't mentioned in this passage, but in the Mark version, it was described how Jesus was astounded and shocked that He was rejected. Did Jesus not foresaw this? The answer is simple. Jesus in the end is still limited as a human. Furthermore, Jesus is under pressure of saving humanity, He would of course expect people to believe Him, especially His closest ones. He trusts them as He has known them the most, yet His trust is betrayed by His own people, His own blood, His own family. Eventually, Jesus did speak out, claiming that prophets are rejected only in their own peoples and in their homes.
It is also interesting to note that due to the lack of faith, Jesus was unable to perform many miracles, this implies that there is a connection between lack of faith and miracles, is that so? Miracles do not happen because Jesus acted upon the sickly people, it is the sickly people that had faith in Christ, and thus their faith allowed Jesus to help them heal. This is why Jesus always said to the sick people that it is their faith that saved them, because the miracle happen as a result of the sick truly being open towards healing. On the other hand, the people in Jesus' hometown had no faith in Him, thus this made it impossible for Jesus to perform miracles, as the people does not desire it to happen. As such, if you will something hard enough, it will happen, as such, be careful with your wishes.
What can we learn for ourselves from this passage though? If there is one thing we can learn is to be accepting of the situation and to never give up. Jesus throughout His life has been misunderstood, rejected, and attacked, yet He keeps going with His mission. Even if His mentality begins to succumb, He still smiles for the children, and He still comforts the crying women of Jerusalem. It is this behavior of Christ that we must strive to follow. That is to persist and keep moving, even in deep rejection or denial by others. Thus, are we able to follow Jesus in His footsteps, and be unwavering in our struggle? That is all I have to say, have a nice day and see you tomorrow.
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