Lessons from Israel: Nazareth

One of the more well-known sayings of the Bible is that “a prophet is without honor only in his hometown.”  Jesus actually said this when he visited his hometown of Nazareth after being away for several years. At first he was welcomed back to Nazareth.  Luke 4 tells us that people spoke well of him. But then something happened. Jesus broke their mold. He stopped being Joseph’s nice boy and started being the Messiah.  It was more than they could handle. The picture below is the cliff at the edge of town. Tradition has it that this is the precipice that they tried to throw Jesus off of.

Most of us have been around Jesus for many years.  In some ways, he’s become familiar to us. We know the stories.  We’re used to being with him at church. He’s familiar to us. And sometimes this prevents us from accepting the new things he wants to do in our lives.  We resist the new work that Jesus wants to do within us. But Jesus continues to break molds. If we will receive him as he is, he will live and move among us.  If we embrace him as he comes to us, we will see miracles.