Jesus Goes to His Hometown^(A)

6 Jesus left and went back to his hometown. His followers went with him. ² On the Sabbath day Jesus taught in the synagogue, and many people heard him. They were amazed and said, “Where did this man get this teaching? How did he get such wisdom? Who gave it to him? And where did he get the power to do miracles? ³ Isn’t he just the carpenter we know—Mary’s son, the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And don’t his sisters still live here in town?” So they had a problem accepting him.

⁴ Then Jesus said to them, “People everywhere give honor to a prophet, except in his own town, with his own people, or in his home.” ⁵ Jesus was not able to do any miracles there except the healing of some sick people by laying his hands on them. ⁶ He was surprised that the people there had no faith. Then he went to other villages in that area and taught.

Jesus Goes to His Hometown^(A)

¹⁶ Jesus traveled to Nazareth, the town where he grew up. On the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue as he always did. He stood up to read. ¹⁷ The book of Isaiah the prophet was given to him. He opened the book and found the place where this is written:

²⁰ Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the helper, and sat down. As everyone in the synagogue watched him closely, ²¹ he began to speak to them. He said, “While you heard me reading these words just now, they were coming true!”

²² Everyone there said good things about Jesus. They were amazed to hear him speak such wonderful words. They said, “How is this possible? Isn’t he Joseph’s son?”

²³ Jesus said to them, “I know you will tell me the old saying: ‘Doctor, heal yourself.’ You want to say, ‘We heard about the things you did in Capernaum. Do those same things here in your own hometown!’” ²⁴ Then he said, “The truth is, a prophet is not accepted in his own hometown.

^25-26 “During the time of Elijah it did not rain in Israel for three and a half years. There was no food anywhere in the whole country. There were many widows in Israel during that time. But the fact is, Elijah was sent to none of those widows in Israel. He was sent only to a widow in Zarephath, a town in Sidon.

²⁷ “And there were many people with leprosy living in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha. But none of them were healed; the only one was Naaman. And he was from the country of Syria, not Israel.”

²⁸ When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were very angry. ²⁹ They got up and forced Jesus to go out of town. Their town was built on a hill. They took Jesus to the edge of the hill to throw him off. ³⁰ But he walked through the middle of the crowd and went away.