Matthew 13:53-58 - Rejected At Nazareth

⁵³ When Jesus had finished these stories, He left there.

⁵⁴ He went to His own home town, and kept teaching in their synagogue in such a way that they were dumbfounded, and said, "Where did He get this wisdom and this power to do such wonder-works? ⁵⁵ Is He not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother's name Mary, are not His brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And are not His sisters all living here with us? Where then did He get all these things?" ⁵⁷ And so they found a cause for stumbling over Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet never fails to be honored except in his native neighborhood and in his own home." And so ⁵⁸ He did not do many wonder-works there, because of their lack of faith.

¹ He left there and went back to His hometown, and His disciples followed Him. ² When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue. And the people were dumbfounded when they heard Him, and said, "Where did He get all these things? What sort of wisdom is it that has been given Him? And such mighty deeds are done by Him! ³ Is He not the carpenter, Mary's son, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And do not His sisters live here among us?" And so they found a cause for stumbling over him.

⁴ But Jesus said to them, "A prophet never fails to be honored except in his native neighborhood, among his kinsmen, and in his own home." ⁵ He could not do any mighty deeds there, except that He put His hands on a few ailing people and cured them. ⁶ And He wondered at their lack of faith in Him. Then He made a circle of the villages and continued teaching.

¹⁶ So He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up, and as His habit was on the Sabbath, He went to the synagogue and stood up to read. ¹⁷ The roll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him, and He unrolled it and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has consecrated me to preach the good news to the poor; He has sent me to announce release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to send the downtrodden away in liberty and ¹⁹ to announce the year of favor from the Lord."

²⁰ Then He rolled up the roll and gave it back to the attendant and took His seat. Now the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were gazing at Him. ²¹ Then He began to speak to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled here in your hearing."

²² So they all began to speak well of Him and to wonder at the gracious words that fell from His lips, and yet they continued to say, "Is He not Joseph's son?"

²³ He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote this proverb to me, 'Doctor, cure yourself! Do the things here in your hometown that we hear you did in Capernaum.'"

²⁴ He added, "I solemnly say to you, no prophet is welcome in his native neighborhood. ²⁵ But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the heaven was closed for three years and a half, and there was a great famine over all the land, ²⁶ and yet Elijah was not sent to a single one of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in Elisha's time, and yet not one of them was cured except Naaman the Syrian."

²⁸ Then all the people in the synagogue, on hearing these things, were filled with fury, ²⁹ and they rose up and drove Him out of town and took Him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, to hurl Him down the cliff. ³⁰ But He Himself passed through the midst of them and went on His way.