Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
The people at Nazareth refused to accept Jesus. They were initially impressed by his teaching but at the same time they wondered how this individual that had grown up in their midst now seemed to think so highly of himself. They were jealous of the mighty deeds done in Capernaum, thinking that they were entitled to such deeds if anyone was. They no doubt assumed that if there was anything to what Jesus said then they should have been among the first to benefit.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Jesus was not be accepted in his own native place and would thus go to others who would listen. He did not find much faith in Nazareth so he went elsewhere to search it out.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (see John 1:11-12).
Ultimately the hardheartedness of Israel at that time is what caused the message of salvation to go forth to the Gentiles. But from these examples of the widow of Zarephath and of Naaman the Syrian we can see that it was always a part of the divine plan that the message would not remain in Israel alone but overflow into the whole world. It was not an unanticipated setback that the Gospel wouldn't find welcome in a place that should have had the advantage of beings its home turf. It was always part of the plan that the rejection of the Gospel by some would lead to acceptance by others. That acceptance in turn was meant to signal to those who initially rejected him that there must have been something that they missed.
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them (see Romans 11:13-14).
As the Gospel continues to spread throughout the world we should take it as a word of caution that the so-called home court advantage often has the opposite effect one would expect when it comes to Jesus. We within the Church are, as much as anywhere, the native place of Jesus. And it is sometimes here in the hearts of Christians that he does not find welcome. We bring so many presuppositions and expectations along with us to meet him that we may find ourselves unable to hear his living word. We sometimes act with such a sense of entitlement as to forget that we need faith to see Jesus move in power in our midst. And when he moves not in our midst, but at the peripheries, among those who have obviously done nothing to prepare themselves or to make themselves worthy, we may find ourselves jealous. Naaman the Syrian can help by teaching us a lesson about how to divest ourselves of our expectations and approach God in humility.
But his servants came up and reasoned with him.
"My father," they said,
"if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said."
If we can only learn to thirst for the living God more than for the fulfillment of our expectations of how things should happen we can find the satisfaction in the living water Jesus longs to give us.
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
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