What did Jesus mean in Luke 4:24-27? And why did this make the people in his home town of Nazareth angry?
Luke 4:24 - 27
ESV - 24 And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land.
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Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
“But you can be sure that no prophets are liked by the people of their own hometown. “Once during the time of Elijah there was no rain for three and a half years, and people everywhere were starving. There were many widows in Israel, but Elijah was sent only to a widow in the town of Zarephath near the city of Sidon. During the time of the prophet Elisha, many men in Israel had leprosy. But no one was healed, except Naaman who lived in Syria.” I think Jesus’ main point of his 2 stories here that he was telling was that all people everywhere, including in our hometowns, need to be saved. Elijah, the Jewish prophet, bypassed all the Jewish widows to help a Gentile widow. Elisha, another Jewish prophet, bypassed all the Jewish lepers to help a Gentile leper. Pride of religion will get you nowhere. We all need salvation. See this so clearly and dramatically portrayed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDHpHsgg6hA
Shirley H
Supporter
Back up in this same chapter to verses 18 and 19. Jesus is reading the scroll in the synagogue. He declares, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me!” Now, hold on! He is in his hometown of Nazareth. People were saying, “Jesus is the carpenter’s boy, the one whose mother has all those children! We all know about that family! “Wait a minute, we have been looking for the Messiah! Is He really saying He ‘thinks’ He is Messiah?” Jesus uses illustrations from the Old Testament. He talks about Elijah in 1 Kings 17 in Zerapath, the poor widow and her last meal, and her choice of faith. Why? Jesus reminds them of Elisha in 2 Kings 5:1-14. The nation was experiencing famine because of their lack of faith. A judgment from God. Jesus says In John 4:44: "A Prophet has no honor in His own country." These people were, blind, poor and without faith! The truth looked them right in the face, yet they turned away! People do not want to see the TRUTH. 1 Corinthians 2:5: "Your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” We choose.
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