The Rejection at Nazareth

(Isaiah 61:1–11, Matthew 13:53–58, Mark 6:1–6)

16 Then [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath And [when] He stood up to read, 17 [the] scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling [it], He found the place where it was written:

18 “[The] Spirit of [the] Lord [is] on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to [the] poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to [the] captives[fn] and recovery of sight to [the] blind, to release [the] oppressed,

19 to proclaim [the] year of [the] Lord’s favor.”[fn]

20 Then He rolled up the scroll, returned [it] to the attendant, [and] sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him, 21 and He began by saying “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

22 All spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that came from His lips. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” they asked.

23 [Jesus] said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in Your hometown what we have heard [that] You did in Capernaum.’ ”

24 Then He added, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 But I tell you truthfully [that] there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years [and] great famine swept over all the land. 26 Yet Elijah was [not] sent to [any] of them, but to [the] widow of Zarephath in Sidon. 27 And there were many lepers[fn] in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. Yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

28 On hearing [this], all [the people] in the synagogue were enraged 29 They got up, drove Him out of [the] town, and led Him to [the] brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff 30 But [Jesus] passed through [the crowd] [and] went on His way.