Jesus taught in many places around Galilee during his early ministry, including his home town of Nazareth.  Most people in most venues were astonished at what Jesus was saying and doing: he taught with authority, cast out demons, and healed the sick.

But those in his home town took exception to his teaching. While they were also astonished, they couldn’t get over the fact that he grew up among them – they knew him as a carpenter’s son rather than a great teacher. Jesus’s famous quote was issued there: “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household” (Matthew 13.53-57).

Both Matthew and Mark point out that Jesus could do few miracles in Nazareth because of the unbelief of the residents (Matthew 13.58, Mark 6.5). The scene in Luke is longer and more violent – the passage Jesus reads in the synagogue is quoted, the barb Jesus tosses out about Israelites not listening to prophets is detailed, and the people’s attempt to stone Jesus is described (Luke 4. 16-30).

The listeners seemed to accept Jesus’s claim to be the Messiah, as they “marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.”  But they were ticked when they realized the indictment of their forefathers’ treatment of prophets was being applied to them!  The mob rose up, drove him out of town and tried to throw him down a cliff.  But it was not Jesus’ time to die, and he escaped.

The description of his escape at the end of the Luke passage is a sad, poetic indictment of any who hear the good news of Jesus but turn away, through anger, unbelief, familiarity, pride or any other reason.  “But passing through their midst, he went away.” They missed the importance and the meaning; Jesus was to them just a fleeting mist.