And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his homeland, among his relatives, and in his house.”
This saying reveals a well-known pattern of the human heart. Where a person is most known according to the flesh, there they often accept least the divine truth that sounds from his mouth. Christ says this not out of personal offense, but as a description of a spiritual reality. People had become so accustomed to His humble presence that they could no longer see in Him the Prophet and Savior sent by God. Outward familiarity did not bring them to inward faith, but became a source of contempt. This is painful, but true. Often a person more easily accepts a distant testimony than the truth that is spoken in his own house, from among his relatives, or before his very eyes. But the truth does not lose its dignity because of people’s rejection. The prophet lacks no honor in his own being; rather, people, by the darkness of their hearts, deprive themselves of the ability to honor him. This saying also comforts those who are rejected for God’s truth by their very own surroundings. Christ Himself bore that pain and showed that such rejection does not cancel the divine calling.