I recall a meeting in Bournemouth, UK, my home town, where someone commented on attending a great speaking engagement elsewhere—in Stratford-upon-Avon. He noted how giving a talk away from home (he was from Bournemouth, too) often enhanced the audience’s perception of a speaker’s liveliness. In Stratford, he was regarded as something of a star; attendees imagined that his events in Bournemouth would be equally electrifying. He was gratified by their compliments, of course, but also wise enough to recognize that he was just an ordinary guy. The engagements in Bournemouth were likely no different from those in Stratford; yet their reception was different.
This recollection brings to mind Jesus’s words: “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and in his own household” (Matthew 13:57). The people of Nazareth questioned how the man they had known since childhood—the carpenter’s son—could now be performing miracles, teaching with authority, and claiming to be the Son of God. Their familiarity bred skepticism; their certainty about who Jesus was prevented them from seeing who he had become: We know him, so how can he be important?
