All Articles
“A Prophet Has No Honor in His Own Country”
“Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast” (John 4:43-45).
An Historical Truth
Jesus’ proverb in John 4:44 was not only true of Himself, but of the prophets God had sent to His people for hundreds of years prior. Of God’s own people, the Chronicles record states, “They mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:16).
According to extra-Biblical tradition, we are hard-pressed to find prophets of God who lived peaceful lives and were not severely treated and eventually martyred. A prophet of old was almost never accepted by the people of his own generation, and his efforts were often not appreciated or heeded until several years after his death. Tradition states that the prophet Isaiah was sawn in two, which may well be one of the martyrdoms the Hebrew writer spoke of in Heb. 11, “Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy” (36-38).
When Stephen spoke to the angry crowd in Jerusalem in Acts 7, he accused them of being like their ancestors of Israel, calling them, “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears” (51), and rhetorically asking, “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers” (52). The truth was hard to hear, and Stephen himself was martyred like those prophets of old for telling stubborn people what they needed to hear.
We must have a great deal of respect for prophets like Isaiah who at God’s call said, “Here am I, send me” (Isa. 6:8), or Amos who was told to leave town but said to Amaziah the priest, “I was no prophet, nor was I the son of a prophet, but I was a sheepbreeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel’” (Amos 7:14-15). These were not usually men of extraordinary rank. strength, or ability. Some were country men, others were city men. Some were farmers, others were statesmen. At God’s call, they accepted a life not of prosperity and happiness, but one in which they would be voices of God to people who didn’t want to listen.
The Rejection of Jesus
Jesus was the ultimate rejected Prophet. Though He worked miracles to prove His claims to be the Son of God and the Messiah of Scripture, many turned against Him during His time on earth and His enemies caused great trouble for Him. Many of the Jews who should have been first in line to accept the coming Messiah were instead the first to pick up stone to throw at Him (John 8:58-59)! They were convinced that Jesus was a liar and an impostor who spoke blasphemy (John 10:30-32), and they sought to catch Him in technicalities of the law. Yet Jesus always knew how to answer their accusations, and He dismissed their efforts with ease.
The continued rejection of Jesus by the Jewish people would ultimately lead to the Jewish leaders bribing one of Jesus’ own apostles to betray Him into their hands. Judas Iscariot accepted a bribe of thirty pieces of silver to betray Him, and Jesus was arrested and tried before the San Hedrin. He was ultimately convicted of blasphemy and taken to Pilate, who, though he found no fault in jesus, allowed Him to be crucified at the cries of the people. Though He had done no wrong, the Son of God was put on a cross to die. Though He could have called ten thousand angels, He allowed mere men to take His life.
But Jesus had prophesied before His death, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19)! The very Son of God who was in the beginning with God (John 1) could not be destroyed forever! Jesus was raised by the power of God, and appeared many times to many disciples. Until finally, in Acts 1, “He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (9). This ascension came with a promise that Jesus would return just as He had left, and a call to action for the apostles to stop standing around and fulfill the commission Jesus had given them (Matt. 28:18-20).
Peter said to those in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 that Jesus had been, “exalted to the right hand of God…God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (34-36). Jesus’ own generation and His own people may have rejected Him, but we must honor and obey Him today. He is our Prophet, High Priest, and King, reigning at the right hand of God, and He demands loyalty from those who would follow Him. Let’s not reject the Prophet God sent to us, but as we read about His life, His teachings, and His death for us in the word of God, let’s gladly receive Him and hear His word!
