Bible Study “Prophets in Their Hometown”
Share: Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.
Epiphany is shimmering glimpses of the abundance of the Kingdom of God. Perhaps you, too, noticed a star and followed it. Or maybe someone led us to the gift of faith. Now we take the Light – the Good News – out into the world. Will others see the light shimmering in us? Will they risk taking a journey into faith with us?
Prophets don't do very well in their own hometown. It seems to be easier to hear hard sayings or even fresh insights from someone who comes from almost anywhere else. Perhaps it is because we remember when the prophet was a teen-ager, or because we helped raise this young person. Jesus is not spared this reality.
In last week’s story: Jesus was in his hometown, Nazareth; he went to the synagogue, got up to read the scripture that described God’s anointed one, and said that he was to fulfill the scripture and was, in fact, the one whom all had been waiting for. In today’s reading we are going to hear the people’s reaction to Jesus. Has there ever been a time you had a really good idea, or you knew how to do something, and no one would pay attention to them. Or, did you bring a good idea, and everyone put it down?
Opening Prayer: Thank you, God that you are always there for us, especially when others are not. Amen
Please open your Bibles to Luke 4:21-30 and read or read the scriptures below.
Luke 4: 21-30
21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy[a] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
- How do you hear this story?
- What do you think the person that wrote this would say to us today?
- What word or phrase stands out to you when you read this?
Reflection Questions:
- Notice the mood change: what did the people say at first? (Verse 22). Then, notice what happens when they remember that they have known Jesus since he was a little boy.
- What does Jesus notice in the people's response? (They may be expecting him to do flashy things for them while they just sit and watch.)
- Who was Zarephath? (A widow from Sidon – she was not a Jew.)
- Who was Naaman? (A leper from Syria – not from Israel.)
- Who were the people in the synagogue? (They were Jews and Israelites.)
- How do the people respond? (Verse 29.They run Jesus out of town.)
- Why do you think they were so angry? (Jesus implied that since they would not accept him, a prophet, that God would not come to them, but to someone else)
Click on Synagogue to see what it looked like in Jesus time and what it looks like today.
Click here for the young learner’s lesson
Videos (Click on the words or url)
LUMO-Gospel of Luke Chapter 4:14-30 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2ojxNR8ECU&t=62s
Jesus Rejected in His Hometown of Nazareth - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/144185625555018119/
Overview: Luke 1-9 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIb_dCIxzr0&t=268s
Music
The Lord of sea and sky by National Youth Choir of Scotland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhTpjdrLf0s
Activities
Activity: Now that you have 20/20 hindsight or that you can see more clearly things that have already happened. You see how this turned out. You also know who Jesus is. Imagine what you would have done in the same situation? In what ways might you be pushing Jesus away today? (Write them up on a piece of paper.) What things are you doing, now, here in your own life, to collaborate or work with Jesus? (Write them up on a piece of paper). How have your thoughts changed from the beginning of the Bible Study?
Decoder: Jesus Rejected in Nazareth - https://sermons4kids.com/jesus_rejected_in_nazareth_decoder.htm?fromSermonId=186
Word Search: https://thewordsearch.com/puzzle/3237986/prophets-in-their-hometown/
Prayer: God of Epiphanies, thank you for being with us today and inviting us into the story of Jesus in his hometown. We pray that we can work together with Jesus in those ways that we name before you (add to your own prayers). Be with us as we go into your world to do you work. Amen.
