Lk 4:24-30
24[Jesus] said [to all in the synagogue at Nazareth], “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. 25Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. 26It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. 29They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
It Was to None of These: When Jesus returns to his native Nazareth, he is invited to the synagogue and given the honor to read from the Scriptures and expound its meaning.
The initial reaction of the people to his “sermon” is positive: “All spoke highly of him and were amazed at [his] gracious words” (Lk 4:22). But Jesus starts to act like a true prophet, a “disturber” of the comfortable. He gives voice to the claim of his fellow citizens through a proverb, “Physician, cure yourself” (Lk 4:23). In plain words, he says that the people of Nazareth are asking, “Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.” The people are saying that a physician should care first for his own family, neighbors, and acquaintances. One should not deprive one’s own relatives of the favors done to others. But Jesus tells them that as a prophet, his duty is not to benefit his own people, but to do God’s will for him. And the primary duty of the prophet is to call people to repentance.
Jesus provides his audience with the example of the prophets Elijah and Elisha who did not fulfill the desire of those who wanted healing for their homeland. There may be a saying that the physician should first benefit his own kin, but apparently God does not think that way. He sent his prophets to heal pagans rather than the Israelites. This does not mean the rejection of Israel. Rather, God sent the prophets to the pagans for the sake of Israel. The prophet’s interest for the Gentiles should move the Jews to conversion. Their position as “children of Abraham” is not that special that they can simply bypass the call for conversion.