‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'” And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Lk 4,23-24
They want him to do some mighty deeds for a show. They want him to be a magician. They even challenge him with proverbs: “Physician heal yourself”
Probably, in the mind of Jesus, they are like the devil that tempted him to do mighty deeds (Lk 4, 1-13)
Magicians are those who do tricks to get money or fame for themselves. Jesus has not come for that. He has not come for himself. He has come to do the will of the Father, to bring the Kingdom of God. He has come to reveal God.
So when he was tempted by the devil (Lk, 4,1-13) he uses the WORD of GOD to answer the devil:
- Deut 8,3
- Deut 6,13
- Deut 6,16
Jesus answers the devil saying that he has come to fulfill the Word of God and not for a show.
Similarly he tells his own people (in this passage) that he has come to do the works of the prophets who preached and practiced the Word of God. He has not come for a show.
He says that prophet Elijah was sent only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. (not in the land of Israel)
Again Elisha, the prophet, healed, Naaman the Syrian -and he was not an Israelite.
So prophetic activities does nor exclude a non-Israelite or a non-Israelite territory.
Jesus bases his life on the Word of God and models his life on the prophetic activities.
The prophetic activity is based on the one belief: that there is only one chosen people of God, only one chosen race: the human race.
