Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

I think we've all heard and have probably said at one time or another: "There's no place like home!" And for a time this was also true for our Lord when He returned to the town of Nazareth where He was raised. Jesus traveled through many cities in His ministry in Galilee to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom to come by saying in Matthew 4:17 "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." As word spread throughout the land of this Man who not only taught with wisdom, but also with authority and pronounced something new in the land of Israel by miracles which astonished and amazed the multitudes which began to follow Him from as far as Syria:

Matthew 4:23-25 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming

the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those

suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. Large

crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the

Jordan.

Jesus was casting out the demons from the possessed (Mark 1:32-34) and the lepers were being cleansed, but the multitudes that followed Him swelled to such an extent that He could only teach in the unpopulated areas because of the throngs of people pressing to see Him:

Mark 1:40-45 And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and

saying, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His

hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately the leprosy left him

and he was cleansed. And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, and He said to him,

"See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what

Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to

spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out

in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.

To Luke chapter four we go to see Jesus in His hometown with His disciples. And when the Sabbath (Saturday-Jesus lived and worshipped under the Old Testament Law) came, He began to teach, reading from the prophet Isaiah:

Luke 4:18-22 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the

poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free

those who are Oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." And He closed the book, gave it

back to the attendant And sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him. And He

began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And all were speaking

well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words falling from His lips; and they were saying, "Is this not

Joseph's son?"

At this point the people were speaking well of Him because of the gracious words falling from His lips and they were wondering where this carpenter (Mark 6:3) got these things and how He spoke with such wisdom and the miracles that were wrought by His own hands! And they continue by asking if this is the son of Mary and if those were His brothers and sisters. Then Jesus said:

Luke 4:23-27 And then He said to them, "No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, "Physician, heal

yourself! Whatever we heard was done in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.' " And He said,

"Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you in truth, there were many

widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a

great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in

the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of

Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."

And so for our answer to today's question of how Jesus was welcomed to His own hometown. At first they are amazed at those words that fell from His lips, but then, from those same lips come those words about the many widows in Israel and yet Elijah was sent only to a Sidonian widow, not a Jewish one. And there were many lepers in Israel in the days of Elisha but none was cleansed by him but Naaman the Syrian, also not a Jew.

The hometown crowd that was once so happy turned into a rage and with one impulse they rose up and cast Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill of which their own city had been built and attempted to cast Him off the cliff to His death! But He passed through their midst miraculously and went His way (Luke 4:28-30). So the warm welcome home turned to treachery and rage very quickly as they let their heritage and pride get in the way of the One who was there to bring salvation to their door.

And He wondered at their unbelief. (Mark 6:6)

So there you have our answer, that hometown hospitality ran short as they were filled with jealous pride and rage and they tried to kill Him by throwing Him off the brow of the hill. Let us try not to let our jealousy and pride interfere with the truth of the gospel that leads to life, but be ready to listen with an honest and sincere heart.