John 4: 43-45
‘”After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.”
In these three verses John transports us from the village in Samaria to Galilee. During that time Jesus and his disciples have walked many long miles. There are no newspapers announcing Jesus’ arrival in Galilee and no internet or telephone to share the news with others. When he arrives it is without fanfare. Still, he is known there and John tells us he was welcomed.
We have to think all of the way back to verses 1-3 to remember why Jesus was in Galilee in the first place. Jesus had attracted the notice of the Pharisees (again) and so he decided to leave Judea and head north. While there are not any deep spiritual truths in these verses that I can see, John uses them to share some valuable information.
First, he tells us where the story is taking place. Then he inserts an interesting parenthetical statement about prophets and honor. John tells us that in Galilee Jesus was welcomed by people who had seen him clear Temple courtyard.
Q: When Jesus points out that a prophet has no honor in his own country, which country was he thinking of as his own?
I think He meant anywhere in the world since He is the creator of all,..every country on earth is His and it’s obvious He is not welcomed by all the countries in this world He created,..so many people continue to reject Him today or haven’t yet heard of His saving grace by His shed blood on the cross,..that’s why we have been commanded to,.. go and make disciples of all people, baptizing them in the name of God the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit,..because one day every knee will bow on earth and in heaven declaring that Jesus is God,..His country are the hearts of all who believe in Him and the work He has accomplished at the cross.
The map shows Jesus is going to by-pass Nazareth on His way to Galilee.
God could be leading John to write this so that some of us who come to the Lord late in life, will know we are traveling in good company when those who knew us when we were younger are not quick to accept the change in us.
Jesus has always been God and without sin, however I can understand someone saying, he can’t be the Messiah, I knew him when he was a boy. Nice kid but nothing special. His dad is just a carpenter, and heck his mother was pregnant before they were married.
I’m encouraged because I didn’t come with papers either.