Luke 4:24

No prophet is accepted] RV 'acceptable.' The truth is a familiar one. We often think lightly of what is very familiar. The blessings at our doors are those we value least. Here and in Matthew 13:57, Christ's 'own country' is Nazareth, where He was brought up. In John 4:44 it is perhaps Judæa, where He was born. There is a curious parallel in the life of 'the heathen Christ,' Apollonius of Tyana, who is represented as saying, 'What wonder is it, if, when I am esteemed by the rest of mankind as like a god, and by some even as a god, my own country alone until now refuses to recognise me?' Plutarch says, 'You will find that few of the most prudent and wisest of mankind have been appreciated in their own country.' Another ancient writer says, 'All the philosophers seem to have had a hard life in their own country.'

25-27. The vv. contain a refusal to work miracles in Nazareth. St. Matthew (Matthew 13:58) gives the reason: 'because of their unbelief.'