Article December 3, 2012 Issue

Hometown healing

George Zucker

In business, it’s sometimes said with humor that an expert is someone from out of town. The point is that a local person, however well qualified, doesn’t get the same respect as an out-of-towner.

Jesus faced this local bias when he returned to his hometown of Nazareth to teach in the synagogue (see Luke 4:16–30). His former neighbors shook their heads and asked, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” Perhaps they thought: “He’s just a local kid, the son of a carpenter. What does he know?” 

Nazareth was then seen as a kind of small, backwater place from which nothing good had ever come, let alone a prophet. Yet those listening to Jesus were impressed and “wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.” 

About the author

George Zucker served for 20 years as the Associated Press bureau chief in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He lives with his wife, Judi, in Audubon, Pennsylvania.

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