All four gospels tell us that Jesus was rejected by his hometown and home synagogue. They all say that a prophet (or a preacher — the two words are more or less interchangeable in biblical understanding) has no honor in his own hometown and among his own relatives.

According to Mark's chronology, Jesus comes home to Nazareth accompanied by his disciples after the remarkable healing of a woman who had suffered debilitating hemorrhages for twelve years and after the raising of the dead daughter of Jairus. He teaches in the synagogue on the sabbath, and the people are amazed both at his teaching and at the murmured accounts of the healings. For a moment or two it would appear that there is about to be a backslapping good time in celebration of the return of the hometown boy who has made good…