Sometimes when we go home, things seem strange. For example, if we have been away a long time, things aren’t the same when we get home. Sometimes home looks better when we arrive after being away a long time; sometimes things look worse; usually things look different. We gain a different perspective, having moved to a new area, or just having taken a vacation. Sometimes the relatives back home don’t understand us. That happened to Jesus in his town of Nazareth.1

Jesus had launched his ministry from Nazareth a short time earlier. Before that he was a carpenter in Nazareth, having taken over his father’s business when Joseph died. He was the oldest son of Mary. In Jewish tradition everything fell to the oldest son when the father died. Jesus was responsible for his younger brothers and sist…