Why do those that know him best reject him? Idol worship.

The people who watched the prophet grow up also watched the prophet’s faults, their mistakes, their humanity. They KNOW how human that prophet is! But… their eyes are on the messenger, and they forget that we are all human.

It is oh so easy to see certain people as better than us, more deserving, more capable, more holy. We begin to attribute success to that person’s own positive qualities. We see them as part authors of their own success… That is idol worship! And when they fall, when we find some imperfection in them, our idol image is crushed. We reject them as unworthy and move on to the next idol.

But no! The mistake is ours! We thought they themselves had something to do with God choosing them as if they were special. We forget that we are all sinful by nature, and without God, nothing good is found in us… Nothing. We are all just as capable because none are capable without God.

A prophet is unwelcome at home in part because people focus on the messenger instead of the message, worshiping the person as an idol, as someone better than themselves. By doing so, they miss God’s gifts to them.

Both examples given in this scripture were foreigners and both were blessed by God. These foreigners were looking to God, not the messenger. They accepted a great gift from an imperfect human. God answers when we focus on Him, not His representatives… But focus on Him and Him alone.

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