Why is this? Why is a prophet not honored in his own town? Why do those that know him best reject him?
Idol worship.
The people who watched a prophet grow up also watched their faults, their mistakes, their humanity. They KNOW how human that prophet is! Their eyes are on the messenger, and they forget 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 persons own positive qualities. We see them as part 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 are 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 because people focus on the messenger instead of the message, worshipping the person as an idol, as someone better than themselves. By doing so, they miss Gods gifts to them.
Both examples Jesus gave were foreigners blessed by God. These foreigners looked 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 him.
