Your Hometown
In my Father’s house there are many rooms.
There is a song on the album Born in the USA that was on my mind last week. The song (My Hometown) is a semi-autobiographical story by Bruce Springsteen of an American town that had seen better days. It recounts the idyllic view of childhood, the turbulence of racial strife, the loss of factory jobs. It touches the emotional connection each of us has with our hometown, which includes both the good and the bad and can be complicated.
While many viewed the album as patriotic and symbolic of the greatness of America during the Reagan years, the lyrics focused on uncomfortable issues in society. Regardless of where one comes out on Springsteen’s politics or music, the song My Hometown evokes powerful emotions associated with our hometown.
The album was released in 1984 and became a giant commercial success. As a rising senior in high school, I was invited to a concert in St. Paul, Minnesota for opening weekend of the Born in the USA tour. I enjoyed the music and the show, probably without any deeper understanding of the drama presented within the music. This is a good memory of my hometown.
I tried to return to my hometown sixteen years later when I started my own law firm. We were a young family. I was starting a new business. We were returning to my hometown and parents. It would be a nice fairy tale story if things had worked out. In God’s mysterious providence, it did not. I was unable to develop business in Minnesota. We decided to return to Virginia and give the law firm one more chance.
On the one hand, the return to Minnesota was a failure for me. The new business was not working out. Finances were very tight. My family seemed happy where we had settled and moving again would be difficult. Looking back, however, I also see much good that came from my brief return to my hometown. The slow down in work allowed me to recover from the severe burnout I experienced working at a large law firm. I was able to spend time with my father during his first year with colon cancer. I spent time with the Jesus Heals Ministry learning how to pray with people for healing. We met good people of faith who remain our friends to this day. We would not have met John Paul II if we had not moved to Minnesota and developed a relationship with Archbishop Harry Flynn (RIP).
Jesus had an earthly hometown too and his relationship with Nazareth was complicated. At the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth “where he had been brought up.”1 On the sabbath, Jesus read to the congregation a passage from Isaiah about the Messiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” He then proclaimed, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
The townspeople began to marvel, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” As Jesus continued to preach, pointing out that no prophet is accepted in his own country, the people became enraged and attempted to throw him off the hill that the town was built upon. Jesus nonetheless escaped and went away.
You might think that this would have discouraged Jesus from returning to visit his hometown again, but you would be wrong. We see in the Gospel of Mark that Jesus does return again to Nazareth, to be rejected yet again.2 St. Matthew also recounts this visit in his Gospel. The people from His hometown grumble, “‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? . . . Where then did this man get all this?’ And they took offense at him.”
After again experiencing the rejection of his neighbors, “Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.’ And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” The word translated here as “his own country” — patris in Greek — also means “one’s own native place, i.e. a city.” His hometown.3
Why did Jesus go back a second time in the face of such rejection? One possibility involves his disciples. In Luke’s Gospel, we see the first visit to Nazareth taking place immediately after His temptation in the desert and at the start of His public ministry. Luke recounts in later chapters the selection of the disciples. Mark’s Gospel specifically notes that the disciples came with Jesus on the second visit to Nazareth.
Was this second visit to test the faith of the disciples when they saw Jesus’ townspeople reject Him? Was it to confirm His teaching, which we read in the preceding chapters in Matthew’s Gospel, that a man’s foes will be those of his own household and that those who do not take their cross and follow Him are not worthy of Him?4 The Scriptures do not tell us for sure.
There does seem to be a lesson for us, however, in these Gospel passages about Our Lord’s hometown. We run the risk of being like the people of Nazareth when we encounter Jesus. We can reject the message because of the messenger.
“Is not this the carpenter’s son?” What school did he go to? Does he have a master’s degree in theology? Is he ordained? What are his credentials? How many people follow him on social media? Does he have a lot of views on YouTube? Who is this guy to tell me what to believe? It can be easy to rationalize away an encounter with Jesus.
We also need to avoid the temptation to put God in a box. The box that we have carefully constructed of our biases, social circles, denominations, friends and prejudices. The box that allows us to ignore the distressing disguise of Jesus in those around us, such as the poor or those we disagree with. The box that blocks the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us through people and events in our life that may be uncomfortable.
There is something familiar, comforting and safe about our earthly hometown. But God is trying to draw us out of the familiar, comforting and safe cocoon of our earthly hometown and draw us instead toward our eternal hometown—the beatific vision of God the Father in Heaven. As I have discussed at length elsewhere, the process of the spiritual growth that prepares us for our eternal hometown can be uncomfortable and even scary at times. We need to remind ourselves that Jesus Himself told us about our eternal hometown. There will be a place for us there. “In my Father’s house there are many rooms; if it were not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”5
Ultimately, the people of Jerusalem also rejected the message of the Gospel because of the messenger. They rejected Jesus. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus wept over Jerusalem as a result, saying “Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes. . . . because you did not know the time of your visitation.”6
Jesus may not be walking among us in His physical body today, but He still lives in His Church and in Christians. He is alive and is constantly seeking us.7 Therefore, every day is another opportunity for us to encounter Jesus. Are we paying attention? Are we listening?
Time will eventually run out for each of us. Will we know the time of our visitation? I pray that each of us does not miss the time of our visitation, in Jesus’ Name.
Jesus, I trust in You!
Eric A. Welter is an employment lawyer and trial attorney with a long-time devotion to intercessory prayer. He is a Catholic Christian who has been involved with intercessory and healing prayer ministry for over twenty years. The Abound in Hope Ministry website is https://www.aboundinhope.org/ministry.
The Catholic Study Bible, Revised Standard Version, notes that “this passage marks the second rejection of Jesus by his kinsfolk.”
Other English translations do say “A prophet is not dishonored except in his hometown and in his own household.”
See Luke 15:3-10.