(23) And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. (24) And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. (25) But I tell you of a truth, Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; (26) But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. (27) And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian. (28) And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, (29) And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. (30) But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way, (31) And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. (32) And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.
And here we find how the tone of their sentiments is changed. All they in the synagogue were now filled with wrath, and endeavoured to push him on to the brow of the hill of their city, in order to destroy him. Reader! when you have duly pondered the subject, and marked the great change, I beseech you to pause, and if it be possible, find out the cause. It was at one and the same meeting this vast alteration of conduct in the people took place. There could have been no one circumstance of a change in Christ, either in his person or behaviour. And what was it, think you, filled the minds of this people with wrath, which before had borne witness at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth? Are you able to discover the cause? surely nothing can be plainer. The simple reason was, in the former, Jesus preached his Gospel in the general features of it. In the latter, Jesus preached the same Gospel in the special and particular application of it. In the one, he held forth the glories of his person, in his offices, character, and relations. In the latter, the personal interest his people alone have in it. In a word, Christ preached in the close of what he had before delivered, that doctrine, which ever hath, and ever must, and ever will give disgust to all carnal men; and which, though Christ himself be the preacher, (as we here see fully proved), will never cease to be odious; even the doctrine of God's sovereignty, in opposition to the pride of the free will of man; and hence Christ shall experience what all his servants, in all ages of the Church have experienced, the most bitter resentment instantly arising against it. But, Reader! while making due observation on those striking passages, in explaining the cause of that change of behaviour towards the Lord Jesus Christ, do not fail at the same time to mark down in suitable characters, what a blessed testimony the Son of God hath here given, in proof of that fundamental, glorious, and incontrovertible doctrine of God. See Matthew 11:25-26; John 17:9; John 17:9; Romans 9:6 to the end.