‘And after two days he went out from there to Galilee, for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country. So when he came into Galilee the Galileans received him having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast. For they also went to the feast.'
After His successful ministry Jesus departed for Galilee, for ‘Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country'. The reference to ‘his own country' here must be to Judea to make sense of the context, although later it would also apply to Nazareth as well (Luke 4:24). (His birthplace was in Judea). We have already been told that He had come to His own home (Jerusalem and Judea as the centres of the Jewish religion) and His own people had not received him (John 1:11). ‘No honour' means from the Jewish authorities and influential people, for His ministry to the common people had been successful. It was the authorities who would not give Him His due. Thus for the time being He would concentrate on work in the North. (Both Judea and Galilee could be looked on as His own country for He was born in one and brought up in the other).
In Galilee He was at first welcomed because of ‘all they had seen He had done in Jerusalem at the Feast'. But once again we are reminded of John 2:23-24. They believed because of the signs, but He could not trust their belief for its foundation was insecure, and as far as we are aware He carried out no public ministry at this stage. Did He recognise that they were not yet ready and that their superficial attitude could do more harm than good? They were proud of their fellow-countryman because of His successes, but did they want the inner change that He would require of them? There are times when it is better to be silent than to speak. How different they were from the Samaritans. Had their welcome been for the right reasons it is hardly conceivable that He would not have done for them what He had done for the Samaritans.