John 4:44-45

These verses seem incongruous. If a prophet has no honor in his own country, why did the Galileans welcome Jesus, since Galilee was His homeland? The Greek word patris translated "country" can mean either homeland or hometown. The Synoptics always used it to describe Nazareth (Matthew 13:57; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24).

One explanation is that John viewed Judea as Jesus’ homeland or possibly Jerusalem as His hometown. [Note: Westcott, 1:77-78; Hoskyns, pp. 287-88; B. Lindars, The Gospel of John, pp. 200-201.] Perhaps John regarded Judea and Jerusalem as Jesus’ spiritual homeland and hometown as David’s spiritual heir. The "Jews" is a term that John used particularly of the Jews in Judea (cf. John 1:19; John 7:1). However, John referred to Nazareth as Jesus’ physical home frequently (John 1:45-46; John 7:41; John 7:52; John 19:19). Moreover Jesus did not choose where He ministered because of the popular acceptance He received. He did seek to avoid premature conflict with the religious leaders in Jerusalem, but the implication of John 4:44-45 is that Jesus’ honor was the determining factor. Furthermore the reception that Jesus received in Galilee was not entirely positive.

A second explanation is that patris refers to heaven. [Note: Lightfoot, p. 35.] However this view does not explain why John included the proverb as an explanation for Jesus’ going into Galilee from Judea.

Probably patris refers to Galilee in contrast to Samaria rather than in contrast to Judea. [Note: Brown, 1:187; Carson, pp. 235-36; John W. Pryor, "John 4:44 and the Patris of Jesus," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 49 (1987):254-63. For several other less probable solutions, see D. A. Carson, "Current Source Criticism of the Fourth Gospel: Some Methodological Questions," Journal of Biblical Literature 97 (1978):424, n. 50.] Jesus’ own country was Jewish turf rather than Samaritan territory. On Jewish turf Jesus had not experienced the honor that He had among the Samaritans (cf. John 2:18; John 2:20; John 2:22-25; John 3:10; John 4:1-3). The "so" or "therefore" that begins John 4:45 does not explain why Jesus went back into Jewish territory. He did not go there because the Jews typically rejected Him. The "so" or "therefore" introduces the reason for the Galileans’ reception of Him that follows. The people from the Prophet’s own country received Him because they had seen the miracles that He had done at Passover in Jerusalem, not because they honored Him as a prophet (cf. John 4:48). Thus John was contrasting the unbelief of the Jews with the belief of the Samaritans.