The same. — 'And I was as a stranger in their eyes.' 49. Christ a stranger in His own house. — For our Redeemer, while He was not known by the synagogue, existed as it were a stranger in His own house. Which the Prophet openly testifies, saying: 'Why art thou to be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfarer turning aside to lodge?' (Jer. 14:8). For because He was not heard as the Lord, He was believed to be not the possessor of the field, but a sojourner. Who, as a wayfarer, turned aside only to lodge, because He took away few out of Judea, and, going on to the calling of the Gentiles, completed the journey He had begun.
A stranger, therefore, He was in their eyes, because, while they pondered only the things they could see, they were not able to understand in the Lord that which they could not see. For while they despise the visible flesh, they did not attain to the invisible majesty. Let it therefore be rightly said: 'And I was as a stranger in their eyes.' Concerning which people it is aptly subjoined: