This paper will explore the topics of how and why Jesus responds to individuals in the way that he does throughout Luke’s Gospel (which is the focus of my PhD research). This will be accomplished by examining a key passage on the topic of Jesus’ interactions with others – Jesus’ rejection and subsequent response to the crowd at the synagogue in Nazareth in Luke 4:16-30. This pericope contains Jesus’ first major interaction with others during his teaching ministry as recorded in Luke’s Gospel, and it is programmatic of both how Jesus responds and is responded to throughout the rest of the Gospel. In this scene, the individuals present in the synagogue react to Jesus’ reading of the Scriptures and subsequent teaching, and then Jesus responds to their comments. Jesus’ negative response at first seems unfitting based on the initial, supposedly positive, reaction of the crowd. Luke-Acts scholars have been divided on what prompted Jesus’ negative response. This paper will argue that regardless of the external reaction of the crowd–whether their amazement, testifying about him, and questioning in 4:22 was positive or negative–Jesus’ in turn responded negatively based on the insincerity and close-mindedness behind their comments. This argument will help reconcile contradicting attempts to explain Jesus’ harsh response by previous scholars. Overall, this narrative provides insight into how people react to Jesus and how Jesus responds back to them, and it provides a foundation and a criterion for the rest of Jesus’ responses throughout the rest of Luke’s Gospel as well.