The Greek adjective atimos means without honor, dishonored, or despised. Jesus applied it to Himself: 'A prophet is not without honor (atimos) except in his hometown' (Matthew 13:57; Mark 6:4). Paul uses it to contrast 'honorable' and 'dishonorable' parts of the body in 1 Corinthians 12:23.
Jesus' use of atimos echoes a deep pattern in Israel's history — Joseph rejected by his brothers, Jeremiah beaten and imprisoned, the prophets stoned. Jesus Himself is the supreme example: He came to His own, and His own received Him not (John 1:11). Yet this rejection was the appointed path to the cross and resurrection, through which the atimos one became the cornerstone. The church's embrace of the dishonored and rejected reflects the logic of the Kingdom where the last are first.