Readings
- Ecclesiastes 2:16–26
- Galatians 1:18 – 2:10
- Matthew 13:53–58
- Psalms: 45; 47, 48
Matthew 13:53–58
When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.
He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?"
And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor except in their own hometown and in their own house."
And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.
Notes
Jesus has finished the parable section (Matthew 13:1–52) and goes home to Nazareth. It does not go well.
Verses 53–56. Family of origin. A connection back to last week. In Matthew 12:46–50, Jesus' mother and brothers were standing outside the house wanting to speak with him, and he redrew the definition of family in response. Here, evidently, the family did eventually catch up with him, and Jesus did return to the Nazareth synagogue to teach. The redefinition of family did not mean abandonment of family. He did go home.
The reception is…mixed. The hometown is astonished at his teaching but cannot get past where he came from. Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us?
Carpenter is tektōn, a word covering a range of skilled trades, not necessarily just woodworking. I prefer “stonemason.” Maybe “construction worker.” James, named here, is the same James who will later become a key leader of the Jerusalem church. The other brothers and sisters are biological family, named without the later Catholic theological qualifications about Mary's perpetual virginity layered in. Jesus grew up in a family with real siblings.
Gotta love the implicit insult to the family running through the hometown's complaint. Why should this man be special? We know his people. They are nothing. The kind of comment that reads more cutting in a small village than it does in print.
Verses 57–58. The prophet at home. "Prophets are not without honor except in their own hometown and in their own house." The people closest to a teacher often have the hardest time receiving the teaching. They cannot quite let the person be more than the person was at fifteen.
If you have ever tried to do meaningful work in the place that raised you, you may have a more visceral sympathy with this scene than you would prefer. Respected everywhere but home is a real condition.
Verse 58. Unbelief and power. "He did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief." Mark's parallel is sharper: he could not do any miracles there (Mark 6:5). Their unbelief limits what Jesus does in their midst.
This is theologically delicate territory and worth handling carefully.
On one hand, the gospels assume God works in cooperation with the openness of people. The healings in Matthew consistently come on the heels of someone's faith. The kingdom moves through trust, not coercion. Where trust is absent, the kingdom's power is also, somehow, absent.
On the other hand, the modern application of this can become spiritually abusive. Your lack of faith is why you have cancer, and other versions of it, are bullshit. They blame the suffering for their suffering, and they ignore the dozens of other reasons miracles do not happen.
The honest both-and: God works cooperatively with human openness; people can limit what God does in their midst; and the absence of a miracle is rarely a simple judgment on someone's faith. Many factors are in the room.
Questions for reflection
The people who knew Jesus longest had the hardest time receiving him. Where in your life is there a teacher, prophet, or friend whose growth you keep refusing to let count, because you remember who they used to be?
Their unbelief limited what Jesus did. Where in your own life might trust be the missing factor, without that becoming an opening for the abusive version of "if you only had more faith"?
