Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-may-30-2024
Matthew 13:53-58
A Prophet Without Honor
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”57 And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Our reading for today is Matthew’s account of Jesus’ rejection by the people at his hometown synagogue. It’s a story that appears almost word-for-word in Mark, which is the original gospel and an eyewitness account. This story is fairly familiar, or at least most followers of Jesus know there was an occasion on which Jesus’ ministry was rejected in his own hometown. But there are several things in the passage that are easy to overlook, so it’s important for us to give it some careful attention.
It’s worth noting that the phrase that’s translated “his hometown” is a Greek phrase that literally means “his own country.” New Testament scholars say that as an adult, Jesus seems to have made his home in Capernaum. But the way it is told seems to suggest that this story takes place in Nazareth, where he had grown up.
It’s also worth paying attention to the fact that the story takes places as Jesus is teaching in a local synagogue. Historically, Christians have had a negative attitude toward the Jews as ‘enemies and murderers of Jesus,’ and we miss the fact that our master continued to participate in the religious practices of his people. Several of his appearances in Jerusalem seem to have taken place during important festivals, so Jesus seems to have planned his ministry in ways that sometimes allowed him to take advantage of the large gatherings of Jewish religious pilgrims.
And even after Jesus ascended to heaven, at least some of his disciples – maybe most of them – continued to participate in Jewish religious observances. The Acts of the Apostles say that the apostle Paul went through purification rituals himself, even though he taught that gentiles who became followers of Jesus didn’t need to observe the practices of the Hebrew tradition. Some scholars believe that for the first fifty years or so after Jesus ascended, many of his followers still considered themselves Jews, and went to synagogue services on Saturday and Christian worship on Sunday.
In today’s reading, Jesus is not well received by the congregation at the Nazareth synagogue. Some of those present say, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” It seems that some of them thought that someone from a ‘blue-collar background’ couldn’t be considered to have any authority as a religious teacher.
The crowd in the story also declares that they know Jesus’ mother, as well as his brothers and sisters. In fact, they know his brothers by name. This, by the way, calls into serious question the Roman Catholic doctrine of ‘the perpetual virginity of Mary.’ It’s sometimes argued that these brothers and sisters of Jesus are from an earlier marriage of Joseph, or are even just cousins, but the Greek word used in the passage really means biological brothers. It seems pretty clear that after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had a typical marriage relationship.
Matthew’s account says the synagogue congregation “took offense” at Jesus, which doesn’t really communicate the sense of the verse very well. What we’re meant to understand here is that they rejected Jesus’ message, that they refused to believe in him.
That’s where Jesus speaks the famous line, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” That saying has a certain ring of truth about it, doesn’t it? Even aside from the fact that Jesus found it worth repeating? Sometimes people who have known us as kids don’t seem to take us as seriously as adults. At least not as seriously as others who meet us when we’re grown up. I suppose it’s natural that when you’ve watched someone grow up, your perception of them is colored by your memory of them as a little kid.
But it seems to me this story illustrates a certain element of human nature that wants to ‘keep people in their place.’ If we think of someone as a carpenter and the son of a carpenter, we tend to think they should just be satisfied to stay a carpenter. And if that carpenter suddenly shows up in church and starts offering interpretations of theology that aren’t what we’re used to hearing, well, it’s entirely possible that we might ‘take offense at him.’
Obviously, that can be a big mistake. In our story for today, the guy they ‘take offense at’ turns out to be God in human form. And throughout the history of the faith, God has called some very unlikely people to important roles in the life of his people. Moses was just a fugitive with a speech impediment. David was just a kid watching the sheep. Mary was just an unmarried, pregnant teenager. Peter was just a fisherman. Paul was a sworn enemy of the church.
If there’s one single lesson for us to carry away from this passage, it’s probably that God often speaks into the world most forcefully through people who don’t fit our expectations. And if we allow those expectations to shut our ears to what’s being said, we can wind up rejecting a message that can be life-changing for us. And we can miss out on some of the miraculous things God continues to do.
Let’s pray. Lord, we pray that you will shatter our certainty about what you might do and about where we might hear your word. Help us to be open to that word, even when it comes to us through surprising and unexpected people. Amen.
Blessings,
Henry
Recent Comments