Rejecting Jesus: Matthew 13:53-58

Following a long series of parables that Matthew includes in his gospel, we discover that Jesus makes a trip back to His hometown of Nazareth. However, the reaction He gets when He arrives is fascinating in my mind.

Let’s read about what happens and what Jesus experienced when He returns home. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 53, we read:

⁵³ When Jesus finished telling these parables, he left that place ⁵⁴ and went back to his hometown. He taught in the synagogue, and those who heard him were amazed. “Where did he get such wisdom?” they asked. “And what about his miracles? ⁵⁵ Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t Mary his mother, and aren’t James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? ⁵⁶ Aren’t all his sisters living here? Where did he get all this?” ⁵⁷ And so they rejected him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is respected everywhere except in his hometown and by his own family.” ⁵⁸ Because they did not have faith, he did not perform many miracles there.

In this passage, Jesus returns home to Nazareth, and when the Sabbath came, He went and taught in the synagogue. Two things stand out significantly in my mind about how this group of Jews responded to Jesus.

The first of these things is found in the questions they ask themselves about Jesus. Matthew tells us that they were amazed when they heard Him. This is powerful. They ask, “Where did he get such wisdom?” and “what about his miracles?” The initial response of those present is amazement. They appear to be very impressed with what Jesus was saying and sharing.

However, where this leads is just as amazing in my mind. Instead of seeing Jesus as someone who has grown in His relationship with God, they immediately seek to question where Jesus received His insight. Instead of simply accepting the wisdom Jesus shared, they are skeptical that someone as ordinary as Jesus could actually be extraordinary. These people look at Jesus’ family and they conclude that there isn’t anything special or abnormal in Jesus’ earthly parents or siblings. Because of this, they ultimately conclude that Jesus is not special at all, and not worthy of faith. These are the people who Jesus grew up with and around.

Mathew concludes by saying in verse 58 that “Because they did not have faith, [Jesus] did not perform many miracles there.”

This means that Jesus did perform some miracles while in Nazareth, but the miracles He did perform didn’t increase the faith of those present. Jesus helped those who chose to have faith, but the little faith that was present seemed to breed more skepticism rather than more faith.

I wonder if Mary and Joseph kept Jesus’ supernatural conception a secret. While Mary was definitely Jesus’ mother, I wonder if they didn’t openly share how Joseph was not Jesus’ father. Or, I wonder if those present simply assumed that Jesus and Joseph were biologically connected and they simply did not ask the question.

The other thing that stands out significantly in my mind when I read this is how we often fall into the exact same trap that those in Nazareth face. In our own lives, when we learn, hear, or read something new, the temptation is to quickly look deeper for a source, a story, or a motivation for what was shared. If new research comes to light about anything, we as a group instinctively will try to discern all the reasons we shouldn’t trust the research findings before looking at the findings itself.

If the findings validate what we already believe, they we blindly accept the research probably too quickly, whereas if the findings contradict what we believe, we challenge anything and everything about the research, the researchers, the funding source, and the motivation for the research itself. This is a characteristic of human nature, and it is as beneficial at times as it is detrimental.

The worst place we can find ourselves is listening or reading something about Jesus and choosing to accept or reject the idea based on our current beliefs. The next worse place we can go is to discredit the source of the idea. The best place to go to validate ideas about Jesus is to the closest source to Jesus we have, and that is the four gospels of the Bible.

There are more copies of the New Testament gospels than any other ancient written document. Also, the copies we have date more closely to the originals than any other ancient written source that I know of. This makes the Bible, probably the most controversial book in our world today, the best book to use when testing information and ideas about Jesus.

When Jesus arrived back in Nazareth, He was met with greater skepticism than if a complete stranger had arrived. Jesus came sharing wisdom and truth that was amazing and very impressive to those present. However, instead of accepting Jesus as Someone God sent to them with a special message, those in Nazareth decided it was best to dig into how Jesus could have learned or known what He shared, and when their search turns up empty, they decide to reject Jesus entirely.

We run the risk of this trap when we choose to reject Jesus based on anything but what the Bible teaches us in the gospels. The gospels are filled with information from eye witnesses and from those who were the closest to Jesus while He was on earth, and they are the best place to learn who the real Jesus was.

It’s also interesting in my mind that Jesus was rejected by people while He was alive on this earth. This means that we shouldn’t be surprised, hurt, or discouraged if we are rejected or if others reject Jesus in today’s world. Jesus didn’t come to please everyone or to get everyone to like Him. Jesus came to save all of God’s people, and to give humanity a better picture of God and His love for us!

Any message that paints Jesus as unloving towards those who were hurting, or unloving towards those who God loves, is a picture that does not match the Bible’s message about Jesus. With few exceptions, the only times Jesus speaks harshly are when He challenges those who believed they were better than others and who were self-righteously putting others down while trying to raise up their own status in God’s eyes. Jesus came to help those who were hurting and to give humanity hope for a future with God!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, be sure to seek God first and place Him first in your life. Choose to accept Jesus and what He did for us when He came and died on the cross. Accept Jesus’ life as a picture of God’s heart and His love for you and for me.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and become more like Jesus. Through praying and studying the Bible, we are better able to be the representatives that God has called us to be, and we will be better equipped to love others like Jesus loved them.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!