Seeds for 09/21/2023 - Matthew 13:53-58
Scripture: When Jesus had finished these parables, He moved on from there. 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. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t His mother’s name Mary, and aren’t His brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at Him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in His own town and in His own home.”
And He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Observation: Jesus stays on the move, never remaining in any one place longer than necessary.
Next stop, hometown. Jesus does the expected. He teaches in the synagogue. Initially, the response is the same as at other times. The people were amazed. Like the crowds at the conclusion of the Sermon of the Mount, they are gobsmacked at the wisdom and power of Jesus. So far, so good.
But more questions follow. Who’s He related to? What did he do for a living? Don’t we know His family? Now, Matthew records, “they took offense at Him.”
There’s a contrast here. Upon hearing His teaching, their response is awe. Upon noting His resume, their response is offense. Take the personal stuff out of it and they stand in awe at the content of His message. Drag expectations and prejudgments into the mix and they pick apart the experience. The treasure is good, but they don’t want it to come from the field in which it is found—Jesus, a carpenter’s son, Mary’s boy, one many siblings.
I wonder if Jesus was easier to enjoy when He was at arm’s length, on a pedestal a little higher up, His words floating along to us like wisdom on the wind. We hear the insight and we’re impressed. But see Him as a man, flesh and blood of people we know, knowledgable about His trade and that’s a little too close for comfort. Perhaps He was for them too relatable, too near our ordinary experience.
The marvelous truth of Incarnation, God becoming human in Jesus, leads us to comforting assurances such as the promise that we have a high priest who knows our weakness, and who we can approach with confidence. On the other hand, the ordinariness of Jesus—a carpenter’s son, Mary’s boy, one of many siblings—means that the ordinary stuff of life has been invaded by the presence, power, and truth of God. Maybe that’s more than we bargained for. Maybe we liked admiring and appreciating Jesus over there. But right here? The nearness of Jesus may comfort us, but that same nearness will also convict and transform us. Dare we let Him?
Application:
What is comforting about the closeness of Jesus?
What is convicting when Jesus comes near?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, come get in my business, that I may experience the full impact of your grace and truth to transform and make me whole. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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