Matthew 13: 53-58
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, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Would you want to be the mayor of the city you grew up in? My answer to that question is an irrevocable “no.” As we see the townspeople say about Jesus, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” I can only imagine what Catlin (my hometown) would say about me.
The towns that Jesus taught in were not always large. Most of the larger villages would have consisted of several dozen families. Even the largest city, Jerusalem, housed only 40,000 people. That is drastically lower than the 900,000 that live there today. Everyone knew everyone. Considering there was no technology gossip was quite popular in those days.
I relate more to this passage knowing that Jesus’ hometown population was about 400. Catlin’s population is about 2100. Though different, I understand small town life. The passages directly before include some of Jesus’ most robust theological teachings. These teachings were challenging. Yet, instead of hearing this teaching for what it was the people only saw the “son of a carpenter.”
Where could the good news be in this story? Sometimes good news is found in defeat. Of course it is saddening to think of Jesus’ childhood rival dismissing his adult teaching. But isn’t it comforting to know that Jesus was rejected by his hometown?
The number one reason we do not share our faith with others is fear. We are afraid. We are afraid to be rejected. We are afraid that we will not know what to say. We are afraid that they will only see the son of a teacher or daughter of a mailman. So what happens? We just do not share it.
Jesus shared his teachings though, and truthfully, Jesus already knew he would be rejected. This fear did not stop him from sharing the good news. If Jesus shared the good news even when he knew he would be rejected by the people who knew him best, shouldn’t you?
Pastor Mat