Without Honor At Nazareth
WITHOUT HONOR AT NAZARETH
MATTHEW 13:53-58
Familiarity can breed contempt and lack of faith.
The formula at the beginning of 13:53, marking the end of a body of discourse, is similar to those in 7:28 and 11:1 (cf. 19:1; 26:1). By “his own country” or “his home town” (13:54) Nazareth is meant (cf. 2:23; Luke 4:16). His fellow townsmen, instead of feeling pride in the fame of a local boy, “took offense” at him (13:57; cf. 11:6; 13:21) because they did not see why a member of a well-known but undistinguished family of the place should gain such a reputation for “wisdom” and “mighty works” (13:54); why should he be better than any of themselves? Since “the carpenter” is not named (13:55), he may no longer have been alive.
The proverb of 13:57 appears in the same context in Mark 6:4 and Luke 4:24; in John 4:44 it seems to refer rather to Judea.
13:58 implies that in spite of their unbelief he did one or two mighty works there; cf. Mark 6:5: “He laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them.” But Matthew probably wishes to show that with his inhospitable reception in Nazareth the record of Galilean rejection is complete.
Self-examination The Galileans’ prejudice prevented their looking squarely at all the facts. What are the implications of this for me with regard to personal relationships, local church life, ecumenical movement, etc?
Consider There has been no space to discuss different interpretations of the parables from those suggested in the foregoing notes, but consider:
• the view that the mustard-seed portrays the kingdom as ceasing to be the lowly institution which it was to have been in the divine plan and becoming “a great corporation, a visible and comfortable sphere of operations for wicked spirits,” represented by the “birds of the air” (G.H. Lang, Pictures and Parables, p.122);
• the view that the parable of the leaven describes the growth of evil within the kingdom (in the light, eg of 1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9);
• the view that the merchant of 13:45f. is our Lord, and that the “pearl of great value” is the Church, or the individual soul.