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53 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. 54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, "Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?" 57 So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. ~ Matthew 13:53-58
Today, we conclude our study of Matthew 13 where the Lord Jesus has been teaching His disciples in the house of Peter who lived in Capernaum. In today's study the identity of the Lord Jesus is being questioned. "Who am I?" is one of the three major questions that we all wrestle with while on this earth. Along with "Where did I come from?" and "Why am I here?," "Who am I?" is key to how we understand and live our lives.
In v.53 of today's passage we read, "Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there."
The words, "Now it came to pass" remind us that the Lord Jesus operated on His Father's timeline and schedule. He was truly defined by the Father. In John 8 the Lord Jesus said, "I do nothing on my own initiative, but the things that I hear from him, these are the things that I speak." He then went on to instruct His hearers about real freedom. In our culture freedom means doing what we want, when we want, how we want, with whom we want. That’s freedom but not according to God. Freedom from God is a freedom by which we are empowered to live life according to His will. His will frees us to obey, to live life in submission to His will. He is the One who made us and knows what is best for us. There is no greater freedom than our bondage to obedience to God. He is the One who drew up the specifications for our lives.
Most get their meaning from those whom they respect, but the thoughts of fallen man are limited. Only God can provide for us the identity that we truly want. As believers in the Lord Jesus we are called of God to find our identity in Him. Due to becoming sons and daughters of God by believing in His Son, God sees us through the lens of the Lord Jesus Christ. In His eyes we are perfect as He. Most struggle with insecurities because they are not happy with certain things about themselves. We must not be defined by nothing other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Only the perfection of Christ applied to us through the cross can make us secure and satisfied with whom we are and the lives God has given us.
In v.54-56 of today's passage we read, "54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, 'Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?'"
The Lord Jesus traveled some 56 miles from Capernaum to Nazareth and while there, He spoke in the synagogue. This was His second visit to Nazareth. He had been there about a year earlier, at which time they had tried to throw Him off a cliff. They were so upset that He claimed to be the Messiah, instead of accepting Him as the gift of God, their rage took over. His wisdom they couldn’t deny. His miracles they couldn’t deny. They had benefited from both. He promised them that He was the Messiah. He showed them that He was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61. And instead of embracing Him as their Messiah, they sought to kill Him.
On this occasion when the people in the synagogue heard the Lord Jesus, they were "blown away" by His teaching. But they asked the wrong question. Well, they asked the right question but they defined the Lord Jesus in the wrong way. They defined Him as "a man." Throughout the centuries, people have found the Lord Jesus to be absolutely fascinating. It’s no exaggeration to say that He is the most influential person who has ever lived. Today, more than two thousand years after His death, He has a worldwide following of millions. He is the primary figure in the number one best-selling book in the world, fall time, the Bible. Even our calendar is based around His birth. It’s undeniable that the Lord Jesus is the most influential person in history.
In v.57-58 of today's passage we read, "57 So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.' 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief."
The Lord Jesus offended the people by speaking the truth. Unbelief is not that we can't believe, unbelief is that we won't believe. The Lord Jesus gave much evidence of His identity to the people through His wise teaching, through His miracles, through the fact that He fulfilled at least 300 Old Testament prophecies as the Messiah. The fact that He rose from the dead after being murdered on the cross was so compelling that His unbelieving half brothers and sisters became His followers. The Lord Jesus gave every evidence to prove He was the Messiah, but the people of Nazareth just plain rejected it. They refused to believe. The evidence was as clear as daylight! In John 12:37 we read, "Though He had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in Him." Unbelief is a persistent refusal to believe. The Lord Jesus said in Luke 16:31, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, if they do not hear the Word of God, neither will they be convinced even if this great miracle takes place, someone rises from the dead."
The people of Nazareth didn't believe that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah. The result was that He didn't do many miracles there, "because of their unbelief." In John 3:19 we read, "And this is the judgment that light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil." We do not want to admit it when we are wrong. This is why it was so hard for us to turn to the Lord in the first place. Pride inaugurated sin. There was a time when we held tightly to our sin because it felt so good and we thought that it was so right. For most people it requires a certain measure of brokenness to convince us to turn to the Lord. People reject the Lord Jesus Christ because they love the darkness rather than the light. They are more comfortable with sin than they are with the Perfect One who fashioned them in their mother's womb.
