Culver Community Church

Pastor Chris Sweeney

Sermon Notes

May 14, 2018

Matthew 13:53-58 Hometown Rejection

Here we see Matthew transitioning from Jesus’ parables teaching the truth of the Kingdom to see more unbelief and rejection!  Coming to His hometown – we know that Jesus has made a new headquarters in Capernaum but this is referring to the town that He grew up in!  We can hear that in the tone of what they are saying - -

"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?"

Some conspiracy nuts try to say that Jesus studied with Buddhists, went to India or even that He was connected to the English legends of King Arthur but it is plain that the people of Nazareth watched Him grow up as Luke 2 tells us “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52 NIV).

What this is telling us is that upon coming back to Nazareth, the people were amazed and then offended by Him.  They knew little Jesus, watched Him work in the carpenter’s shop, saw Him with the family and yes, some probably had a chair or crib that He had built (imagine what that would be worth!).  They thought that He was just one of them, and if we were to sum up their reaction, it would be “Just who does He think He is?”  What they didn’t realize is that they were the ones who were wrong - No – He isn’t the carpenter’s son (Joseph’s son) as they thought about it, He is the Son of the Most High God, Immanuel, God with us!  It is true that Jesus grew up in Joseph’s home and Joseph was the adoptive father, but this man is the Son of God!

We learn three other things from this passage: 1) Mary had other children!  2) it is hard to witness to familiars 3) Jesus did not do many signs or miracles there.

This first may not seem like a big revelation to most of us, but if you came up in the Catholic system, you would have been taught that she was a perpetual virgin.  This is disproven because we have a listing of Jesus’ half-brothers (two of which have books in the New Testament – James & Judas or Jude).  We also see that Jesus had multiple sisters (we don’t know how many) who still lived at Nazareth.  While the word brethren can refer to other relatives or someone close like a brother, the word for sister(s) is only ever used to refer to a female born of the same parent.

The second is also not a world-changing revelation – it can be hard to witness to those who know you!  Sometimes, as a believer your life has changed so much that people who knew you before the Lord – are amazed and want what you have!  However, more often than not, they react like Jesus’ home town did.  Today, we might hear things like “don’t try to preach to me, I used to change your diapers”, “I went to school with you” or “I knew you when you ____ (insert sin here)”.  Fear not, even Jesus’ own brothers did not believe until after the resurrection!  God will make sure that every single person has enough revelation to seek Him, even if He has to import someone else, an “out-of-town witness” to reach your friends and family!  God will not allow anyone (not even one soul!) to go to eternal damnation (Hell) without having ample opportunities to believe and seek Him.  That would go against His nature – He is just, and full of mercy and grace!

The third thing we learn however, is very important to us!  Jesus did not do many signs among them, not because He needed their faith or because He had a power outage, but because God has determined that, He wants to work among His people.  Notice Jesus did teach (with wisdom) and did do some miracles among them because they are amazed and ask about it – “"Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?”  God is able to do whatever He wants, whenever He wants – He is the all-powerful, Omniscient God of creation (that means He made it all, He can do whatever He wants with it).  The only thing restraining God is His own character (He will not do anything evil).  His love for us (He won’t give us bad things)!

Faith is key because faith pleases and attracts God!  It is the way to enter the Kingdom of God, that we have been learning about in this study of Matthew (really all of Scripture)!  After all, “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)  I heard an amazing story to illustrate this need and relationship between faith and God’s works:

In the middle of a drought, a minister told his congregation one Sunday that they were going to have a prayer vigil to end the drought that night.  So, preparations were made and the people came back in large numbers (it was a big fellowship).  They gathered in the parking lot and as the preacher came up to speak at the podium, he shocked them all by saying “Go home, we cannot pray for rain because you have not come in faith!”  Some voices tried to declare that they had, but once more he addressed the crowd proving his point, “Where are your umbrellas?” and he sent them home to get them!

We do that in our own lives!  We ask God for something, a job, a spouse a new house – but then we don’t start to get ready for the answer!  If you are ready to marry – then look at venues and dresses and prepare your life to live with the partner you are trusting God for!  If you are ready to move, then start packing up those moving boxes!  So often we ask God for something and then go off as if there is no way He will answer yes.  We say a prayer and then look for our own solutions – in essence saying “Well, I guess I’ll have to take care of this myself.”  When we pray and don’t act upon the request, we are what James called the double-minded man (James 1:6-8), “And that man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.”  Expect God to answer, but trust whatever He does, for however long He does it – trust that it is for your benefit while you wait!  We can’t always see what is for our good!  Sometimes we need a little rain and yes, even fertilizer to grow beautiful flowers – that’s not the way God designed the world, but now that it’s fallen – we need to understand and learn how to live with these new but temporary rules.  One day, everything will be as it was at the beginning – no rain, no sorrows, no pain and the lion will lie down with the lamb – but we’re not there yet!  Let’s hold on in faith because it is coming – He is coming!

We must learn to have a godly balance in this – not fearful and doubting but also not expecting things that we have no right to expect from God!  The faith God desires is not some hyper-faith, where we change God’s will (or tell Him what it is), where we command Him to do our biding or make up our own realities – that’s not faith, that is presumption, pride and a few other things I won’t mention.  However, we must learn to ask!  Last time we saw that the disciples “missed out on” excellent exegesis (teaching) given by Jesus Himself, because they were too proud to say that they didn’t understand.  This teaches us that we can just as easily “miss out” because we don’t have faith! Faith pleases God; Faith opens the doors to answered prayers and even encourages God to do above and beyond what we do ask for!  The same God (our God, the only God) who “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20b) may chose not to act on our behalf when we have an unbelieving heart.  Think about this from God’s point of view (as much as we can) – if God looks down at someone who is not believing or not asking - - - if God moved on that person’s behalf, they would probably excuse it away as coincidence, aliens, crystals, magic or some other nonsense - - - then why would He act?  Not only would it not bring Him glory (display how great He is) but it would bolster the person’s belief in that other nonsense!  It would actually have the end result of pulling people farther away from knowing God!  Signs won’t convince someone who will not believe!  But the converse is just as true, someone who won’t believe will not see signs (because God is less likely to do them and even if He does they won’t recognize them)!

Here at the end of this chapter, Matthew is once again reminding us that the King was rejected.  If His own hometown friends and family won’t receive Him then what hope is there for the nation?  Jesus had preached at ‘home’ once before, but this would be His final visit to Nazareth.  There will be a day like this for each unbeliever – “a last chance”.  Let us all accept God’s gracious forgiveness before our time runs out!  Jesus was know as “Jesus of Nazareth”, and His followers would come to be known as “Nazarenes” but ironically, Nazareth would have nothing to do with Him!  Don’t be a Christian in name only – receive the Christ, be set free and redeemed so that you many live life the way God intended – in relationship with your Creator!