Matthew 13:56-58
‘”And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man acquire all these things?” And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not dishonored except in his hometown and in his own household.” And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.’
This is a sad bunch of scriptures which tell us some interesting truths. The fist is Jesus’ own acknowledgement, that a prophet isn’t accepted in his home town. This must have odd having seen Jesus grow up since boyhood. He was probably a model citizen. Defended His friends against bullies, helped neighbors and friends, helped His dad with carpentry and so on. Now He’s back doing miracles, claiming to be the pMessiah. There’s a difference between being a nice kid and being the Savior. I understand their difficulty.
However, the Messiah had to be born somewhere. He would be a nice kid and good to others. It’s the leap from hometown boy to Savior that’s tough. Yet, He did miracles, granted not many in this town, but they heard about them. That’s something to give Him a chance.
The problem in this passage is that they took the normal questions one would have and took it too far. It says, “they took offense at Him”. The past few years in our culture we have seen many “get offended”. The only thing I can see getting offended by is if one blasphemes God, harms my family or something in that arena. All else seems self centered.
God tells us to love others. We have to let that love overpower this offense, unless it’s the arena mentioned. People allow political beliefs to allow them to respond in crazy ways. I won’t allow political beliefs to divide friendships. I would do that if it came to Christ. Not that I would be offended, but I would speak of Him even if it caused others to separate from me.
Jesus is also sharing a general principle. People that knew us when we were at a lower state might have difficulty accepting us at a higher one. We can’t worry about their offense. We move on.
Lastly, God will bring us to some situations that we never expected. In earlier times some things may have offended us. Peter the apostle is a great example. God gave him a dream in which He told him to eat some animals that were considered unclean. Here is the dialogue in Acts 10:13-15, ‘A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”’ God brought him to an area in which he had something to learn. We have to be open to that too.
Keep in mind, God won’t contradict Himself. Let the Word of God guide us. True, Peter was asked to do something against an Old Testament rule. The difference there is that the Levitical laws weren’t meant to last forever. Hebrews 10:1 says, “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the form of those things itself, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually every year, make those who approach perfect.” We live in the New Testament time. There is no more changing. We can trust the bible. We follow the nudging God gives us, knowing He will never ask us to do something against scripture.
Thank You, Lord, for Jesus. He went through this difficult time being rejected by those in His town. Help us not to be offended by the trivial, but to love. Help us also to be led by You, even if it means changing what we used to know. Thank You for Your Word which is a lamp unto our feet.