There is not a great deal of significant doctrine in these seven verses, but there are a few lessons to go along with some points of trivia. Let’s think about Jesus’ ministry, His family, the peoples sophistry and then their perfidity.
Let’s start this evening with a word or two about Christ Jesus’ MINISTRY.
“And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue…” This was not the first time that Christ used the pulpit in the Nazarine synagogue. In Luke 4 the Lord returned from His temptation in the wilderness. “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” After a bit of explanation Jesus’ neighbors were given time to react. “And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way, And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee.” Capernaum became the center of Christ’s ministry after His rejection at Nazareth. I am not smart enough to tell you how many months passed between Luke 4 and Matthew 13. It may have been more or less than a year – not a considerable length of time, but not inconsiderable either
Please think about a couple of things which are not brought out in these scriptures. First, despite the earlier attack on the life of Christ, the Lord Jesus didn’t give up on those people. He went right back into the jaws of the lion – because those people needed Him. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I DO give up on people – especially people who I think are not worthy of treasure of God. If someone has thrown stones at me for trying to be a spiritual blessing, I am too quick to draw a line, dig a moat, build a fence and burn the bridge between us. But the Lord is far more gracious, merciful and kind than I am – may He forgive me. After a few months the Lord went right back to Nazareth and even into their synagogue, preaching the same message – the gospel of Christ. The thing to emphasize is not the wickedness of the stone-throwers, but their desperate need of Christ. The thing to emphasize is not their depravity but the importance of the gospel. It should not be about the sinner, but about the Saviour and His great grace.
A second thing to consider is that although the ultimate end was the same, the details about the Nazarite reaction were different. On this occasion they didn’t pick up stones to try to kill their divine neighbor. That encourages us to try again to witness to our kin folk and neighbors. Who knows what things have transpired since our last witness – things which have plowed the soil of their hearts and prepared them for a better reception of the spiritual seed?
Just a couple of other words about the nature of Jesus’ ministry before we move on. It was characterized by “wisdom” and “mighty works.” I am going to assume that the “mighty works” refer to miracles – things beyond the reach of my ministry. We’ve already been introduced to these things in Jesus’ life – we don’t need to analyze them any more. It would certainly be a wonderful thing if the Lord would grant these things to our ministries, but I am not expecting them. The word “wisdom” however may or may not apply to your ministry and mine. Not that there is great wisdom which is native to any of us, as there certainly was in the omniscient Christ. But when we are dealing with the revelation of God we are put into a ministry of wisdom. That was Solomon’s word for the Word of the Lord. We hold in our hands wisdom far beyond that of the smartest men on earth today. There is a sense in which our hearers could be astounded by our wisdom and the confidence with which we pass it on.
In some ways our ministries should parallel that of Christ, but in other ways, His was absolutely unique.
My second point for this evening is JESUS’ FAMILY.
Jesus’ father was said to be a carpenter. Of course this was a reference to Joseph, the kind and gracious man who married Mary. The way Joseph treated Mary under the circumstances of her pregnancy elicit nothing but respect from me. This is the only place where we are told that he was a carpenter – a good and respectable vocation. The only other time that the word is used in the New Testament is in Mark’s account of this same incident, but there it is said that Jesus’ was the carpenter. That probably means that when he was young Joseph taught the trade to his eldest step-son.
Secondly we are told that Jesus had sisters, but these are not named for us, making speculation totally unnecessary and a waste of time. But we are given the names of Jesus’ step-brothers, or as the community considered them – his brothers. There are traditions based on heretical opinions that these brothers and sisters were all children of Joseph from another marriage. The desire behind that thought is to keep Mary from any sort of carnal relations with her husband, but the idea is foolish, unfounded and unnecessary. It is apparent that Mary had a number of other children after the birth of Jesus.
Some of the brethren of Christ eventually became believers and even preachers of the gospel. Perhaps it was the family relationship that they had with Christ which gave them positions of leadership. But on the other hand they may have excelled with characteristics which qualified them for church office. Four brothers are named – James, Joses, Simon and Judas. Judas, or Juda, as in Mark, may have later been called either Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus, but we can’t be sure of that. Certainly, if I had been named Judas and if I was one of the Lord’s disciples, I might have chosen to go by my middle name too. I don’t get really excited about keeping all the names of later disciples of Christ straight in my mind. For example there were several Christians who were named James, after the original James – the Apostle – the brother of John. The first James was martyred quite early in the Book of Acts. Who were the others/ It might be that the James who is named here – the brother of Jesus – became pastor of the church in Jerusalem, although the proof isn’t particularly strong. When Paul refer to His meeting with the church he speaks of meeting James, the Lord’s brother. A man named James was certainly in charge of that meeting as it is described in Acts 15.
I’m going to leave all that for some future study, but I would like you to consider the family of Jesus as we find it in Matthew 13. As we have already noticed at the end of the previous chapter, the family of Jesus was not being very supportive of the ministry of Christ. The Lord appears to publically put them in their place. “While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” It doesn’t appear that any of the siblings of Christ put their faith in Him as Lord and Saviour until late in Jesus’ ministry, or perhaps even after His crucifixion.
A point for meditation is what were the brothers of Christ doing during the 42 months of Jesus’ ministry? Were they among the crowd in the synagogue in Mark 4 when there was an attempt on Jesus’ life? How did they respond to that attack? And were they in the synagogue here in this chapter? Had any of the family moved out of Nazareth and away from the animosity against their brother? Had they defended Jesus or had they been caught up in the attacks against Him – had they been a part of those attacks? “A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his OWN HOUSE.” At this point in time Jesus family was not at all encouraging to His ministry. One of the reasons that I hesitate to say that the pastor of the church in Jerusalem was Jesus’ brother, was that there was little time for him to grow in the things of the Lord after the crucifixion and when we see him in Acts 15.
This brings me to my third point for this evening – ministry, family and SOPHISTRY.
The word “sophistry” means – “a method of argument that is seemingly plausible though actually invalid and misleading.” A statement may be made which makes sense, but for one reason or another it doesn’t apply to the question at hand. For example, we know that who Jesus’ earthly family was, had nothing to do with the fact that He was the Son of God. The father of Jesus was Joseph, and the brethren of Jesus were only half-brothers. What they did or what they thought of Christ, really doesn’t prove anything about the Lord Jesus.
I know that I’ve brought this to your attention before, but I like it so much that I’m going to do it again. And there is reason for doing it right here in our scripture. Do you see the word “wisdom” in verse 54? It is the translation of “sophia” (sof-ee’-ah) and it is found fifty times in the New Testament. It is translated no other way than “wisdom.” “Sophia” has been brought into our English language in several ways including, ironically, “sophistry.” Another use of the word is in “sophomore” – the second year student of some course of study as in college. The student in his first year of college is called a “freshman” – he knows nothing and usually he knows that he knows nothing. In his second year, he is called a “sophomore.” With a year of study under his belt the sophomore may think that he is really smart. But the word “sophomore” comes from a combination of “sophia” – wise and ”moron” – stupid. It is an apt word to describe a second year college student – someone who has begun to learn something. Sadly, just because he has begun to learn, that doesn’t mean that he’s an expert. In fact second and third year students are very prone to think too highly of themselves and their skills. For example, they may look at the family of Jesus and think that they know all about the Son of God. They are “wise morons” which means that they are nothing at all.
The people of Nazareth watched Christ Jesus grow up before their eyes, and they thought that they knew Him. They knew the brothers and sisters of Jesus far better than they knew Christ. They made judgments about our Lord based on incomplete or faulty information. And in the process they condemned themselves.
Sadly, there have been thousands of people since these residents of Nazareth, who have attended Sunday School and church in their youth, learning bits and pieces of scripture, but never learning of Christ. They know about David and perhaps about Paul, spiritual brethren of the Lord, but not the Lord Himself. They have heard about Noah’s ark and about the Creation, but they have never met the omnipotent God who creates and destroys. They have learned a few moral precepts, but they never learned the God behind those precepts. And as a result they end up sophomoric – and their arguments are nothing but sophistry.
My final point this evening rhymes with the first three – depravity – blasphemy – catastrophe.
And let me add one more word to my outline – “perfidity.” It’s not really a word at all – you won’t find it in any dictionary – except for the one that I am writing. You will find the word “perfidy” – which speaks of unfaithfulness which ends in treason. In my dictionary “perfidity” is a lack of faith. “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”
There is nothing more sad than to see a child raised in a godly Christian home – reject the witness of Christ and die in unbelief. There are few things sadder than to see children raised in a godly church – live and die without the Lord. In the case of Nazareth, there was an entire community with privileges greater than almost any other place on earth, and the people of that place rejected their Messiah, through sophomoric sophistry. I wonder how many of the people living in Nazareth when Joseph and Mary returned from Egypt with their baby, who eventually put their trust in the Messiah? I wonder how many living there at the time of the crucifixion put their faith on Him when they heard of His resurrection? Look at their depravity? Consider and reject their blasphemy. Where is their spiritual sagacity? What fools they were.
I’ll close with one more point – “And Christ did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” May I assume that the Lord did a few mighty works in Nazareth in spite of their unbelief? May I assume that Christ did a few mighty works there perhaps even because of their unbelief? The Lord made sure that they were without excuse. He proved His deity and His Messianic call over and over again, and yet….. no response.
The point of all this is that the world is filled with spiritual sophomores – spiritually wise morons. Don’t you die among them. Put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.