Where then did this Man get all these things?

 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there.  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?  Is this not the carpenter's son?  Is not His mother called Mary?  And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?  And His sisters, are they not all with us?  Where then did this Man get all these things?"  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."  Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

- Matthew 13:53-58

In our readings from chapter 13, Jesus has been teaching the crowds in parables.  Yesterday we read that He taught:  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they threw to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.  So it will be at the end of the age.  The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth."  Jesus said to them, "Have you understood all these things?"  They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."  Then He said to them, "Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old."

 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there.  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?  Is this not the carpenter's son?  Is not His mother called Mary?  And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?  And His sisters, are they not all with us?  Where then did this Man get all these things?"  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."  Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.  My study bible remarks upon the double response to Christ so often found in the Gospels in those who encounter Him.  It is one of both marveling and rejection.  Here His fellow countrymen in Nazareth are both astonished at His wisdom and His mighty works, and they are offended at Him.  They know His people, His extended family -- His mother Mary, and His brothers and sisters (likely children of Joseph from an earlier marriage, or cousins to Jesus; see commentary in this reading).   My study bible says that Christ's being rejected in His own country fulfills the rejection of the Old Testament prophets such as Elijah and Elisha (Luke 4:25-27), and foreshadows His rejection by the whole Jewish nation at His trial before Pilate (John 19:14-15).  The statement that a prophet is not without honor except in his own country is found in all four Gospels (Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24, John 4:44).

What are we to make of Jesus' rejection among His own people and in His own country?  Something about the familiarity of Christ to His own local people prevents them from acceptance of His messianic identity.  It is seemingly not possible for them to grasp His wisdom and His mighty works, as if they are possessions He has no right to have.  Perhaps they are just too grand for this person they know and the family He belongs to that they know among themselves.  Perhaps we're to understand that He comes from a family known to the Nazarenes as rather humble, people of whom there are not very high expectations.  Nazareth itself is a town rather frowned upon by others, as we hear both from Nathanael ("Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" - John 1:43-46) and the Pharisees who dismiss Him scathingly (John 7:52).  Indeed, in John's Gospel it is explicitly made clear that His own "brothers" do not believe in Him (John 7:1-9).  It's important that there is a kind of envy at work here, a denial of gifts that are the property of God to dispense and express.  So, in addition to breaking barriers and assumptions about gender, about "cleanliness," about ethnicity, Jesus' public ministry also breaks barriers of class and social position.  In a very explicit sense, in multiple directions, Jesus lets us know that there are no human-imposed limitations that God can't break.  Our assumptions cannot be applied to God's grace, whether or not we are speaking of our understanding of  deservedness or goodness or appropriateness or any other standard we think we know.  God always stretches us, asks us to find new ways to embrace God's grace and love, to become greater people, less limited, and to cast off assumptions that stand between ourselves and God's answer for who and what we are.  In short, that God is a mystery is a reality that is always with us and that we must be prepared to embrace.  If we believe that we know what "right thinking" is, or that we have all the answers, then we are in for a surprise.  God will take what we are used to, and challenge us to embrace different assumptions.  Sometimes, seemingly paradoxically, the greatness that we may be challenged to accept -- that is, our own expansion as persons with greater understanding -- comes in the form of our own need for more humility in order to truly see what is in front of us, the gift we're offered.  The townspeople of Nazareth cannot accept the truth of their own humility before the wisdom and mighty works of Jesus.  As is so often true, our own greatness comes with the acceptance of humility (23:11-15).  Even in Jesus' case, as Son of God, He is called upon to break social barriers that result in His own rejection by His own people, which will result ultimately in His rejection by the nation and subsequent execution.   He illustrates Himself what is undoubtedly clear from today's reading, that "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (23:12).