No Hometown Hero

I have entitled our message today, “No Hometown Hero.” This term is often used for an athlete who plays for their home team, having a major impact, like helping them win a championship. This athlete then goes off to play college or professional sports; and when he or she later returns to become a teacher or some other community leader, this person is welcomed home with great fanfare. Perhaps, even the local newspapers and television stations will come out to take pictures and interview them. But, as we will see in our passage today, when Jesus returned to Nazareth, He was not welcomed as a hometown hero. His reception was just the opposite! So, let us go ahead and get started with verses 53-54.

The People Were Astonished (vv. 53-54)

53 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. 54 And 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?”

Jesus shared His parables from His base of operations at Peter’s house in Capernaum,(1) a city that had a population of approximately 1,500 people.(2) When He finished speaking, He departed and came to the place that Matthew calls “His own country” (vv. 54, 57). This description of Nazareth seems rather odd, since it only had a population of about 400 people.(3) It is not a place that we would consider sizeable enough to be a full-blown country, as it was just a small town. Based on the Greek (patris), the first part of verse 54 would be better translated, “When He had come to the fatherland of His own town.”(4) I believe this passage emphasizes the necessity of ministry in one’s hometown, but we also see a word of caution.

When Jesus arrived, He began teaching in the synagogue, which was a scaled-down version of the temple. Though larger towns and cities had multiple of these structures, Nazareth likely had only one.(5) “In the synagogue, there was no definite person to give the address. Any distinguished [Jewish] stranger who was present, might be asked by the ruler of the synagogue to speak, or anyone who had a message might venture to give it. There was no danger that Jesus would not be given the opportunity to speak.”(6)

In verse 54, we read how they were “astonished” when they heard His teaching. Jesus had grown up in Nazareth. Why had they not heard Him teach before? Luke chapter 2 answers this question. We read that when Jesus was twelve-years-old (v. 42), He wandered off from His parents, entered the temple at Jerusalem, and began teaching (vv. 43-46). Luke 2:47 tells us, “And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers,” and then, Luke 2:51 says that afterward, “He went down with [His parents] and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.” So, the people of Nazareth had not heard Him teach before, as Jesus was “subject” to His parents after that astonishing incident in Jerusalem.

Had the twelve-year-old boy continued teaching when He arrived back home in Nazareth, and had He taught there consistently for the next 21 years, then perhaps the townsfolk would have been accustomed to His teaching, rather than being so astonished. But instead of being about His heavenly Father’s business (Luke 2:49), Jesus worked at the same trade as His earthly father, and did not teach, as He was being obedient to His parents (Luke 2:51).(7) Keep in mind, however, that Luke 2:52 says that “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” during that time. He spent the greater part of his life working a trade alongside Joseph, that He might set an example to the world of honesty and integrity through hard work.(8)

So, does honesty and integrity, and having favor with God and men, allow a person to minister effectively in their hometown? Well, let us attempt to answer this question, as we look at verses 55-57a.

Familiarity Breeds Contempt (vv. 55-57a)

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?” 57a So they were offended at Him.

In verse 55, we see how they asked about Jesus, “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” They looked to Joseph to suggest that Jesus was just an ordinary person; nothing special, and certainly not divine. “The Greek word here, signifies . . . both a carpenter and a blacksmith; and Munster's Hebrew Gospel renders it, ‘the blacksmith’s son.’ But the generally [held] notion of the ancient Christians is that He was a carpenter, and that Jesus was brought up to the same business, which lay in making ploughs and yokes.”(9) It was an honest living, but it was also “lackluster,” as they say. Commentator Adam Clarke says, “This insulting question seems to [show] that our Lord’s family was a very obscure one; and that they were of small repute among their neighbors.”(10)