Context No. 3268 of 4322 · Matthew

Matthew 13:52-58: in context

52He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.” 53When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there. 54Coming into 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? 55Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?” 57They were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.” 58He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Jesus says every scribe trained for the kingdom is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old. Then he comes to his hometown of Nazareth and teaches in the synagogue, and the people are astonished but offended: isn't this the carpenter's son? Aren't his mother and brothers and sisters here among us? And because of their unbelief he can do little there.

Two things stand together. The disciple trained for the kingdom values both the old Scriptures and the new work of Christ, bringing out treasures new and old, discarding neither. And then, at Nazareth, Jesus meets a wall: the people know him too well, or think they do, isn't this the carpenter's son?, and take offense, and he can do little among them. Familiarity blinded them; because they assumed they had Jesus figured out, they could not receive him. Over-familiarity can be its own kind of unbelief, closing us to what God is doing right in front of us, in the ordinary and the well-known.

Has my familiarity with Jesus, or with the things of God, become a kind of unbelief that keeps me from receiving what he is doing now?

Sources

Matthew 13:52: "Every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things."
Matthew 13:57: "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house."
Matthew 13:58: "He didn't do many mighty works there because of their unbelief."