Bible Study series: Matthew 13:53-58. They could not understand why he got so famous and worked miracles and taught with authority. Who does he think he is? His brothers are named in this passage.
A warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together. I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 13:53-58
53 And so it happened that when Jesus finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 When he went to his hometown, he was teaching them in their synagogue, with the result that they were amazed and said, “What is the source of this wisdom and these miracles for this one? 55 Isn’t he the builder’s son? Aren’t his mother called Mary and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And aren’t all his sisters with us? What is the source of all these things for this one?” 57 They were scandalized by him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not dishonored except in his hometown and household. 58 He did not do any many miracles there because of their unbelief. (Matt. 13:53-58)
Comments:
53:
It is best to move on, even after many victories. No one should rest on his laurels. Move forward to the next challenge. And the next challenge for Jesus was going to be tough.
54:
“hometown”: it can be translated just as easily as home region, but hometown is meant because Jesus says his household or house (v. 57). Matthew informs us of where he settled: Nazareth (Matt. 2:23; 4:13). The town had at most 1600-2000 inhabitants in the surrounding area, and 500 lived in the town (Keener, p. 396).
“he was teaching”: this one verb could be translated as “he began teaching.” In other words, he did not stay long, considering they rejected him.
“their”: And here we have another instance of their (see 4:23; 7:29; 8:34; 9:35; 10:17; 12:9; 22:7; 22:16). Why does Matthew keep saying “their synagogue or their city or their teachers of the law? My opinion: his community has moved well past Judaism and must distinguish between the newly formed Christian community and the Jewish community.
Regardless of the virgin birth which Matthew describes as happening down south in Bethlehem (the virginal conception happened in Nazareth), to the townspeople he was simply a builder’s son, and his brothers and sisters were well known to them. His sisters probably married local men and were still in Nazareth.
In Greek the “with us” roughly corresponds to chez nous in French (if that means anything to you). Better yet, it could be translated “among us.” They still lived in the village.
“What is the source?”: that’s a more or less literal translation.
“wisdom”: BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative Greek lexicon, and it translates the noun sophia (pronounced soh-fee-ah and used 51 times) as “the capacity to understand and function accordingly—wisdom.”
So biblical wisdom is very practical. It is not like the wisdom of the Greek philosophers, which was very abstract. But let’s not make too much of the differences. In the classical Greek lexicon, sophia can also mean: “skill in handcraft and art … knowledge of, acquaintance with a thing … sound judgment, intelligence, practical wisdom.” In a bad sense it can mean “cunning, shrewdness, craft” (Liddell and Scott).
“miracles”: A miracle happens only when God intervenes and patches up deficiencies in our soul and defects in our body. Fiery evangelists will not like the words “patches up,” and maybe they are right. So we can say “restore” our souls and heals our bodies. Something was wounded or missing in our souls, and he fills in our needs. Something is wrong with our bodies, but he straightens it out or heals it, so now our bodies are renewed. However, miracles can only last until we die. Then some part of our body will wear out. Further, miracles are not for show or to raise money. People are hurting, and miracles can help them and restore them. Jesus even downplayed his miracles. I don’t believe he would have filmed them and then pitched the videos to enrich himself.
See my posts on a study of miracles:
What Are Signs and Wonders and Miracles?
5. Gifts of the Spirit: Workings of Miracles
This is a more philosophical look at miracles.
55-56:
“builder”: the term in Greek is broader than carpenter and can include builder of any kind, so it can certainly be translated as “builder.” But the term primarily describes a woodworker, hence “carpenter” in many translations. They were probably subcontractors in the building industry, which was going on nearby in the town of Sepphoris and Tiberias. It can also mean that they build furniture and put up beams.
“The people in Nazareth know Jesus’ family and his occupation and cannot accept that he is now the great rabbi (see on 12:2) and miracle worker all Galilee is talking about. That goes against over thirty years of watching him in a very small town” (Osborne, comment on 13:56).
Though the context is unhappy and antagonistic, I really like the names of his family, and I love how one of his brothers was named after their father Joseph. But I wish he had mentioned his sisters’ names. No offense to Catholics, but these two verses read naturally as describing the sons and daughters of Mary and Joseph; they are not stepbrothers or stepsisters or Jesus’s cousins. According to the Gospel of John they apparently did not believe in their brother’s full ministry, but they knew that he was special and had a call of God. They wanted him to show himself to the world. He declined. Then the text says, “For neither did his brothers believe in him” (John 7:7). So his brothers were promoting him, but they did not know what they were talking about. There is a lot of information in his family dynamics.
But eventually his brothers came around. Jesus’s brother James was a pillar in the church in Jerusalem until his martyrdom in A.D. 62. It must have been amazing when Jesus greeted his own brother in heaven and James saw angels and saints worship him! (James who was martyred in Acts 12:1, was one of the twelve apostles, brother of John, sons of Zebedee). Later church history records that Simon led the church in Jerusalem. James wrote the Epistle of James, and his brother Judas wrote the tiny Epistle of Jude (the Greek says Judas). By reading them, you can get a feel for how committed they were to their resurrected brother, who was King of kings and Lord of lords. Sibling rivalry over!
“scandalized”: it does come from the Greek verb skandalizō (pronounced skan-dah-lee-zoh), and in this context it means “take offense” “get angry” “shock.” The townspeople were offended and in disbelief. They saw him grow up. He was not as thoroughly educated as the Pharisees and teachers of the law. His hometown people folded their arms and harrumphed.
57:
This saying sums things up nicely. He got much honor outside of his home area, but not here. Familiarity bred contempt.
58:
“miracles”: It means power in action, not static, but kinetic. It moves. Yes, we get our word dynamite from it, but God is never out of control, like dynamite is. Its purpose is to usher in the kingdom of God and repair and restore broken humanity, both in body and soul.
“miracles”: see v. 54 for some links.
He did not do many miracles means he did a few. Mark’s version says that he could not do many miracles except heal a few sick people (6:5). People need to seek him, and apparently a few did, but most did not. Miracles that directly touch people’s minds and bodies require people to approach Jesus directly. Every healing he did in the four Gospels needed a response from people—even the man lying by the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2-8). People have to have faith. True, he was about to feed the five thousand (14:13-21), but he did not require faith from them because he was not healing their body, as he did the lepers and paralytics and the minds of the demonized. In other words, God is still sovereign over nature—multiplying bread and fish and his Son walking on water—without faith from the bystanders. But God requires faith from us when it involves the healing of our persons and bodies, but he does not need our faith when he acts sovereignly. His Son had the faith to walk on water and feed the five thousand.
For your healing, press in to God’s power and love with faith. For a sovereign miracle, press in to God’s power and love with faith. From our limited point of view, we need faith. From God’s unlimited point of view, he acts as he wills. So we have a person’s faith and God’s sovereignty interacting in this one verse. It is difficult to sort out (for me at least).
But down here on earth, God requires us to have faith in him, and we get faith by hearing the word about Christ (Rom. 10:17). Get Scripture in you, and it will build your faith. Ask the Lord for faith. “I do believe! Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). That’s our part in the human-God interaction. Leave the results up to your loving and powerful Father.
Why Doesn’t Divine Healing Happen One Hundred Percent of the Time?
GrowApp for Matt. 13:53-58
1. Rejection from your own family and close friends is tough. How did you move on?
2. What steps did you take?
RELATED
9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel
1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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