Moving Through Matthew (Matthew 13:53-58)

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This morning we return to the Gospel of Matthew. Now remember that Matthew is only one of the gospels we find in the New Testament. If you were here on Tuesday Night, you remember that the first 5 books of the New Testament are historical books. In other words that are a narrative....they tell a story. And this story is the greatest story even told. This story is what the Old Testament was pointing to for thousands of years. When the prophets spoke..they were pointing to this story. When the judges judged, they were pointing to this story. Everything in the Old Testament from the time that Adam and Eve sinned in the garden began to point to what we see in this story.

On Tuesday we also learned that each gospel....Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John…had the same story, the coming of the Redeemer who would repair what was broken in the garden, but they wrote each a different way. Same story, but highlighting and emphasizing different aspects of the life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Matthew’s focus was presenting Jesus to a Jewish audience. So it was important for him to show that this Jesus was the Messiah that the Old Testament Scriptures said would come. If you were a Jewish person in that day, you knew the words of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 7:14

Isaiah 7:14 (ESV)

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

This was written 700 years before Jesus was born to the virgin Mary. Also if you were a Jew in that day you knew life of David. And you knew the prophecies of Samuel. This is what Samuel said: 2 Samuel 7:12-13

2 Samuel 7:12–13 (ESV)

12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

As as Matthew is writing, under the inspiration (remember that meant that the Holy Spirit was carrying him along as he wrote) as he is writing his gospel now about 30 years after Jesus had gone back to heaven, he was writing so that his Jewish people would understand and accept that this was the Messiah, this was Emmanuel, this was Jesus…the Christ.

And as we come to the end of Chapter 13, we need to remember what we have seen so far. As Jesus began to talk about the coming Kingdom of Heaven there were different reactions to what he said. When people heard his teachings and saw his miracles as the people went away they reacted differently, they had different responses. And I think that this is best seen in one of the parables we looked at two weeks ago.

So before we move on, lets take a moment to see the reactions to Jesus.

Now I told you before that my favorite parable was the one with the Sower and the Seed. Jesus tells this parable in the beginning of Matthew 13 (Matt 13:3-9)

Now let me just give you a summary of what he said:

A sower went into the field and he threw out seed

Some of the seed landed on the path and the birds picked it up

Some of the seed landed on a place with rocks, so it could not grow and the sun burned it and the wind blew it away

Other seed landed with the thorns and weeds, and as the seed tried to grow, the weeds and thorns to it over and would nit let it grow

Then there was seed that fell on the good soil, and it rooted very well and grew and produced much fruit.

Now open your Bibles to Matthew 13. This is were Jesus explains what this all means. There is a purpose here, and lets discover the purpose together.

Matthew 13:18–23 ESV

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

So the sower is the preacher (anyone who shares the gospel) and the seed is the Word of God. The soil represents how they recieved the word of God into their lives from the Sower who was speaking it. Jesus said there were three different reactions:

(Path) They heard the word, but it means nothing

(Rock & Dirt) They hear the word, but it doesn’t take root.

(Weeds & Thorns) They heard the word, but the cares of the world were more important.

(Good Soil) They accepted the word. It grew in them and they began to follow God and tell others about Him. That was the fruit of their belief.

So even though there were three different reactions, three different responses, in truth, there was only two responses:

Belief and Unbelief

They either believed or they did not believe. I told you last week when we talked about John 3:16 “16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

That world believe is not just something that you know, it is a way that you now live your life, because you know. Believing changes you. It changes everything about you. Believing makes you look at your life, this world, the thing that you want…all differently.

Believing changes how you see things.

(Glasses)

Believing changes how you live your life once you have believed in Him.

That word believe in the Greek language is pisteuo and it means to trust.

When you trust in something you have confidence in that, you trust in that and it changes the way that you live your life. That is what it means to believe. When someone says they believe in Jesus… it changes how they live their life. It changes them deeply, and it shows, just like the good soil produced fruit. it show in their life.

So when someone hears the good news of Jesus Christ, there are only two responses: Belief and Unbelief.

Now let’s continue in Matthew. Matthew 13:53-58

Matthew 13:53–58 ESV

53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

Jesus is getting closer and closer to the cross. His mission is clear and Matthew said it after Jesus came out of the wilderness: Matthew 4:17

Matthew 4:17 ESV

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

For the next three and a half years this would be his message. Repent, turn around, believe, trust, and you will have eternal life. Life that begins now on earth, and is fully seen when you enter into heaven at your death.

But as the parable has said, not everyone will believe. No everyone will accept the word from the sower. For many the word will fall but will not be accepted. Not everyone will accept the message of Jesus Christ.

Two verses after Jesus words in John 3:16, he said this: John 3:18

John 3:18 (ESV)

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

(believed = trusted) Verb that means action.

So as Jesus finished these parables, Matthew shows us that he moves away from there, and he ends up in his own hometown. Now Matthew doesn’t call his place by name, but from Luke’s gospel we know that it is Nazareth. This is the place where he lived growing up. The Bible doesn’t tell us much about Jesus as a child, only the time that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus went to the temple. Jesus as a 12-year old boy went into the synagogue (which was the Jewish church) and they were amazed and what he said about the Scriptures. But outside of that story, God did not think it was important for us to know anything else about his childhood.

Now while we are hear, let me saw something. It is easy to look at the Bible and ask questions that don’t matter. What if Eve never took the fruit? Is Satan a boy or a girl? Why do these things not matter? Because God chose not to tell us. If God told us everything and we knew everything, then we would not need him. We would be our own god. But God chose to tell us what we needed to know now, outside of that we don’t need to know.

SO the next time you think of a question, or someone ask you a question that is not answered in the Bible, it is not important. It doesn't matter. It will not change anything. We need to focus on what God has revealed to us through his Word: He sent his Son, his Son died and paid the price of our sins, and for those who believe, trust, follow, they will have a relationship with the God that created everything.

Ok, so back to Matthew 13.

Jesus goes back to his place and does what he always does. Preach about the coming Kingdom. This time he entered into the synagogue there in Nazareth and preached. Now there were people there that recognized him, because he was there until he was about 30. They were listening to him and look at there reaction: Matt 13:54-57

Matthew 13:54–57 (ESV)

...that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him.

They recognized him. They remember that this boy came from their place. He was the little boy who used to run around and play. He was from their place. Look at what they said of him

They realized that he was different. (vs 54-56) that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”

This was a good thing. They realized that he was different. The words he was saying were different. They were words of life and hope and a future.

But then something changed.

Is not this the carpenter’s son? His father Joseph was a carpenter and even Jesus learned along side him.

Is not his mother called Mary? She still lived there in Nazareth and they community knew her very well. And by the way, Mary was an ordinary person. Was she special in God’s eyes? Yes. That is why God chose her bring his Son into this world. But she was a human. She was a sinner. Some religions believe that she was “the queen of heaven,” but it’s not true. She was just human. And she should not be worshipped or even prayed to.

And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? The Catholic church wants you to believe that Mary never had any other children. They call it ‘perpetual virginity.” In other words she remained a virgin and never had any other children. But Luke writes in his gospel Luke 2:7 “7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son .... Meaning there would be more.

Again the community knew exactly who he was as a child. His brothers and sisters were still living in Nazareth. You see that they name his brothers: James (who would later believe after the resurrection and would become the leader of the Jerusalem church, Joseph, Simon (not Peter), and Judas (not Iscariot, but Jude who wrote the book of Jude).

It seemed that when they heard him, the recognized that he was the Christ…but the look at how Matthew explains how they truly saw Jesus...

Matthew 13:57 (ESV)

57 And they took offense at him.

They realized that he was different. They even admitted it. They said he has wisdom and mighty works. He was different.

2. But they closed themselves off from the things he was saying. The words that he said pointed to life, but they were offended. They didn’t want to hear. Why? Maybe they were prideful. Maybe they look at this man who was once like them and now he was speaking wit all this wisdom. Maybe that is why they brought up that his father was a carpenter. A carpenter is a regular job. They had regular jobs, but now, it was obvious that he was more than a carpenter. And maybe they looked at their own lives and were jealous because of his wisdom. What ever the reason, the seed of the sower dropped on their heart…but their heart was like rocks and his words never took root. Then seed was snatched away. It meant nothing to them.

When Jesus observed this, what did he say?

Matthew 13:57–58 (ESV)

57 ...“A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

There are only two responses to Jesus:

I believe.

I do not believe.

Those are the only two answers that a person can give to the preaching of the word and the drawing of the Holy Sprit. I believe. I do not believe.

Bow your heads.