Ep. 37: Prophet without honour
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MATTHEW 13:54-58, MARK 6:1-6
(Book 3: Chapter 27)
So Jesus left Capernaum and from this time onwards it ceases to be the centre of his activity and is only occasionally visited. Because of opposition from the Pharisees and the nearness of Herod’s residence at Tiberias, a permanent stay there is impossible at this stage. He now has no dwelling place, ‘He has nowhere to lay his Head.’
Jesus travels back to Nazareth, his hometown, where he still finds unbelief. It was disconcerting. If ever men had the means of testing the claims of Jesus, the Nazarenes possessed them, on account of their shared history. Yet in Nazareth, they knew him only as that infant whom his parents, Joseph the carpenter and Mary, had brought with them months after they had first left Nazareth. Jewish law and custom made it possible that they might have been married long before. And now they only knew of this humble family, that they lived in obscurity and that sons and daughters had joined the family.
Of Jesus, indeed, they must have heard that he was not like others, quite different in all ways, as he grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man. Then came that strange episode on his first visit to Jerusalem, when his parents had to return and found him in the Temple. There are three assumptions that we may make for the subsequent years; that Jesus followed the occupation of his adoptive father; that Joseph had died; that the mother and ‘brethren’ of Jesus had left Nazareth while his ‘sisters’ apparently continued there, being probably married to Nazarenes.
When Jesus had first left Nazareth to seek baptism at the hands of John, it could scarcely have attracted much attention. Then came vague reports of his early exploits. His fame had preceded him on that memorable Sabbath when all Nazareth had thronged the synagogue, curious to hear what the child of Nazareth would have to say and still more eager to see what he could do. It didn’t go too well, at that time, as they found it difficult to equate this ‘child of Nazareth’ with this man who claimed to be Messiah.
And now he had come back to them, after nine or ten months, in totally different circumstances. No one could any longer question his claims, whether for good or for evil. As on the Sabbath. He stood up once more in that synagogue to teach, they were astonished. But the astonishment with which they heard him on that Sabbath was that of unbelief. They knew his supposed parentage and his brothers. His sisters were still with them and for these many years had they known him as the carpenter, the son of the carpenter. Yet they continued in their unbelief. In such circumstances as at Nazareth, miracles were not so forthcoming. He will not return again to Nazareth.
This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)