So here’s where I’m going on Sunday morning…

Setting the scene
Jesus has been teaching parables about the Kingdom of God around Galilee… last week, we saw the parable of the net and the sobering picture of the separation of righteous and wicked at the end of the world… now Jesus travels 20 miles south to his home town of Nazareth… this section seems a little out of place (it’s not a parable) but it’s here for a reason…

What’s going on here? - People don’t recognise who Jesus is!
v54 - he’s just a man… the people can’t see the source of his power
v55-56 - the people are blinded by his humanity… they think they know who he is, they know his family
v.57 - they took offence… no surprise, in Luke 4 they tried to throw him off a cliff!… ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’ - he’s the boy from next door, why should they listen to him?

Same situation today… Jesus is a prophet, great example, good teacher… and if he says anything offensive (like last week… weeping and gnashing of teeth) then we just ignore that…

C.S Lewis “Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Have you fallen at his feet and called Him Lord and God?

Why is this section here? - to show that the word of God divides
We know that’s true because it says so… Hebrews 4:12
Matthew 13 = division… seeds that grow and seeds that don’t… wheat and weeds… good fish, bad fish

Matthew 13:11-17… Jesus quotes Isaiah 6… v.15 “Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”
v.58 “And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.”
This section shows us what Jesus was talking about… the people don’t see, don’t hear, don’t understand, don’t have faith… hence v58, no miracles

The word of God divides… some believe, some don’t
Origien (early church father) put it like this… “The same sun that melts wax hardens clay”… God’s word provokes a response!
Psalm 95 “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”
BHMC SofFaith… Bible is supreme authority in all matters of belief and behaviour

So… when we hear God speak in his word… let us not harden our hearts… but let us trust and obey
As the hymn says… “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way. To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

What about us? - Do we have a right view of Jesus?
Have you fallen at his feet and called Him Lord and God? Maybe you have, and have continued to do so for many years…
But let us not forget Jesus’ humanity… Hebrews 4:15 – “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin”

Let’s have a right view of Jesus…. Lord and King and Eternal God… yet personal, one who has known the pains and struggles of this world, one who left the joys of heaven, who humbled himself, becoming obedient to death on a cross, so that we might live!