Matt. 13:52-58 – The Importance of Trusting & Obeying Jesus

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 12 Aug 2012

Translation

13:52 Then He said to them, “On account of this,

            every scribe, after having been discipled in the kingdom of the heavens, is like a man

            who is the kind of head-of-household which casts forth from his treasury fresh things and old things.”

13:53  And so it was that when Jesus finished these parables

He relocated from there, 13:54 and, after coming into His hometown,

He taught them in their synagogue in such a way that they were astounded and saying,

            “Why is it to this man that this wisdom and these miracles [came]?”

  13:55 Is not this man the son of the carpenter?

            Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers [named] James and Joseph and Simon and Jude?”

  13:56 And are not his sisters near us?

            Why then is it to this man that all these things [came]?

13:57 And they were scandalized by Him.

So Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in His hometown and in His household!”

13:58 And He did not do many miracles there on account of their unbelief.

Exposition

13:52 Then He said to them, “On account of this, every scribe, after having been discipled in the kingdom of the heavens, is like a man who is the kind of head-of-household which casts forth out of his treasury fresh things and old things.”

ο δε ειπεν αυτοις Δια τουτο πας γραμματευς μαθητευθεις εις την βασιλειαν[1] των ουρανων ομοιος εστιν ανθρωπω οικοδεσποτη οστις εκβαλλει εκ του θησαυρου αυτου καινα και παλαια

 

13:53 And so it was that when Jesus finished these parables He relocated from there,

και εγενετο ‘οτε ετελεσεν ‘ο Ιησους τας παραβολας ταυτας μετηρεν[4] εκειθεν

 

13:54 and, after coming into His hometown, He taught them in their synagogue in such a way that they were astounded and saying, “Why is it to this man that this wisdom and these miracles [came]?”

και ελθων εις την πατριδα[5] αυτου εδιδασκεν αυτους εν τη συναγωγη αυτων ‘ωστε εκπληττεσθαι[6] αυτους και λεγειν Ποθεν τουτω ‘η σοφια ‘αυτη και ‘αι δυναμεις;

 

13:55 Is not this man the son of the carpenter? Is not His mother named Mary and His brothers [named] James and Joseph and Simon and Jude?

ουχ ‘ουτος εστιν ‘ο του τεκτονος ‘υιος ουχ[ι[7]] ‘η μητηρ αυτου λεγεται μαριαμ και ‘οι αδελφοι αυτου Ιακωβος και Ιωσης[8] και Σιμων και Ιουδας;

 

13:56 And are not His sisters near us? Why then is it to this man that all these things [came]?”

και ‘αι αδελφαι αυτου ουχι πασαι προς ‘ημας εισιν; ποθεν ουν τουτω ταυτα παντα;

 

13:57 And they were scandalized by Him. So Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in His hometown[10] and in His household!”

και εσκανδαλιζοντο εν αυτω ‘ο δε Ιησους ειπεν αυτοις Ουκ εστιν προφητης ατιμος ει μη εν τη [ιδια] πατριδι [αυτου][11] και εν τη οικια αυτου

 

13:58 And He did not do many miracles there on account of their unbelief.

και ουκ εποιησεν εκει δυναμεις πολλας δια την απιστιαν αυτων

Conclusion

All of us who have read the gospels know that to be a follower of Jesus we must repent of our rebellion against God and believe in Jesus to save us from our sin.

 

But it is precisely over these two points that the townspeople of Nazareth stumbled:

  1. They were unwilling to accept that Jesus was any different from them, and therefore they were not willing to budge from a stance of rebellion against the authority of God’s own Son,
  2. and secondly they were unwilling to place faith in Jesus to bring God’s salvation and healing into the lives of needy people, so they didn’t get healing or salvation. They didn’t believe He could heal them, so they did not come to Him to be healed, and so He did not do many healings. (Wm. Hendricksen)

What hard-hearted, stupid wretches!

 

It’s easy to criticize them in our 20/20 hindsight, but we need to take the beam out of our own eye and ask ourselves, How are we like these villagers?

  1. In what ways am I unwilling to humble myself and relinquish control of things to Jesus and obey Him like He is my Master?
  2. In what ways am I unwilling to trust Jesus’ wisdom and power to fix my problems and try to solve my problems without praying to Him or waiting on Him? How many mighty works is Jesus not doing in my home and workplace because of my unbelief?

·         “…if mighty works be not wrought in us, it is not for want of power or grace in Christ, but for want of faith in us. By grace ye are saved, and that is a mighty work, but it is through faith, Eph. 2:8.” ~M. Henry

Oh Lord, I do believe, Help my unbelief! (Mark 9:24)



[1] Above is the reading of the Majority. The Critical editions read τη βασιλεια, with no explanation in Nestle-Aland. However, the dative case of the Critical editions is just a more space-efficient way of stating the same prepositional phrase in the Majority, so the meaning shouldn’t be different, even though it is translated with five different prepositions in the five different English translations I’m looking at!

[2] Heres the Greek for further reference: ‘ο αγαθος ανθρωπος εκ του αγαθου θησαυρου εκβαλλει αγαθα και ‘ο πονηρος ανθρωπος εκ του πονηρου θησαυρου εκβαλλει πονηρα

[3] cf. Eccl 1:9-10 “…there is no new thing under the sun. Who is he that shall speak and say, ‘Behold, this is new?’ It has already been in the ages that have passed before us…” [This use of kainos obviously means “novel” not just “refurbished,” but denies that there is anything truly novel.]

[4] Only here, and 2Ki. 16:17; 25:11; Psa. 80:8; Mt. 19:1 – it seems to indicate more than just removal/departingKJV,NAS/ going awayESV and includes transplanting, transition, movingNIV and relocating. On “finished…astounded” cf. 7:28.

[5] Earle makes a good case for patrida to be translated “hometown” in Word Meanings in the New Testament, p.38, although other instances of this word (Lev. 25:10; Est. 2:10,20; 8:6; Jer. 22:10; 46:16; Eze. 23:15; Heb. 11:14) are probably better translated “fatherland” or “native country.”

[6] Critical editions read εκπλησσεσθαι, but neither UBS nor Nestle-Aland explain. Pershbacher’s Greek Lexicon says that these are just two ways to spell the same word and that both are Present Passive Infinitive. The English translations that follow the Critical text use the same English word to translate this as the versions that follow the Majority reading, so this variant is merely in Greek traditions of spelling and has no effect on the translation.

[7] The final iota is in the Byzantine, Majority, and Textus Receptus editions, following D,L, f1, and f13, but it’s not in the Critical editions because it’s not in a lot of the earliest uncials (א,B,C,N,W,Δ, or θ). No big deal.

[8] There is a variety of spellings of this name in the Greek manuscripts: ιωσηφ (Critical editions, following B,C,N,θ, and f1. Translations that follow this spelling include Middle Egyptian, Vulgate, ESV, NAS, and NIV), ιωσης (Byzantine and Textus Receptus editions, following K,L,W,Δ, and f13. Translations that follow this spelling include Sahidic and KJV), ιωαννης (In א,D,Γ, but not commonly accepted as correct). The parallel passage in Mark 6:3 has further variants, with the Majority spelled ιωση and the Critical editions going for ιωσητος (on the basis of B,D,L,f13). Whenever names are imported from one language to another there are typically variations in spelling, so no big deal.

[9] According to John Gill, this is found in T. Bab. Sabbat. fol. 104. 2. Chagiga, fol. 4. 2. Sanhedrim, fol. 67. 1.

[10] The parallel account in Mark 6:4 adds “and among his relatives [συγγενέσι]

[11] Several key manuscripts add the word idia “his own” (א,C,f13), and this is reflected in the KJV translation, but not included in any of the standard editions of the Greek NT. Also, many key manuscripts do not include the autou “his” (א,BDθ,f13) so the Critical editions don’t include it, but all the English versions interpret the undisputed definite article as having the same pronominal force as if the autou were present (i.e. “his hometown”), so the meaning is the same through all the variants.

[12] atimos is also used to describe Job’s enemies (Job 30:4-8), the wicked in Israel in Isa 3:5, and private parts of the body in 1 Cor. 12:22-23.