Oct 16 2008
Matthew 13:53 – 14
In the conclusion to chapter 13, we again see the response to Jesus as being a combination of wonder and rejection, this time in his home town. Green sees two levels in this home town, or ‘patris’ – first, that he is indeed in the place of his upbringing, among those who know him and knew him as a child. This makes it hard for them to accept him as anything out of the ordinary. Secondly, Green says that ‘patris’ here can also be seen as a call to those in Judaism to receive him, and that when ‘his own’ do not receive him, he will go on to call in the nations. For Green, this passage is the conclusion of ‘Part I’ of Matthew’s Gospel, and he spends some time here, and in his discussion of the beginning of chapter 14, in explaining why he sees it this way (following the work of Elizabeth and Ian Billingham). In doing so, he does not deal with the question of why Jesus should not do “mighty works there because of their beliefs” (my emphasis).
One inference that could be drawn from that statement in 13:58 is that the lack of works serves as a punishment for their unbelief, but this would seem to be out of character. On the other hand, it is common in the healings for Jesus to connect the healing with the faith of the healed, so, rather than seeing it as a punishment, it might be better to see it as an inevitable result: Jesus will not impugn the people’s freedom by forcing his life on those who refuse it. According to Chrysostom (XLVIII:1), it is in fact a mercy that the works are not done there, because of their unbelief. He notes that when such works were done in Capernaum and not accepted, it was said that the town would be “brought down to Hades” (11:23) and that in fact, if such works had been done in Sodom it might have survived “until this day”. If indeed much is expected from those to whom much has been given (Lk 12:48) then, the rejection of Jesus being clear, it is more merciful that he not give to those who are rejecting him more than they can bear.
Chrysostom goes on to consider how it is that those who at first ‘wonder’ (13:54) at Jesus are then ‘offended’ at him (13:57). In other words, just why should it be that a prophet is “without honour” in his own country? According to Chrysostom this is envy: seeing the great wisdom that Jesus has, and seeing that they shared his upbringing and know his family, the people do not understand why they too should not have his wisdom (“where then did this Man get all these things?” 13:56). Their inability to overcome their envy loses them not only their faith in Jesus, but also the miracles that accompany it.
The death of John, at the beginning of chapter 14, is made much of by Green as a structural point at the ‘hinge’ of the Gospel. On the other hand, Chrysostom sees the story of the death of John as a parenthetical explanation of why Herod is worried that Jesus is John come back from the dead. Green does make the point that the often clear structure of Matthew is blurred at this point by his dependence on Mark 6-9. Whatever the structural import of this section, the issue of unbelief and belief as responses to Christ’s ministry is clearly continued in the miracles of the feeding of the five thousand and the walking on the water. After his rejection by his own people, Jesus prefigures the messianic banquet in the wilderness and the significance of faith in him for the life of the believer in the church is shown by Peter’s attempt to walk on the water: successful while he focuses on Christ, but almost a disaster when he is distracted from Christ. Only calling on Jesus’s name for help saves him.
