And they took offense at him August 4

And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house.” And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith. Matthew 13:57-58

Piety

God, source of all goodness and life, sometimes I am astonished at your work on earth. But sometimes I fail to take notice of the goodness of the gifts around me.

…the roof over my head and the pillow beneath it…
…the companions on my journey that you have sent to share time with me…
…the green abundance of the summer…
…the sweetness of a peach in August…
…the softness of the flowering crepe myrtles…
…the brightness of the rainbow after a seasonal storm...
…the beauty of the sunrise and sunset…
…the state of the art science and technology that you create through the minds you gave us to imagine the infinite and realize the definite...
…the preachers and teachers in our midst who share with us Your word and works so we can apply them to our lives...

Help us to recognize Your hand in this and so much more so that in all things, we can glorify you. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/080406.shtml

What does it say?

After the Sermon on the Mount the crowds are in admiring astonishment at Jesus' teaching (Matthew 7:28); here the astonishment is of those who take offense at him.

Familiarity with his background and family leads them to regard him as pretentious. Matthew modifies his Marcan source (Matthew 6:1-6). Jesus is not the carpenter but the carpenter's son (Matthew 13:55), "and among his own kin" is omitted (Matthew 13:57), he did not work many mighty deeds in face of such unbelief (Matthew 13:58) rather than the Marcan "... he was not able to perform any mighty deed there" (Matthew 6:5), and there is no mention of his amazement at his townspeople's lack of faith.[1]

What does it mean?

Ever bring in a “consultant” to make recommendations? Or maybe your boss brought in one. Why? Sometimes, people who are right there are too close to a situation and no one will believe them or their recommendations.

So the consultant gets to interview key players and then write up a report saying exactly what the staff would have recommended. It just costs extra.

People will sometimes respect and believe the “out-of-town expert” quicker than they will follow the word of the hometown women and men. If they have seen you grow up, it is hard to take you seriously. The implication (of the phrase) is that the people close to the soothsayer don't want to hear what he says, or don't like what they hear.

Funny how we will accept the “stranger” in this case and reject the neighbor yet at other times we will do exactly the opposite – erect walls to keep the stranger out and accept only the neighbors like us into our midst.

What does it matter?

Jesus’ message is there for us to see, to hear, to read and to heed. It is in black type on white paper stuck between the covers of your Bible. It is wedged in between the prophets who came before Him and wrote in the Hebrew Bible and the witnesses who walked the earth with Him and wrote to tell about their adventure.

How will we react to it? We have two choices. We can read and heed the message or we can ignore it.

If we heed the message and go out into the world and share it, we may face the kind of rejection that awaits Jeremiah, rejection that could include death.

Action

Will you be like the crowd that listened to the Sermon on the Mount? They were astonished at the Lord’s teaching and believed in Him.

Or will you be like the crowd in his home town and take offense?

Will you recognize that there is a pearl of great price in your hands or will you think it is a piece of costume jewelry that children will wear when playing “dress-up” games?

“Each of us has theological work to do.
We may think we haven’t, but we can’t help it,
because every time we make a decision or refuse to make one,
we are showing whether we are with Jesus or against him.
We are saying something about what we think Christianity is.”
– Rosemary Haughton

Maybe you are not called to worldwide missionary work that will have you witness to the campesinos in the mountains of Colombia or the oppressed people of Haiti. Maybe you are. But you are called to help the people you encounter every day.

[1] http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/matthew/matthew13.htm#foot28