Show Don't Tell: Matthew 13:53-58

Instead of saying "Jesus was rejected in his hometown," hear the sneering. Jesus finishes the parables and goes to Nazareth—hometown, people who knew him as a kid. He teaches in their synagogue. They're astonished, but not admiringly. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" Familiarity breeds contempt. They took offense at him. Jesus observes: "A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home." He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Unbelief limits what God does—even in God's own hometown.