“The hometown boy”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Monday, October 23, 2023

Matthew 13:54-58 (Forward, p. 86) CEV p. 1000

Hometowns can be strangely ambivalent about those who were raised there or grew up there. Some communities, especially with those who have risen to great heights in the sporting world, go beyond themselves to make mention of those who had their start there. Here I think of Braden Holtby or Sandra Schmirler and their home communities. But then there are folks like Joni Mitchell or Roloff Beny whose local acceptance seemed to take much longer in coming to the forefront.

It is with this latter lot that we must place Jesus. His hometown crowd was clearly aghast and astounded at both His wisdom and His deeds of power. Neither of these were what they expected of Him, and presumably—they seem to infer as much—none of this was indicated or foreshadowed by His life among them. With Jesus, there was no premonition of His future greatness that they could have predicted it. Furthermore, His audience takes pains to point out His common roots, His local roots, His ordinary and unexceptional roots. After all, they said, “We know His parents and His siblings. And are not His sisters still here with us?” But there is one further thing that they stated and that is, “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” In other words, “Where does He get off on presuming He is something else?” You see, in that culture, a man or woman was expected to follow in the footsteps of his or her father or mother. Thus, the sons of fishermen continued in that trade, as we see with Peter, Andrew, James and John. And so too, the son of a carpenter was expected to be a carpenter as well. Anything else was presumption and unwanted arrogance. That is why it was quite alright for John the Baptist, the son of a priest, to have a prominent religious role—but not Jesus!

And so, the people of Nazareth saw Jesus as being unduly obnoxious, too big for His britches, and so were offended by Him. But what this also meant was that they lacked the faith to believe in Him and so they lost out—lost out big time. Jesus didn’t do very many works of power there simply because they lacked the faith required. It is of interest, and certainly of note then, that Jesus’ power, God’s power, was hampered by that lack of faith. He was restricted, His ‘hands tied’ a bit, by the fact that they would not believe.

All this makes me wonder about people today. The people of Nazareth were hampered by their preconceptions, their expectations, of what Jesus could or could not do. They were held back by their experiences up unto that date: they were not expecting anything more or further from what they already knew. They were not expecting God to ‘do a new thing’ and so they lacked the faith to believe that God could ever break out of their existing, preconceived mould. And so, they lost out. And so, I wonder: could this not be said of many people in our world today? And indeed, even of ourselves at times. It is something worth pondering and praying about. Amen.

Forward notes: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?” (verse 55).

“As I mentioned earlier, my family history at St. Mary’s spans many generations, and I am not only identified as my parents’ daughter but also as my grandparents’ granddaughter. For parishioners who no longer attend regularly, identifying me by who I am related to helps them make the family connection.

“Similarly, when long-time members come back for big church celebrations, I often ask my dad, ‘Who is that person?’ I may not recognize them, but when I am told who they are related to, I can make the right connection.

“Jesus had a hard time returning to his hometown. I can relate to that challenge. It can be difficult to return to a community that knows you well, especially when you return having matured and grown. While it can be hard to come home, it is also the place where I know that if I mess up, they’ll still love me. And that is a wondrous gift indeed.”

Moving Forward: “Do you find it hard to escape hometown expectations? How can you help others see you in a new light?”