Jesus’ visit to his hometown is not a pleasant experience. While
in Mark he is designated as a carpenter, in the parallel text in Matthew (Mt
13:53-58), he is designated as “the carpenter’s son”, since Matthew wants to
portray Jesus as son of Joseph and so son of David.
His status as a carpenter
would have been lower than that of a member of the educated class, and the
villagers would probably have resented the position that Jesus reached and the
status he has acquired. By designating Jesus as “son of Mary” rather than “son
of Joseph” they may have intended to insult Jesus, and so cut him down to size.
Jesus’ response to his townspeople is in the form of a proverbial saying. Jesus
is amazed at the lack of faith among his own people. Mark adds strongly at the
end of the episode that Jesus “could do no mighty work there because of their
unbelief” which indicates that Jesus was rendered incapable by the lack of
faith of his own.
Often we deal with others in a stereotypical way and label
people all too easily. This does not allow us to encounter them in their
uniqueness and freshness and we may miss a great deal.
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