“Where then did this man get all these things? And they took offense at him.” (Matthew 13:56, 57)

God’s ways are not man’s ways. If humans had planned the coming of Christ, the Messiah would have been born in a palace — to royalty. But He was not born in a palace, nor was He born to royalty. He was born in Galilee, which was a backwater province compared to Judea, which in itself was a backwater province in the Roman Empire. And where was He born in Galilee? In Nazareth! Even Galileans despised Nazareth. The common viewpoint among Galileans was reflected by Nathanael, in John 1:46, when he said “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” 

And to whom was He born? Certainly not royalty! Why, Mary and Joseph were so poor that when it came time to purify themselves from childbirth, they did not even have money to buy a lamb, but had to settle for two turtle doves. Check out Leviticus 12:8 on that score. 

But they were devout. Mary, who was quite likely just 14 or 15 at the time of the pregnancy, was told this by the angel Gabriel: “Mary, you have found favor with God.” (Luke 1:30) And then, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)

And Joseph, when he found out Mary was pregnant, “was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, … had in mind to divorce her quietly.” But then an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:19-20)

So Joseph followed the angel’s instructions but did not consummate the marriage until the birth of Jesus. And three more times in the next few years, Joseph receives instructions from God via a dream. He certainly was a man of God.

Eventually Joseph dies, but not before begetting at least six additional children, perhaps more. (Matthew 13:55, 56)

Shortly thereafter, Jesus begins his public ministry. Which paves the way for the incident described in Matthew 13. To understand this situation correctly, you have to understand that the Jewish people considered themselves superior to all other nations. Though they had been instructed in the Old Testament to evangelize the nations, they did not do so. As a matter of fact, the general outlook on Gentiles was one of aloof superiority. The tax collectors, who had to collaborate with the Romans to do their job, were so ostracized by the Jewish populace that they were genuine pariahs; if anything, worse than even a Gentile because they came from the Jewish citizenry. 

If you read the parallel account in Luke 4, you realize that Jesus attacked this Jewish pride by the Old Testament stories He chose: Elijah being sent to a Gentile widow in the region of Sidon and Namaan, a Syrian, being healed of leprosy. “I assure you, there were many widows in Israel” (Verse 25) in the time of the prophet Elijah, “yet Elijah was not sent to any of them but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed — only Naaman the Syrian.” (Verses 26-27)

Talk about your powder kegs! Jesus had stomped all over their Jewish pride. They desperately wanted to kill Him. Only the fact that it was “not yet His time” forestalled them. 

This whole incident foreshadows the crucifixion. The Jewish leaders were galled at Jesus calling out their self-righteousness. Check out Matthew 23.

“... they don’t practice what they preach. (Verse 3) Everything they do is done for men to see: they make your phylacteries (small leather boxes with Scriptures inside) wide and the tassels on your garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ (Verses 5-7)

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make one convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.” (Verses 13-15)

 And so on.

 And they knew that He had come from the worst of the worst, humanly speaking. Not just Galilee, which was bad enough. But from Nazareth, of all places! Nazareth! Nowhereville! So when they crucified Him, they thought He was just getting His just desserts.

 If we knew the truth about crucifixion, we would understand how extremely hard-hearted the Jewish leaders actually were. The Romans had devised a torture that, if not the worst of all human tortures, was in the upper 99th percentile. That devious triangular block of wood the feet were nailed to caused slow, rather than rapid, suffocation. The nails driven through the wrist pierced the main nerve running through the arm. When the victim pushed up from the triangular wooden piece his feet were nailed to, the nerve rotated against the nail, causing intense pain. The victim was flogged beforehand, and the 351 lashes Christ received from leather pieces carrying sharp pieces of metal and bits of animal bone, wrapped around his body, exposed vital organs. Hypovolemic shock, caused by losing twenty percent or more of the victims’ blood, sets in, causing nausea and vomiting. Tetanus occurred, causing, among other things, diarrhea and muscle spasms. The victim was crucified naked. And more. Three generations worth of shame is caused by one event.

 And so they had their revenge on this Messiah from “nowhereville.”

 Or did they? ¹

Philosophers throughout the ages have tried to grasp one very counterintuitive mystery. If God planned to send His Son to the earth to reconcile humanity back to God, wouldn’t it make more sense for Him to place Jesus in a better cultural and geographic setting? Knowing the story, meditate, ponder, discover and write out why God took great pains to position Messiah in abject poverty and intentional obscurity.

Read 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 and consider how God has called you. Write out why God loves calling you out of obscurity.