A SERIES OF DEVOTIONS BASED ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW 

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT     

Matthew 13:57 (Read verses 53-58) “. . . they took offense at Him (Jesus). But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” 

The phrase familiarity breeds contempt means that knowing someone or something too well can lead to overlooking their positive qualities and focusing on their faults, resulting in negative feelings or scorn. The citizens of Nazareth thought they knew Jesus when in fact they did not. In today’s devotional verse, Jesus had come back to His home town only to find that the people there took “offense at Him”  

The people knew Jesus as a carpenter’s son. Most likely, He and his father had repaired something for some in the audience. He joined them in the social life of the community, so they knew Him as just another young Jewish man. How could He be a prophet? 

The people then and we today should never be surprised at who God chooses to deliver His word, minister to the souls of sinners, and bring comfort and peace through the proclamation of the Gospel. He chose a shepherd to lead His people from Egypt. Jesus chose an enemy of His to become one of the key missionaries of the early Christian church.   

As you view pastors, missionaries, and Christian teachers, today’s devotional verse encourages you to not look at their family of origin, the community in which they grew up, or the schools they attended. God sent His Son Jesus, His holy and righteous Son and placed Him in a poor carpenter’s home to be raised into adulthood. He sent His Son into the world as an itinerant teacher (rabbi.) As the Bible says, “He had no place to lay His head.”(Matthew 8:20) What mattered was Jesus went to Calvary’s cross to pay for your sins and rose on the third day in victory over Satan, sin, and the world. He who delivers this message to you, no matter his family of origin or ancestral home, is what matters.   

Prayer: Cause me, O Lord, to honor those who You send into the world to preach, teach, and spread the Gospel. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Blessed Jesus, at Your Word   
We are gathered all to hear You.  
Let our hearts and souls be stirred   
Now to seek and love and fear You,  
By Your teachings, sweet and holy,   
Drawn from earth to love You solely. 

All our knowledge, sense and sight  
Lie in deepest darkness shrouded  
Till Your Spirit breaks our night  
With the beams of truth unclouded.  
You alone to God can win us;  
You must work all good within us. 

Gracious Savior, good and kind,   
Light of Light, from God proceeding,  
Open now our heart and mind;  
Help us by Your Spirit’s pleading.  
Hear the cry Your Church now raises;  
Hear and bless our prayers and praises. 

Father, Son, and Spirit, Lord,   
Praise to You and adoration!  
Grant that we may trust Your Word,  
Confident of our salvation,  
While we here below must wander,   
Till we sing Your praises yonder.  

Blessed Jesus, at Your Word // LSB 904