Matthew 13:53-58

Chapter 13. As you're making your way there,

I'm obviously wearing glasses today. I typically

wear contacts. I cannot wear contacts. The elephant

in the room, you can see my eye. So yes, I married

a Latina who has a great right hook. That's all

I can say. If it only were that good of a story.

The truth is always less entertaining and more

humiliating. I was picking weeds and... trying

to teach my children to pick them well. And I

moved a flower basket that was hanging on one

of those old shepherd's staff. I went down to,

I bent over to pull some weeds and jammed that

thing right in my eye. Jammed it hard actually.

And so thankfully it seems like everything's

checked out. It's just, everyone's asking me

what's going on. And so, you know, just thought

I'd share that with you today. and so I appreciate

everyone your concern and Sandy's really not

that mean so let's look at the text this morning

and remember Matthew 13 is the chapter we have

all these kingdom parables seven of them in fact

seven parables all related to the kingdom of

God so now we come to verse 53 it says then when

Jesus had finished these parables he went away

from there and and coming to his own hometown,

he taught them in their synagogue so that they

were astonished. And they said, where did this

man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is

not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother

called Mary? Are not his brothers James and Joseph

and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters

with us? Where then did this man get all these

things? And they took offense at him. But Jesus

said to them, a prophet is not without honor,

except in his hometown and in his own household.

And he did not do many mighty works there because

of their unbelief. Let's pray. Father, would

you help us today? God, to see beyond what we

can perceive with our eyes and see the truth

that Jesus is not the carpenter's son. He's the

son of the living God. Lord God, would you open

blinded eyes? Open cold hearts. May we be, Lord

God, for lack of a better word, enraptured, enthralled.

with the glory that belongs to your son. May

he be preeminent. May he be lifted up. We pray

in Jesus name. Amen. Our local news station,

WSAZ, they do this segment. It's called the Hometown

Hero. I believe most of you are familiar with

it. Someone from the local community is named

Hero. Recently, Roger Malone, and many of y 'all

know them, it's Bridget's father -in -law, Derek's

dad, Angel's husband, he was named a hometown

hero for his impressive work on the Civil War

time capsule that he found in the memorial building

down in Ironton. If you don't know about it,

that's actually very fascinating. I would encourage

you to take the time to look at that. But the

idea behind the segment is that you have local

people who've done something extraordinary, they

get recognized, they get noticed, and they're

labeled a hero for a day. So what we have died

is local residents are lauded for their extraordinary

work. Well, the exact opposite is taking place

in our text today. The Lord Jesus is certainly

not lauded as some hometown hero as he goes back

to his hometown. Now, we're at the end of Matthew

13. Jesus had finished teaching through the parables,

all of them related to the kingdom. He's gone

back to Nazareth. That's his hometown. And as

was his custom, he goes into the synagogue on

the Sabbath, and he taught the people. And the

people who heard him that day, they are amazed

by his wisdom. They're astonished by his miracles,

yet they still rejected him. But why would Jesus

be rejected of all places in his own hometown?

You would think that they would be the first

to recognize him or the first to receive him

that do some type of honor. I mean, it seems

like we should be reading that they held a parade

in his honor or had some type of public ceremony

where they were honoring him publicly. After

all, by this time, Jesus has garnered the attention

of all of Israel. He had massive crowds who had

followed him who were hanging on his every word,

and no one from Nazareth had ever done anything

like that before. But that's not what we read.

That's not what happened. But why not? And the

answer is because they could not reconcile in

their minds how the carpenter's son, the one

they grew up with, the one they knew from a child,

hound the world. Could he be the Messiah they'd

been waiting for? Now, you have to keep in mind,

what was the Jewish expectation of the Messiah?

We said this so many times, but they were looking

for a military, a political figure who's going

to come and free them from Rome. And by the way,

that's really important. When you read through

the Gospels, you need to know that. That's what

they were looking for. So they're looking for

a victorious, David -like king. who's going to

bring Israel back to a time of national prosperity

and national peace. They want someone, a strong

man, lead the charge against Rome and restore

Israel to our glory. And Jesus doesn't fit the

mold at all. We all are familiar with the old

adage, familiarity breeds contempt. And that's

what happened here. Their familiarity with Jesus

became a barrier to faith. They had preconceived

assumptions, and those assumptions blinded them

to the glory of God that was standing right in

front of them. God was in their midst, but they

couldn't see it. Sorry. So let's look at this

with a little more detail. Look at verses 53

and 54 again. It says, when Jesus had finished

his parables, he went away from there, that's

the Sea of Galilee, and coming to his hometown.

Now, where had Jesus been teaching? Do you remember,

the crowds were so large that he was actually

in a boat there at the Sea of Galilee. And he

was teaching for quite a while. And Matthew says,

once he finished, he goes to his own hometown.

He goes back to Nazareth. Now, the Lord had been

teaching parables all day long, all related,

as I said, to the kingdom, and that's so important.

Because what you see there in Matthew 13 is that

the kingdom of God is different than what they

thought. The kingdom of God is already present.

The kingdom of God transforms a person, but it's

hidden. It's valuable. It's of extreme value,

but it also divides. Those who have faith in

Jesus will receive the kingdom of God, and those

who reject him will be rejected from the kingdom.

And as we come to our text today, it's almost

like a living illustration that's being seen.

terrible of the seed and sower. Do you remember

there's four types of soils? You've got a hard

soil, a rocky soil, a crowded soil, and you have

fertile soil. Well, think about the people of

Nazareth. They heard the gospel. Jesus Christ

is the one preaching. They saw miracles showing

that the kingdom of God had come. Yet we read

that their hearts remained hardened. the seed

had fallen on hard soil. Now Matthew simply says

Jesus went home. He went to his hometown. Now

we know Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but Bethlehem

is not where he grew up. He grew up in Nazareth.

He will be called a Nazarene. So now we know

a lot about Nazareth. It was a small, obscure,

very insignificant town, known for agriculture,

and it's probably only about 500 people at the

time. It's located in the southern part of Galilee,

Galilee's northern Israel, and Nazareth would

have been in the southern part of the north of

Israel. So where Jesus had been teaching there

at the Sea of Galilee is about 40 miles from

Nazareth, so it probably would have taken him

anywhere from three to four days on foot to travel

back home. When he gets there, all the Nazarenes,

they lived very modest lives, mostly involved

in agriculture or some type of trade such as

carpentry. That's what Jesus was. That's what

his dad was. So this is a small town. This is

a town where everybody would have known each

other, and not just known each other, but they

also would have known their family. They would

have known their family tree. But most people

in Israel looked at Nazareth as a backwater,

podunk kind of town. In fact, there's a strong

prejudice against the people who live there.

And how do we know that? In John chapter 1, you

John 1 · chapter mention

see this very clearly. Philip found Nathaniel

and said to him, we found him of whom Moses in

the law and also the prophets wrote. Basically,

we found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, the

son of Joseph. And Nathaniel's like, can any

good thing... come out of Nazareth? And Philip

said, well, come and see. So Nathanael was shocked.

I mean, anyone would have been shocked. He's

like, are you trying to tell me that the Messiah

is from Nazareth? I mean, are you sure? From

Nazareth. That's what you're telling me here.

The one that Israel has been waiting for for

millennia is here, and he's from Nazareth. Can

anything good come from that place? This would

have been the very last place anyone would have

thought to look for the Messiah. Now you always

have that elite class. You have the elite ruling

class, the sophisticated ones. They were in Jerusalem.

They looked down their noses at Nazareth. Here's

the thing, even fellow Galileans looked down

their noses at Nazareth. Because the people from

Nazareth, the Nazarenes, they were seen as uneducated.

They were backwards people. I mean, we sometimes

feel that here, don't we, in Appalachia, in Ironton.

You people from Columbus or Cleveland, they look

at us with suspicion. You guys are just from

that podunk part of the state. And that's how

they looked at Nazareth. And so the irony here,

the great irony that we see at the very beginning,

is that God the Father chose this town for His

Son to grow up in. God did not choose Jerusalem.

He did not choose some other illustrious, important

city. Rather, he chose this lowly, nondescript,

unimportant town for his son. This is like our

God. Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

1. But God, he's chosen the foolishings of the

world. Why? Why do that? To put to shame the

wise? He's chosen the weak things of the world.

Why? to put to shame the things which are mighty,

the basings of the world, and the things which

are despised, like Nazareth, God has chosen,

and the things which are not, to bring to nothing

the things that are. The next verse says, so

that no flesh will glory in his presence. So

as far as most of the Jews at that time, as far

as they were concerned, the very first strike

that Jesus had against him was the place he grew

up. It wasn't respectable enough. So no one ever

would have thought the Messiah grew up in Nazareth,

including the Nazarenes themselves. Look at verse

54, the latter part. It says, Jesus taught them

in their synagogue. So they were astonished.

And they said, and notice their question, where

did this man get this wisdom and these mighty

works? The synagogue was a center of social and

religious life. In a small town like Nazareth,

the synagogue would have been extraordinarily

important. I find it fascinating that Jesus taught

in the same synagogue that he would have attended

with his parents as a child. It's the same place.

First of all, we see Jesus' ministry is not private.

It's very public. He's teaching the people where

they had gathered for worship. And it says, the

people who heard him teach, and I'm going to

use a different word. We're left thunderstruck.

They're thunderstruck. They're just absolutely

astonished. And that's the same reaction that

the people who heard Jesus give that famous Sermon

on the Mount, when the people who heard him back

in Matthew 7, they felt the same way. In 7 28,

it says, when Jesus had ended these sayings,

he's done with the sermon. The people were astonished

at his teaching. Why were they so astonished?

Because he taught them as one having authority.

He was authoritative, not like the scribes. So

now we find Jesus. He's gone back to his hometown,

to the very people that he would have known all

his life. He would have known these people from

his childhood. But it's important to notice he

didn't just teach. Notice what it says. He backed

up his teaching with mighty works. Dunamis. You

see the word dynamite. This is the word miracles,

powerful signs. So the Lord is teaching authoritatively,

and then he's proving his authority by performing

miracles. And the people are like, wow. They're

aghast. They're like, this can't be happening.

And they ask this very important question. Where

did this man get this wisdom? How can he do these

mighty works? But the question was not asked

sincerely, it was asked pejoratively. How is

it possible that this man, you know, the one

we all know, can do these things? They can't

deny what they've heard. They can't refute his

wisdom. They can't refute that miracles were

taking place. They knew what they had seen and

heard was extraordinary. Of that, there is no

doubt. But now they ask skeptically, how can

Jesus, the one we all know, teach like this?

How can little Yeshua perform these mighty miracles?

Verse 55. Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't

that his mother called Mary? And then they list

his brothers, four brothers, James, Joseph, Simon,

Judas. What about his sisters? They're all here

with us. They've grown up here. We know the whole

family. So how, where then, did this man get

all these things? Yeah, they knew Jesus. They

didn't just know Jesus, they knew his family.

Oh, you're talking about Yeshua, the son of Joseph

the carpenter, right? That's the carpenter's

son. And we start to see our Lord's humble beginnings.

Not only was he born in a poor town, he's born

to a poor family. Jesus is not the son of royalty.

He was not born into some... aristocratic family,

and that's what we would expect for the king

of Israel. That's what we would expect for the

Messiah. But on the contrary, not only did God

choose poor Nazareth, He chose poor Joseph and

Mary. They are poor. You said, well, how do you

know that? Because when Jesus is born and they

have to present Jesus at the temple, what was

their offering? Two turtledoves. Why? Because

they had no more money. That's the, that's, if

you were a poor family, that's all you're required

to offer. So Jesus was not educated in the best

of rabbinical schools. In fact, Jesus Christ

never received any formal rabbinical education

at all. He wasn't a disciple of a famed rabbi.

Jesus, what was his trade? He was a carpenter.

He was the son of a carpenter. And what's Matthew's

point here? He's so ordinary, so vanilla, if

you will. He comes from an ordinary village family,

and they felt then he has no business teaching

us. Who does he think he is? But they were perplexed.

How in the world can he teach like he did, because

they were amazed by it, if he's never been formally

trained? Unlike Paul, he never sat at the feet

of Gamaliel. So where did Jesus get his wisdom?

And moreover, how is it that Jesus the one we

know, the one that grew up around the corner,

how can he do these miracles? What's the source

of its authority and power? Now keep in mind

by this time the Pharisees had already concluded

Jesus' source was Beelzebub. He's in line with

Satan. That's how he's able to do these things.

Now they're not saying that, but they are saying

this, and we'll get to it. In their minds there

is no possible way Jesus had been sent from God.

Why are they saying that? Because they knew Jesus'

family, and because they knew them, they assumed

they knew Him. Jesus is just an ordinary man

with an ordinary pedigree. But nothing could

have been further from the truth. This is how

God works. The Lord Jesus was God in the flesh.

The one that grew up in backwards Nazareth was

the incarnate God. But his deity, as the hymn

says, was robed in frail humanity. They couldn't

see Jesus for who he truly was because of their

own bias. See, the problem's not a lack of evidence.

It's not at all. The problem's not a lack of

proof, but rather it was their preconceived ideas

about what they assumed the Messiah would be

like. Jesus just didn't fit the bill. But Matthew

records something. He says they were left shocked

and amazed by his teaching, but Matthew does

not tell us what he taught. But aren't you curious?

Like, what did he teach them? We don't have to

wonder. Luke in the parallel gospel supplies

the information in Luke chapter 4 verse 16. So

Luke 4:16

he, that is Jesus, came to Nazareth, where he

had been brought up. And as his custom was, he

went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and

he stood up to read. and that whoever was presiding

over the synagogue would have allowed guest speakers.

And so Jesus was handed the book of the prophet

Isaiah. Now notice, and when he, that is Jesus,

opened the book, there's a purpose here. He found

the place where it was written. So Jesus is purposely

looking for a passage in Isaiah, and here it

is. The spirit of the Lord, the spirit of Yahweh

is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach

the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal

the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the

captives, and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to

proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Look

at verse 20. Then he closed the book, he gave

it back to the attendant, and he goes and takes

a seat. He sits down. And the eyes of all who

were in the synagogue were fixed on him, no doubt.

They're like, what did we just hear? And he began

to say to them, today, this scripture is fulfilled

in your hearing. So all bore witness to him,

and they marveled at the gracious words which

proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is

this not Joseph's son? Now, by the way, I didn't

finish, but if you go down a few verses later,

they grabbed Jesus and they tried to throw him

off a hill and kill him. That's the context.

I just didn't put it in there. So now here's

what I find fascinating. The Lord, he opened

the scroll, he found Isaiah 61. Now there weren't

chapter and verse divisions, obviously, but it's

Isaiah 61 and he's quoting a passage about the

Messiah. So he reads the passage and when he's

done reading it, he looks at the people and he

says, this prophecy, this prophecy you just heard

is fulfilled today. Jesus was saying that Isaiah

61 prophesying of the Messiah was speaking about

him. Clearly, unambiguously, unequivocally, Jesus

is claiming to be the Messiah and everyone who

heard him knew that and they were left there

speechless, their mouths hanging wide open. What?

Did he just say what I think he said? Is he saying

Isaiah's prophecy is about him? Who does he think

he is? I remember Jesus as Yeshua, and I remember

when Yeshua lived around the corner from me.

And he's saying he's the Christ? Come on. That's

Joseph and Mary some. Am I missing something

here? Because at that time, there was an idea

in Jewish shawl that when the Messiah came, no

one would know where he's from. You again see

that in John's gospel. However, we know where

this man is from. That's why they're discounting

Jesus. But when the Christ or Messiah comes,

no one knows where he's from. That's what they

thought. Jesus is too ordinary, too like us,

to be the Messiah. And so those in Nazareth,

they stumbled over him. But they couldn't deny

what they had just heard and seen. So that's

why they're asking, where did this man? get this

wisdom and these mighty works. Because Jesus

isn't just claiming the Messiah, he's proving

it. And his miracles were proof that his claim

was legitimate. But despite all that, the tragedy

is they still saw him as the son of Joseph and

Mary. Yes, he was the son of Joseph and Mary,

not biologically the son of Joseph, but he was

also the son of God. They could not reconcile

knowing his earthly family, how he could have

heavenly authority. They could not put these

two together in their minds. It was impossible

for them that the one they had always known,

the one they had known from childhood, could

be the one God sent from heaven. Just didn't

compute. Didn't make sense to them. In verse

57, this is where the rubber hits the road. And

they took a fence at him. Now, we read a fence,

like, oh, that's offensive. I don't like that.

So they were astonished, but their astonishment

was not good. It's more like shock. It's scandal,

if you will. They're offended that Jesus claimed

to be the Christ. The word took offense. It's

the Greek word skandalitsou. You can see the

word scandal. And it has various meanings. To

trip up, to offend, to speak falsely of, to bring

into reproach. But the idea behind it, it's a

very strong connotation, it's to be appalled

or disgusted. So now read it that way. It's not

that they simply didn't like what he said, oh

he offended me. They were disgusted that he said

it. They were appalled at his audacious claims.

Their familiarity with Jesus ironically blinded

them. Friends, we need to listen. These things

are written for us. We need to take heed. We

can become so familiar with sacred things that

they lose their effect on us. J .C. Ryle says

we are all apt to despise mercies if we are accustomed

to them and have them cheap. If you go back and

read the history of the Bible, It's crazy what

men have suffered to get what you hold in your

hands or on your phone today. The Bibles and

religious books which now, he says, are so plentiful.

The churches, I mean there's a church on every

corner in Lawrence County of which we have so

abundant a supply. The preaching of the gospel

which you can go online, you can hear whenever

you want, which we hear every week. We at all,

we are all liable to undervalue those things.

proximity to sacred things can cause us to lose

our awe and wonder. We become so familiar with

the sacred that we treat it with contempt. We

have to regain our sense of what is sacred and

respect for the sacred. Respect for the word

of God, respect for the house of God, respect

for the preaching of the gospel. We become far

too trivial, far too casual in our approach to

these things. And because of that, we treat Jesus

casually. It's the way we speak of Him. It pains

me. It bothers me. It actually irks me when people

refer to Him as J .C. It irks me when someone

speaks of God as the man upstairs. He is the

living God. He is creator. He is the Almighty.

And He will be exalted in the earth. See friends,

we have to be careful. We can become so familiar

with the gospel that it no longer amazes you.

It doesn't move you. When we're singing there

at the end, oh great God of highest heaven, these

words, pray and occupy my lowly heart. Friends,

we're not just reading words. At least we ought

not to be. We ought to be amazed. You ought to

be amazed that God in His grace has chosen you

under eternal life. See, they were with Jesus,

but they couldn't sing. Friends, we ought to

be humbled. by this amazing God who took one

drop of mercy or even glanced our way. But He

didn't just glance our way. He brought us into

the kingdom and adopted us into His family and

made us sons and daughters of the Most High.

Shall we not give our lives to Him? Of course,

Jesus rejected. And by the way, this shouldn't

surprise anyone. From his birth, we were told

he'd be rejected. Again, shortly after he was

born, Mary and Joseph, they take Jesus as a baby

into the temple as required by the law. They're

going to present him before the Lord. And there's

a man named Simeon there. And Simeon picks up

Jesus and he speaks a prophecy over him. And

we read about it in Luke 2. Simeon blessed them,

that's Mary and Joseph. And he said to Mary his

mother, behold, this child is destined. for the

fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a

sign which will be spoken against." Samian said,

many are going to trip over him. Many in Israel

are going to fall over this child. In Matthew

13, we see this prophecy coming to reality. They

are tripping over how ordinary he seems. The

Apostle Peter wrote the same thing. He said,

Jesus is the stone of stumbling. and a rock of

offense. They, that is Israel, they stumble being

disobedient to the word to which they were also

appointed. John writes, he came unto his own,

and his own received him not. Jesus is the stone

that the builders rejected. He was the Messiah,

is the Messiah, and they could not recognize

him. Now, so Jesus didn't say silence, so He

stands something back. He looks out, because

they just said, I mean, He can see what they're

doing, He hears them. And He speaks to His fellow

countrymen and those who are offended by Him.

And look at verse 57 at the end of it. Jesus

said, a prophet is not without honor, except

in his own hometown and in his own household.

And He didn't do many mighty works there because

of their unbelief. First of all, Jesus didn't

deny being a prophet. He was a messenger sent

from God. No, he was much more than that. Now

remember, there's been no prophets. John the

Baptist was the first prophet to rise in 400

years. Jesus has claimed to be a prophet, and

he never tries to say that the people had misunderstood

him. Oh, did you think I was saying I was Messiah?

Oh, you heard me wrong. Nope. He's not trying

to clear up any confusion whatsoever. Instead,

he says, well, a prophet receives honor everywhere

except in his hometown amongst his own family.

What's Jesus saying? Familiarity breeds contempt.

Israel has a pattern. They've often rejected

prophets that were sent to them. The messengers

of God, they didn't receive. And now today, or

this day in Nazareth, their lack of honor revealed

their lack of faith. Look at the last verse.

And He did not do many mighty works there. Why?

Because of their unbelief. Now this does not

mean that Jesus lacked the ability to do miracles.

Let's be something. Our faith does not control

or determine God's ability. God's not your servant.

We're His. Your faith doesn't make Him do anything.

Jesus chose not to do miracles in a hostile environment.

in an environment of unbelief. He's not going

to satisfy their curiosity. He's not some circus

sideshow. Miracles were never given to impress

people. It's not as though Jesus goes around

like, here, bread, here, stone, be made bread.

And everywhere you go, now that's not what he

was doing. He never did those things. He didn't

entertain people. Even when the Pharisees demanded

a sign, he's like, you think I'm gonna give you

a sign because you want one? I'll give you a

sign, the sign of Jonah. Instead, these miracles

that were given when Jesus did them, they were

a sign demonstrating something. They were there

to prove something. What? That the message Jesus

said that the kingdom of heaven is at hand? Well

here, I proved it. Look at the miracles. It had

come. The miracles were meant to call people

to repent of their sin, come to faith in Jesus,

and be one of his disciples. But because they

did not believe, the word chose. not to perform

many miracles. It does say he healed a few people,

but again, we need to take heed. Hebrews, the

author of Hebrews, he's writing to Jewish Christians,

but he's writing to people who believe, and he

says this in chapter 3 verse 12, beware, beware,

brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil

heart of unbelief that departs from the living

God. Beware. Don't. simply rest on your laurels.

Don't take for granted. We fight, we work out.

It's all of grace, but friends, grace motivates

us. A person can be familiar with Jesus, you

can know Bible stories about him, and yet you

never truly know him. That's why I think these

people, they are amazed by him. But they didn't

put their faith in him. because being familiar

with Jesus is not the same thing as having faith

in Jesus. There are many people, there are even

secular people, some today, who admire Jesus.

They admire his teaching. Sermon on the Mount,

they give it an A+. They are impressed by his

moral code, but they don't believe he's the Lord.

They don't believe he was God in the flesh. They

don't believe he rose again from the dead on

the third day. Danny Aiken, his commentary. He

said Jesus' hometown got it wrong. His relatives,

for a while, got it wrong. The religious leaders

of the day, they got it wrong. Rome got it wrong.

And still today, people get him wrong. This is

the question. Do you see him for who he truly

is? And do you call him Lord, Savior, Master?

See, Matthew's Gospel is showing something that's

showing us the whole Christ. Jesus is the Son

of Man, very ordinary, but he's also the Son

of God. This is the Jesus you have to trust in.

It's not the Jesus you may like. It's not the

Jesus of Mormonism. It's not the Jesus of Jehovah's

Witnesses. It's not the Jesus of Islam that will

regard him as a great prophet. No, this is the

Jesus who's God incarnate. You must believe that.

And you see that, you see his human nature and

his divine nature. We see that he's fully human.

Well, how do you see that? He was born of Mary.

He had a natural birth. He had a family. He was

raised in the town of Nazareth. He had a trade.

He was a carpenter. He was involved in ordinary

life. Fully human. He got tired. He had to eat.

But we also read that he was fully God. He was

conceived by the Holy Spirit. He taught with

divine wisdom. He was able to perform miracles

by his own command. He forgave sins, and it was

Jesus who revealed and brought the kingdom of

heaven. But what happened there that day in Nazareth

is the same thing that still happens today, and

it really is the scandal of the incarnation.

God came in a way that many dismissed because

He did not come in a way they expected. way too

ordinary. Jesus didn't fit the mold then, and

he doesn't really fit the mold now. But the final

question I have for you is who do you say Jesus

is? Some of you have heard about Jesus your entire

life. You know the stories. You can sing the

songs. You know a lot about Jesus. But the real

question is whether you have bowed before him

and confessed him as your Lord. Will you be offended

by him? Or will you bow your knee and trust in

him? And church, we get this enormous privilege.

The same Jesus who is rejected by those in Nazareth

is the same one who calls us today to come commune

with him. One of the blessings of the new covenant,

and there are many, the new covenant was secured

by the bloody death of Jesus, by the blood of

Christ being shed for us. But one of the blessings

is that we are given this incredible privilege

of communing with the risen Christ said to the

church I say come lift up your hearts and commune

with your Lord we have this privilege to do that

today if you don't know Christ today is the day

of salvation call upon him call upon him and

all who call upon him will never be put to shame

let's pray Almighty God, we thank you, Lord.

Your plan was perfect. Lord, you humble the wisdom

of the wise. You sent your son in an ordinary

package. He didn't come in opulence and royal

splendor. He was not the leading actor of the

day, the best looking, the most charming. Lord,

he was despised. He indeed was the man of sorrows.

There was no form, there was no comeliness in

him that we would desire him. Lord, you sent

him to lowly Nazareth, born to a poor family,

and yet this is the King of glory, the long -awaited

Messiah. He was the creator of heaven and earth.

What? great contradiction. That he, Lord, the

one who deserves all glory, would humble himself

and take the lowest chair, the lowest seat in

the house. Lord, what humility, what divine humility.

And for us, Lord, the pride that's so readily

present in our hearts, would you forgive us,

Lord? Have mercy upon us, Lord? May we not make

our name great. But may we seek to make the name

of Jesus Christ great. Oh Lord, He was rejected,

but by those who received Him, He's precious.

Lord, we freely, Lord, today we in this building,

we freely confess Jesus Christ, your Son, is

Lord. He is Savior, He is Master, and He is King.

Lord, we thank you, Lord. Thank you for the privilege

of being one of His. Lord, would you help us,

Lord? as we prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive

this sacred meal, this communion with Jesus,

Lord. We lift up our hearts to you, Lord. We

lift them up. In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen. Deacons, if you would come and prepare

the table.