Matthew 13:54–58
54 and coming to his own country he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.
Catholic Exegesis:
The Second Vatican Council teaches that if we are to derive the true meaning from the sacred texts, attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).
St. John Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church, explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium." He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Cited in the Catechism:
Commentary
No one is a prophet in his own country
13:53–58. The Nazarenes’ surprise is partly due to people’s difficulty in recognizing anything exceptional and supernatural in those with whom they have been on familiar terms. Hence the saying, “No one is a prophet in his own country.” These old neighbours were also jealous of Jesus. Where did he acquire this wisdom? Why him rather than us? They were unaware of the mystery of Jesus’ conception; surprise and jealousy cause them to be shocked, to look down on Jesus and not to believe in him: “He came to his own home, and his own people received him not” (Jn 1:11).
“The carpenter’s son”: this is the only reference in the Gospel to St Joseph’s occupation (in Mk 6:3 Jesus himself is described as a “carpenter”). Probably in a town like Nazareth the carpenter was a general tradesman who could turn his hand to jobs ranging from metalwork to making furniture or agricultural implements.
For an explanation of Jesus’ “brethren”, see the note on Mt 12:46–47 below.
Note on Mt 12:46-47
12:46–47. “Brethren”: ancient Hebrew, Aramaic and other languages had no special words for different degrees of relationship, such as are found in more modern languages. In general, all those belonging to the same family, clan and even tribe were “brethren”.
In the particular case we have here, we should bear in mind that Jesus had different kinds of relatives, in two groups—some on his mother’s side, others on St Joseph’s. Matthew 13:55–56 mentions, as living in Nazareth, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas (“his brethren”) and elsewhere there is reference to Jesus’ “sisters” (cf. Mk 6:3). But in Matthew 27:56 we are told that the James and Joseph were sons of a Mary distinct from the Blessed Virgin, and that Simon and Judas were not brothers of James and Joseph, but seemingly children of a brother of St Joseph.
Jesus, on the other hand, was known to everyone as “the son of Mary” (Mk 6:3) or “the carpenter’s son” (Mt 13:55).
The Church has always maintained as absolutely certain that Jesus had no brothers or sisters in the full meaning of the term: it is a dogma that Mary was ever-Virgin (cf. the note on Mt 1:25).
Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome
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