Friday, 17^th week in ordinary time  – Matthew 13:54-58

Matthew’s community was no stranger to rejection. The times that they lived in were marred by bitter hostility between the Jews and the followers of Christ who still clung on to their Jewish roots. The rejection by Matthew’s community was sealed with the pronouncement of the ‘ birtkat ha minin’, a Jewish curse on heretics (minim)which also include Jewish Christians.

The introduction of the Birkat ha-Minim (the blessing concerning heretics) was not just a theological disagreement. It was a structural eviction. For Matthew’s community, Jewish believers who deeply loved their traditions, scripture, and heritage, this curse effectively forced them out of the synagogue. It turned their sacred spaces into places of public rejection.

While the Jews, through the pronouncement of the Birkat ha-Minim, sought to silence and erase this community it instead accelerated their growth.  They realized that God’s presence was no longer tied to a specific building, but was found wherever “two or three are gathered” in His name (Matthew 18:20).

Turned away from the synagogues they once prayed in, the followers of Christ most certainly found comfort and solace in the narration of Jesus’ own rejection in today’s Gospel. Yet the positioning of the Gospel is itself confusing. Perhaps what perplexes us is why did Matthew place this Gospel at the end of the parable discourse? It seems a bit odd for the evangelist to end a series of powerful teachings with the rejection of Jesus.

The fault lies in the fact that the Gospels were originally written in continuous format; there were no chapters and verse. It was Robert Estienne who in 1551 introduced the numbering of verses within each chapter. The rejection of Jesus would read better if it was part of Chapter 14.

Chapters 14 to 17 are an interesting twist that Matthew gives to his Gospel. In placing the rejection of Jesus by His own countrymen in Nazareth, he contrasts it with the next four chapters with the acknowledgment of Jesus by his disciples.

While Jesus is rejected by His own, He is sought after by everyone else including the Canaanite woman, sworn enemies of the Jews.  It was Matthew’s way of assuring his community that they were not alone in their rejection but they will also find acceptance within the community and acceptance by the world.

Your rejection is not your definition; it is your redirection. When Matthew’s community was pushed out of the synagogue, they thought they were losing their covering, but God was actually expanding their territory! We spend so much time crying over the people who locked us out of the front door, that we completely miss the crowd of “Canaanites” waiting for us in the backyard. Stop begging for a seat at a table where you are tolerated, when God is building a community where you are celebrated.

Interestingly Jesus is rejected not because He has said anything blasphemous but simply because they were unable to accept the notions of Him that they had in their head. The tragedy of familiarity is that it makes you blind to the move of God right in front of your face.

The people didn’t reject Jesus because He lacked power; they rejected Him because He lacked prestige, reducing the King of Kings down to just “the carpenter’s son” because they couldn’t see past his human resume. They thought they knew who He was, so they missed whose He was, asking, “Who does he think he is?” simply because He didn’t fit into the box they built for Him.

Do not let people who only know your history limit your destiny. If they can’t see the greatness in you, it’s not because it isn’t there, it’s because they’re looking through the rearview mirror of your past while God is driving you into your future.