Jesus’ Rejection in Nazareth and the End of the Baptist (Matthew 13:53-14,1

[Stephan Choe]

May 28, 2026

Key Verses 13:55–57: “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? And his sisters—are they not all with us? Where then does he get all these things? And they took offense at him.”

The Bible recounts to us not only joyful events but also sorrowful ones, for through painful occurrences, God desires to teach us His truth.

Today, we will reflect upon two such sorrowful events.

With Chapter 13, Jesus has—for the time being—concluded His teaching through parables. He now arrives in His hometown of Nazareth and teaches God’s Word in the synagogue. He longs for His fellow townspeople to receive the Good News with open hearts and to experience God’s blessing. Yet, they reject Him.

Chapter 14 tells us of the tragic end of John the Baptist, whom Herod had beheaded.

At the conclusion of this sermon, I would like to ask you a question: Who is the loser? John or Herod? I hope that you will be able to answer this question correctly.

1. Jesus’ Rejection in Nazareth (13:53–58)

The thirteenth chapter recounts that Jesus—speaking from a boat—tells various parables to the crowd gathered on the shores of the Sea of ​​Galilee.

After his address, Jesus travels to his hometown, Nazareth. It goes without saying that he visits Nazareth—the very place where he grew up. During his stay there, he also visits the synagogue and preaches.

Generally speaking—even for a pastor—it is not easy to preach in the place where one grew up simply because everyone there knows him so well.

We can describe the reaction of the inhabitants of Jesus’ hometown to his preaching in two words: "astonishment" and "rejection."

Their initial reaction is astonishment.

There, Jesus teaches God’s Word and performs miracles.

Jesus teaches them the divine path that leads people to God and to eternal life. Through his miracles, he reveals himself as the Son of God and the Christ. His fellow townspeople are deeply astonished by his teaching and his miraculous deeds. Therefore, they ask, "Where did this man get such wisdom and such deeds?" They do not deny that Jesus performed miracles; however, they do not interpret his miracles correctly.

Their subsequent reaction is rejection.

Although they are astonished by his deeds, they are not willing to believe in him as the Messiah. For they have known his father, his mother, and his siblings very well for decades. Consequently, they assume that Jesus must be an ordinary human being.

Jesus grew up in Nazareth as a completely ordinary person. He attended no school, and his family—a family of carpenters—was poor. When he was small, they played with him. So they now say, “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is his mother not named Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters here with us? Where, then, did he get all this?” And they take offense at him.

His hometown people are poor, uneducated folk. Consequently, they harbor a hidden sense of inferiority. They cannot acknowledge their old playmate—whom they once despised as the poor son of a carpenter—as the Christ and the Son of God.

Therefore, they say among themselves, “He is, after all, merely the child of a poor carpenter. We know him well. He cannot be the Christ.”

It seems as though God’s work has failed due to their rejection. In a certain sense, their rejection serves as a prelude to His own rejection by His own people. Yet God turns their rejection to good; He uses His death as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people of the world and raises Him from the dead.

When the Jews persecute the early Church in Jerusalem, God once again turns this persecution to good by sending Christians out into the world as lay missionaries, thereby spreading the Gospel. Our God causes all events to work together for the best of His people. God’s way is perfect.

We should not let ourselves be discouraged by apparent setbacks in evangelism but rather remain convinced of God’s perfect will.

From where, then, can we draw strength in seemingly difficult times? From Jesus Christ! We must hold fast in faith to Jesus Christ and to the power of the Gospel.

In Matthew 16:17–18, we read the following:

When Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I also say to you: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…” (16–19).

That is true!

The gates of hell cannot prevail against us. Through Jesus Christ, we will always triumph. Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we possess the source of strength that enables us to decisively defeat all hostile powers.

Therefore, Christ should be the absolute center of our hearts. From Him we should constantly draw new strength. In our church community, people should accept Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God and experience His power. We are to proclaim Jesus—as the Christ and the Son of God—in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we do this, God will demonstrate His power through us. Thus, we will always triumph, and God’s kingdom will spread.

2. The End of John the Baptist (14:1–12)

Chapter 14 recounts the end of John the Baptist. As the forerunner of Christ, he proclaimed His coming and baptized Him in the Jordan (3:11–17). Now, he has been imprisoned by the tetrarch Herod.

Herod’s full name is Herod Antipas I. He is a son of Herod the Great. As long as Herod the Great—who was responsible for the Massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem—was still alive, all of Palestine belonged to him.

When Herod the Great died in 4 BC, his realm was divided among his four sons:

Judea fell to Herod Archelaus; Galilee and Perea to Herod Antipas (Luke 23); Iturea and Trachonitis to Herod Philip I—who had James, the brother of John, executed (Acts 12)—and Abilene to Lysanias. Abilene lay north of Iturea.

The Romans bestowed the title of "King" upon Herod the Great, but initially granted his four successors only the title of "Prince." The designation "Prince" ranks one level below that of King. Since there were four such individuals, we refer to them as tetrarchs.

A brief note: We must always bear in mind that Jesus Christ died and rose again around the year 30 AD. Thus, during the time of Jesus Christ's ministry, Herod Antipas served as the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea—specifically from 4 BC to 39 AD.

Due to his cruel rule, Herod Archelaus—who governed Judea—was deposed by the Romans in 6 AD; subsequently, Judea was administered directly by a Roman governor until 41 AD. Consequently, Pilate served as the governor of Judea during the time of Jesus' ministry. Throughout this entire period, Herod Antipas continued to rule as tetrarch in Galilee. In 41 AD, the Romans deposed him as well and appointed Herod Agrippa I as king over both his former territory and Judea.

Palestine in the Time of Jesus http://im.bilderkiste.org/6137587261865/Pal%25C3%25A4stinaX.jpg

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Herod Antipas married the daughter of the king of a neighboring Arab realm known as Nabataea—a kingdom situated roughly within the territory of modern-day Jordan. During a visit to his half-brother, Herod Philip—who was living in Rome as a private citizen—he fell in love with Philip’s wife, Herodias. To marry Herodias, he divorced his first wife. This constituted a double act of adultery. All Jews shook their heads in disapproval at his dissolute behavior.

His first wife fled to her father, the King of Nabataea, and informed him of this injustice. Consequently, her father, Aretas, waged war against Herod Antipas and defeated him.

The Jewish historian Josephus writes regarding this: "Some Jews were of the opinion that the defeat of Herod’s forces was attributable solely to the wrath of God, who had exacted just punishment for the killing of John the Baptist."

Herod Antipas was able to escape the worst only by appealing to the Romans for aid. From the very beginning, his godless, immoral marriage brought him nothing but misfortune. And Herodias never ceased to exert a thoroughly negative influence upon him.

Following Emperor Tiberius, Caligula became the new Roman Emperor in 37 AD (reigning until 41 AD). When the tetrarch Herod Philip of Ituraea and Trachonitis died in 41 AD, Caligula transferred his territory to a grandson of Herod the Great named Herod Agrippa I. Thus, this Agrippa I was a brother of Herodias and a nephew of Herod Antipas. In doing so, Emperor Caligula also bestowed the title of king upon Herod Agrippa and granted him the territory of Judea—a region the Romans had previously administered through a governor. However, Herod Agrippa I reigned only until the year 44 AD; as the twelfth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles recounts, God struck him down through an angel because he had allowed himself to be worshipped as a god.

But let us return to the story in the text.

When Herod Antipas married Herodias, John the Baptist fearlessly called upon him to repent—even though he was fully aware of the danger of losing his life. His preaching of repentance sprang from his true love for Herod Antipas. With this sermon, he signed his own death warrant. He was a man of God. He was prepared to pay the price for his preaching.

Herod Antipas initially had him thrown into prison. While Herod was celebrating his birthday, Herodias’s daughter danced beautifully before the guests (Verse 6). Then Herod said to her—in the presence of all the guests: “I promise you that I will give you whatever you ask of me” (7). He wanted to put his generosity on public display for all to see.

But the response from Herodias’s daughter struck him like a hammer blow. She replied to him—at her mother’s instigation: “Give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter—right now!”

Everyone was horrified by Herodias’s bloodthirstiness. Herod himself was dismayed. Although he had ordered John to be thrown into prison in a fit of rage, deep in his heart he feared God. And now, through her daughter, Herodias had cornered him and was demanding John’s head.

Secretly, Herod harbored a deep respect for John. Yet, for fear of losing face, he ordered that the head of John be brought and handed over to the girl. Thus, John the Baptist died in the year 28 AD.

When reflecting upon this history, one might assume that the unjust fare better than the just. To illustrate the ultimate fate of the wicked, I would like to recount the end of Herod Agrippa I.

When Herod Agrippa I—a brother of Herodias and nephew of Herod Antipas—was granted the title of King in 41 AD, Herod Antipas still held merely the title of "Tetrarch." Consequently, Herodias grew envious of her brother and ceaselessly urged her husband to travel to Rome and petition Emperor Caligula for the royal title; for she herself was firmly determined to become Queen. Herod Antipas yielded to her wishes and traveled to Rome. Her counsel—to travel to Rome and request the royal title from the Emperor—would prove to be his undoing.

Herod Agrippa, however—acting even more swiftly than his uncle—dispatched a messenger to Rome who falsely accused Herod Antipas before the Emperor of plotting a rebellion against Rome. As a result, Herod Antipas was exiled to Lyon in Gaul, where he remained until his death. His territory was subsequently transferred to Herod Philip. In the distant, foreign land of Gaul, Herod Antipas and Herodias died in 39 AD.

But what became of Herod Agrippa I—the very man who, through slander, had brought about his uncle's downfall? The Acts of the Apostles (12:20–23) records that in 44 AD, in Caesarea, he was struck down by an angel of God because he had permitted himself to be worshipped as a god.

In the face of the atrocities committed by those in power, we ask ourselves why God remains silent despite the injustice. Some even assert: "There is no God!" Yet God exists, and He lives. He reigns with perfect justice. He is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, that he will also reap (cf. Gal 6:7).

God reigns with perfect justice. Nevertheless, He is patient. He does not meet every human injustice with immediate wrath. Rather, He desires that those who have committed wrongdoing repent and accept His forgiveness. For this reason, He exercises patience with them. However, if people repeatedly reject God’s patience and commit injustices beyond all measure, God will judge them in accordance with His justice.

Whoever despises God’s patience and His justice must pay the price. We must take seriously the fact that earthly life is not everything. Our life does not end with our physical death. Our physical death is followed by God’s judgment. Jesus Christ came to save us from this judgment.

He says to us: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (10:28).

I ask you now: Who is the loser? John or Herod?

Do we want to be losers or victors?

To become victors, we must take the divine warning against sin and hell seriously. We should thank God for sending John the Baptist to warn us against sin and hell. We should thank God for sacrificing His Son for our sins, to save us from the damnation of hell and to make us victors. Amen!