While Jesus has faced some adversity in the earlier chapters of Matthew, it’s in this section that opposition to his words and actions really starts to ramp up. And this reflects one of the themes from Jesus’ parables in Matthew 13. In these parables Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is divisive, illustrating the good soil versus the bad soils in 13:1-23, the wheat versus the weeds in 13:24-30 and 36-43, and the good fish versus the bad fish in 13:47-50. The divisive nature of Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom is summed up in 13:14-16,
15 For this people’s heart has become
calloused; they hardly hear with their
ears, and they have closed their eyes… 16
But blessed are your eyes because they see,
and your ears because they hear.
The narrative from Matthew 13:53-17:13 sees this division play out in the different ways people take Jesus differently, from outright offense to recognition of his divinity. As you go through these verses, you’ll be able to consider how different people viewed Jesus during his earthly ministry, compare it with how different people view Jesus today, and examine how you view Jesus yourself as you wrestle with what it means to see the Son!