Is this not the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are His sisters not here with us?” And they were offended because of Him.
Here the true reason for their unbelief is revealed. They do not deny Christ’s wisdom, they cannot refute the impact of His works, but His humble earthly origin is a stumbling block for them. In their eyes He remains the one whose childhood they knew, whose family they recognized, and whose outward life seemed ordinary like theirs. Thus they measure heavenly reality by earthly standards. But God’s way is precisely this: that His greatest glory is often covered under humility. Christ’s incarnation is a great mystery for this very reason: that the Son of God came not with outward splendor, but in the likeness of a man. The Nazarenes stumbled because they did not want to accept that God can act in a way that does not fit their ideas. They loved what was ordinary and did not tolerate that the divine should appear from within the ordinary. This stumbling is very deep even today. A person is often ready to seek God in distant, unusual, and lofty things, but when He draws near with humility, simplicity, and the power of truth, a person may despise Him precisely because of that humility.