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From: Jeremiah 26:1-9

Jeremiah arraigned

[1] In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
this word came from the Lord, [2] “Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the
Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah which come to worship in the
house of the Lord all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not
hold back a word. [3] It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil
way, that I may repent of the evil which I intend to do to them because of their
evil doings. [4] You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen
to me, to walk in my law which I have set before you, [5] and to heed the words
of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not
heeded, [6] then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a
curse for all the nations of the earth.’”

[7] The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking
these words in the house of the Lord. [5] And when Jeremiah had finished spea-
king all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the
priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall
die! [9] Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house
shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all
the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

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Commentary:

26:1-45:4. The first part of the book was a lengthy collection of oracles, usually
in verse form, interspersed with narrative passages; this second part consists
largely of prose narratives. It is very likely that most of them were written down
by Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary, a person who was very close to him from the
year 605 on (cf. 32:12, 16; 36:4-20; 45:15 and the Introduction to this book).

They tell us about Jeremiah’s preaching and about the difficulties he encountered
in the fulfillment of his ministry. The entire account, only occasionally interrupted
by the inclusion of oracles, culminates in the so-called “Sufferings of Jeremiah”
(37:1-44:30), in which we are told in some detail about what Jeremiah underwent
in the period after the first deportation to Babylon, in 597. It was not only that
people misunderstood him; he was ill-treated by those still living in the land of
Judah and eventually, after the second conquest and deportation in the year 587,
he was forcibly taken to Egypt, where he died.

These pages describe his clashes — first with the people, priests and prophets
(26:1-29:32) and then with the kings who occupied the throne during those years
of turmoil (34:1-36:32). The episodes are not in chronological order, and they de-
rive from a number of separate collections of documents. One collection contains
narratives of events in the reign of Jehoiakim (chaps. 26; 35-36; and 45); another,
events in the time of Zedekiah (chaps. 27-29). In the centre of this part comes
what is called the “Book of Consolation” (30:1-33:26), highly poetic and theolo-
gical pages.

26:1-29:32. The connecting thread in the first section of prose accounts of the
life of Jeremiah is the prophet’s fidelity to the mission entrusted to him by the
Lord, despite ever-increasing opposition from his fellow citizens.

26:1-24. This chapter deals with the same incident in the temple that was narra-
ted in 7:1-8:3 (see note), and which occurred in 608 BC. It contains a summary
of what the prophet said on that occasion, and people’s reactions to it (vv. 7-24).
The religious life of the nation hinged on the temple, whose importance had in-
creased further as a result of Josiah’s recent reforms; but Jeremiah proclaims
that the temple will be destroyed; it will he reduced to rubble, like the old shrine
at Shiloh (vv. 2-6). This prophecy so angered people, priests and prophets that
they called for Jeremiah’s death (vv. 7-9), but the authorities managed to calm
them down and Jeremiah escaped with his life (vv. 10-19), probably because his
sincerity impressed the rulers: he was a man ready to risk his life in order to be
faithful to his prophetic mission. Although one cannot he sure where the New
Gate (v. 10) was, the rulers’ intervention clearly had a judicial character to it,
since legal proceedings took place at the city gates. The New Testament con-
tains clear echoes of this account — in the deliberations of the Sanhedrin on
what to do with Jesus after he was arrested (cf. Mt 26:5-68 and par.), in the sen-
tence handed down by Pilate (cf. Lk 23:22), and also in the account of the mar-
tyrdom of St Stephen (cf. Acts 6: 12-14).

This episode dramatically illustrates the sort of clashes that Jeremiah became
involved in when carrying out his mission from the Lord. He has harsh things to
say, and meets resistance from the people, who have even begun to think that
nothing that offends their sensibilities or contradicts their desires can come from
God. Even so, Jeremiah does not back down, for the Lord gives him the strength
to stay true to his calling (cf. 1:7-10).

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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.

From: Matthew 13:54-58

No One is a Prophet in His Own Country

[54] And coming to His (Jesus’) 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 this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother
called Mary? And are not His brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Ju-
das? [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.

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Commentary:

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 fa-
miliar terms. Hence the saying, “No one is a prophet in his own country.” These
old neighbors were also jealous of Jesus. Where did He acquire this wisdom?
Why Him rather than us? They were unaware of the mystery of Jesus’ concep-
tion; 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 re-
ceived Him not” (John 1:11).

“The carpenter’s son”: this is the only reference in the Gospel to St. Joseph’s
occupation (in Mark 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 im-
plements.

For an explanation of Jesus’ “brethren”, see the note on Matthew 12:46-47.

[The note of Matthew 12:46-47 states:

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 lan-
guages. 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 diffe-
rent 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, Si-
mon and Judas (”His brethren”) and elsewhere there is reference to Jesus’ “sis-
ters” (cf. Matthew 6:3). But in Matthew 27:56 we are told that 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” (Mark
6:3) or “the carpenter’s son” (Matthew 13:55).

The Church has always maintained as absolutely certain that Jesus had no bro-
thers or sisters in the full meaning of the term: it is a dogma that Mary was ever-
Virgin (cf. note on Matthew 1:25).]

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.