Context for Matthew 13:53-14:12
Sinful mankind rejects God, even when God is clearly present. Our sinful nature is to deny our Creator simply because we want to justify ourselves. If we believe in God, then we must accept that we are the sinners God says we are, and if we believe, then we must conform ourselves to God’s will and not our own. Therein lies the battle of sin that Jesus won on the cross.
The promised Savior of mankind walked throughout Israel preaching the Gospel of Salvation to God’s chosen people, yet even the people of Jesus’ hometown, who arguably should have known more than anyone else who Jesus was, rejected Him. To our minds, Jesus would have been completely justified in quitting at that point.
Jesus, however, did not quit. Rather, He did come to earth as a man, He did live a perfect life fulfilling the Law, He did preach the Gospel of Salvation, He did suffer and die on the cross for our sins, and He did rise so that those who have faith in Him can have eternal life in Heaven with Him.
He did this all while mankind sinfully rejected Him, even us. What is more, He gave us Himself through the Word, and through that Word, He gave us the Holy Spirit who creates faith in our hearts. He perfectly fulfilled the law, overcame sin, and gave us faith even while we rejected Him simply because that is how much He loves us.
Because of what Jesus did, we now have the faith that gives us God’s righteousness and the gift of Heaven that comes with it. Because Jesus did not quit, even when we certainly would have, we are saved. Now, by our faith we preach that same Gospel of Salvation to others that they might receive the same faith and its promises.
Mt 13:55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? The religious leaders looked down on Him He had no educational and religious societal attributes?
Matthew14:1-12 Herod was afraid because he deep inside his heart may have known John was a prophet of the Lord and Jesus may have come for revenge?
That’s entirely possible.
I believe that the people of Nazareth did not want to believe what their eyes, ears, and hearts clearly revealed to them simply because that revelation showed their own sin.
As for Herod, I believe you are correct. Herod believed that ‘God’ (I put that in quotes because I do not believe Herod believed in God the way the faithful do) was out to punish him for something he was doing wrong. He executed John, and we learn in Luke 13 that he later tried to murder Jesus, for that very purpose.
-=DLH=-