This joke might come from a woman who was very familiar with the priest. She might be confident that nothing good can come out from his mouth anyway. Jesus’ own people can not believe that the fullness of God’s truth can also be heard from the mouth of the son of a Carpenter. It was unthinkable that one time he will go back to his own town as a prophet. He was coming back with a great wisdom, surrounded by a group of disciples who regard him as a great teacher. He was simply too much for them.

A valid question was asked by the people: where did he get such wisdom? We know that the Gospels are silent about the teenage life of Jesus until he reached 30, when he started his public ministry. Where was he? What was he doing during those years of his “secret life”? Some possibilities can be presented here (1) He just stayed around his area working as an ordinary carpenter. He need not go to any school because the Holy Spirit was with him all the way and he has the fullness of truth and knowledge from God from the start. When the right time came he simply walked along Galilee and started his ministry. (2) Or he might have gone to a far place, and studied. When the right time came, he went out preaching in his own hometown. I am not so sure, but I would like to bet on the first one.

Words about the brothers of Jesus were mentioned by name. Aramaic as in most African languages, the word “Adelphus” (brother) has a much wider usage than in the English language, designating not only siblings but also cousins and other close blood relationships. Scripture in no place refers to these “brothers of Jesus” as sons of Mary. If Mary had other children why would the dying Jesus entrust her to his disciple John (John 19:26-27) and not to her other children?

“Familiarity breeds contempt.” The people of Capernaum thought they knew him well, and everything about him. They knew his family so well and also his background. Jesus did not do many miracles there because they closed their hearts. Even how powerful Jesus is, we have the capacity to disable him by our lack of faith. Faith is like a switch that turns God on; and the lack of faith could turn God off. Late converts often do better than old timers, because there is a tendency for the old timers to think that they already know everything. They are not anymore open to new teachings and thus, they fail to move on and grow.

Sometimes we are tempted to put others into a “box,” and we thought that they can only grow that much. The sad thing is the fact that the size of that box we often use is as small as the size of our biased minds. It is not only the size of the box that matters. It is also the “shape” of the box that hurts us more. They do not only “press” us into a small “box” but they also want us to follow the “shape” of the box they are putting us into. They want us to be, what we are not. In the case of Jesus, he was a son of a carpenter; therefore they were expecting him “to act only as such” and nothing more.