Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3312
“Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where, then, has this Man all these things?” Matthew 13:55,56.
WHEN our Savior was upon this earth, there were some persons who, having had their eyes Divinely opened, could see His true beauty and who admired His every action and said, “He has done all things well.” But there were others whose eyes were blinded by sin, malice and prejudice who could see nothing good in Him at all. Because He ate and drank as other men did, they said, “Behold a gluttonous Man and a winebibber.” They said that His zeal was only pretence or else madness—and when He cast out evil spirits by His Almighty Power, they said, “He casts out devils through the chief of the devils.” There were some who wondered at His wisdom and His mighty works and who did not know whether to consider Him a Prophet of God or a Divine Being. But there were others who could only see the carpenter’s human son, whose mother’s name was Mary and whose brothers and sisters were all well-known, ordinary people. The language of the text is the language of many who are living today—for while others see in Christ everything to admire—these quib-blers see no beauty in Him and put Him on a level with others with whom they are acquainted.
It seems to me that we have here two views of Christ’s Person—the estimation of Prejudice and the estimation of Piety. And two views of Christ’s relations, in which we also have the estimation of Prejudice and the estimation of Piety.
I. First, we will consider THE TWO VIEWS OF CHRIST’S PERSON—the view of Prejudice and the view of Piety.
Prejudice could not dispute the fact of Christ’s wisdom and mighty works, so it sought to disparage Him by saying, “After all, He is only a carpenter’s son, just the son of an ordinary artisan. Shall a Prophet rise up from among the chips in the carpenter’s shop? Shall we sit at the feet of the Man who is simply a toiler at the carpenter’s bench?” Prejudice may seem very wise in its own esteem, but it is really very foolish. To be prejudiced against a truth because of the lowly origin of Him who proclaims it is most manifest folly! Is a pearl to be rejected because it was found in a shell that is itself of no value? Would not a wise man pick up a diamond from a dunghill if he saw one flashing there? Even if the occupation of a carpenter had been a degrading one, which it certainly was not, yet, if his son has something to say that is worth hearing, is he not a fool who will not listen to it because it is uttered by the carpenter’s son? If from the lips of Jesus of Nazareth a stream of Divine Wisdom was poured forth, is it not most flagrant folly to refuse to receive it because He was reputed to be the son of Joseph the carpenter? If He speaks as no other man ever spoke. If His Doctrine is more sublime than that of any other teacher. If the morality which He inculcates is more pure and more heavenly than that of any other leader of men, what matters it that He is the carpenter’s son?—
“He whom man with scorn refuses, Whom the favored nation hates, He it is Jehovah chooses, Him the highest place awaits! Kings and princes Shall do homage at His gates.”
But while Prejudice is thus very foolish, it is also very frequent. There are many persons who put an extinguisher on the candle and then try to light it. For instance, in listening to a certain preacher, they make up their mind that he cannot say anything that can be beneficial to them—and then they wonder that they are not edified! It would be a wonder if
they were! Those who hear the Word only to cavil at it will probably be left to cavil to their life’s end, for while the Spirit of God explains difficulties to the sincere seeker after the Truth of God, those difficulties which men, themselves, make often lead them to make more and more so that they continually plunge deeper and yet deeper in the mire. But what a dreadful thing it is that prejudice makes men even object to the Gospel of Christ! They say that it is so simple, so commonplace that it will not do for them. I have heard some who ought to know better say, when they have heard the simple Gospel preached, “Oh, yes! ‘Believe and live’ is a very proper message to the multitude, but something more profound than that is needed for thinking men!” Meaning themselves, as if they were the only thoughtful people in the world. Well, Sirs, if you are prejudiced against the Gospel because of its simplicity, may God disarm that prejudice and bring you to see that it is its simplicity which is its Glory and which makes it that means of rescuing sinners from the ruin into which their guilt has sunk them!
Prejudice against Christ is also exceedingly sinful. If it really is true that He is the Son of God, it is very shameful that He should not have a hearing because He stooped as low as to become “the carpenter’s son.” If the magnificence of His benevolence led Him to empty Himself and to be despised and rejected of men, shall the splendor of His love close my ears to the message of salvation that He sends to me? That He who was One with His Father in Glory should condescend to lie as a Baby in Bethlehem’s manger and to go about among men as the reputed son of the carpenter of Nazareth is cause for reverence, for admiration, for love, for gratitude! Yet some for this very reason are prejudiced against Him! If the Gospel had been suitable only to philosophers and men of learning, what a vast majority of mankind would have been left without any hope of salvation! Shall that Almighty Grace which has made it a Gospel suitable to all classes and conditions of men become a reason why prejudice shall turn its back upon it? Surely it is better to be saved by “the carpenter’s Son” than to be lost—better to enter Heaven through Him who was “despised and rejected of men” than to be shut up in Hell through not believing in Him! Better to receive a crown of life from the hand of Him who was crucified on Calvary than to receive the sentence of condemnation from the mouth of the Judge when He sits upon the Great White Throne in all the Glory of His Father and of His holy angels!