Jesus’ opponents were jealous of him, and afraid of him. To bring him down, they accused him of blasphemy when he healed someone (Matthew 9:3), when he picked grain on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:2), when he ate with sinners (Matthew 9:11), and when they thought he used the power of the devil to cast out demons. (Matthew 9:34)

People in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth were suspicious of him. They said, “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” (NRSV, Matthew 13:55–56) The critics in Nazareth did not think the Messiah and their next-door neighbor could be one and the same.