The Gospel of Mark 6:1-6

 Brian Hirvela

5/2/2024

And Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to this man, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is this man not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they were taking offense at Him.

 And Jesus was saying to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He was marveling at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.”

 Jesus left Galilee and went to His hometown of Nazareth and His disciples followed Him. Nazareth wasn’t His birthplace, which happened in Bethlehem, but it was where He grew up and was educated in His youth.  This causes many people in Nazareth to know Jesus. But as was His custom, Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day to teach.

He went to the synagogue and was teaching from a portion of scripture. In Luke 4:17-18 we are told He preached from a portion of the scroll of Isaiah 61:1-2 “The Spirit of Lord Yahweh is upon me because Yahweh has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives, and freedom to prisoners, To proclaim the favorable year of Yahweh.” And He proclaimed, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus had done so until this time in other places, even here, He preached the Gospel (good news) to the poor, for the Kingdom of God was at hand, He cast out demons to release the captives from their oppression; He opened the eyes of the blind, literally and figuratively, and He freed people from the oppression of the Law, tradition of men, and sin, and proclaimed the favorable year of Yahweh in His coming.

Many were astonished at what He was teaching, for they knew of Jesus and were flabbergasted by His knowledge, wisdom, and power to do miracles. This is how those who do not believe envision Jesus, as just a man, or a prophet. Saying, “What is this in the Scriptures written by men, no one person can do these things and have such wisdom.” Unbelief then breeds contempt and dismissal. For they knew His relatives, they said in contempt, “Is this man, not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?”

In Luke, they even say, “Joseph, the carpenter’s son.” Making a note to point out that by trade, until His ministry started, Jesus trained in the work of His earthly father. They also point to His mother, Mary, and His brothers and sisters. Here we also find out that Jesus had at least two sisters. They are not His cousins, they are His kin, His actual brothers and sisters meaning that Joseph and Mary had other children after Jesus was born to Mary.

They took offense at Him, for their unbelief coupled with contempt would not receive his doctrine, though ever so well recommended. May we think that if they had not known His background, and Jesus had dropped among them from the clouds, without father, without mother, and brothers and sisters, would they have entertained Him with any more respect? Truly, no; for in Judea, where this was not known, that would have been an objection against him (John 9:29); “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” Obstinate unbelief will never want excuses.

Maybe that is the problem then, the obstinate heart wants no excuse to believe. We proclaim Jesus every week here, there are multitudes of people teaching Jesus in pulpits and online, and there is even access to a bible in book form and on your phones via applications. Yet you do not know Jesus?

And yet Jesus has a response to their contempt, “saying to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” He excused their unbelief as a common thing, though not reasonably or justly. When one grows in wisdom from being common, like a carpenter, it breeds an envy for one is either disenfranchised or jealous that they have no such gain or advantage.

Matthew Henry in his commentary writes, “The advancement of one that was an inferior begets envy, and men will hardly set those among the guides of their souls whose fathers were ready to set them with the dogs of their flock; in such a case therefore it must not be thought hard, it is common treatment, it was Christ’s, and wisdom is profitable to direct to other soil.”

He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them in His generosity for He delighted in doing good, even if they unjustly refused to praise Him for it. Again, Matthew Henry writes, “It is a strange expression as if unbelief tied the hands of omnipotence itself; he would have done as many miracles there as he had done elsewhere, but he could not, because people would not make application to him, nor sue for his favors; he could have wrought them, but they forfeited the honor of having them wrought for them.”

And Jesus was marveling at their unbelief. He marveled at the belief of the Centurian and the Samaritan woman who, not being Jews, believed that Jesus was the Son of God and had faith in His power. But His people did not believe, as it is written in John 1:11 “He came to what was His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” But He continued His ministry and was going around the villages teaching.

But here, listen, even though He came to His own and they didn’t receive Him, “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

 Jesus came to save sinners. Sinners suppress the truth and hide in their darkness because they love darkness. They are unbelieving, vile, foolish, rebellious, and haters of God who have adopted the ideologies of this world and the doctrines of men. They have become slaves to their sexual desires, perverting the flesh and mind, and rebelling against the created order of God. They are doomed to condemnation and will be judged by Jesus and sent to Hell where they will burn for eternity in the lake of fire.

However, God so loved His creation, mankind, that He sent His Son Jesus, who can forgive you of your sins and redeem you because He has the authority and power. Jesus brings eternal life to all who repent and believe. For Jesus bore all our sins; He bore all the sins of all who believe in Him. Jesus was born and lived a perfect life of obedience to God as a man. Jesus was condemned to be executed and die in the sinner's place. He suffered the totality of God's wrath upon Himself on the Cross, which every sinner deserves, so that those who believe in Jesus may have peace with God. Jesus rose from the dead, conquering death, and lives, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and He is in your midst with us offering you salvation. Come out of the darkness and enter the light of His salvation.