#25 Rejected At Home Series

#25 Rejected at Home

Series: Mark

Chuck Sligh

August 2, 2020

TEXT: Mark 6:1-6 – "And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. 2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching."

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INTRODUCTION

Illus. – Usually, people have a sense of anticipation about going home, especially if they had a happy childhood there. We think of home as the place where we’re known and loved and accepted as we are. It’s a place you can kick off your shoes and go straight to the refrigerator for something to eat without having to ask. It’s the place of old memories of “the good old days” when we were young and carefree. It’s a place of familiar and comforting sights and sounds and smells and friends and neighbors—and it’s where family is.

Such nostalgia was not awaiting Jesus when He returned to his hometown, unfortunately. In today’s text Jesus takes His first trip back home to Nazareth since He started His ministry, but it didn’t go too well.

Let’s examine Jesus’ homecoming in Mark 6:1-6.

I. NOTICE IN VERSE 1 AN ANTICIPATED HOMECOMING – “And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.”

From Capernaum where He had been ministering, Jesus traveled about 25 miles southwest to His hometown of Nazareth. Nazareth was where He had grown up, where he had friends from boyhood and early manhood.

His hometown wasn’t much to speak of. It was really just a working-class village that had no claim to fame. Nazareth is not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament or in any of the Jewish or rabbinic writings prior to Jesus living there. In fact, the only reference to it is by an obscure writer, Julius Africanus, some two centuries after Jesus’ birth. No prophets or notable scholars had come from Nazareth. It was a big zero on the map of Israel.

Yet it was home for Jesus and I can’t help but believe that He longed to be home, even knowing the circumstances of His leaving Nazareth and His certain knowledge of how He would be received in Nazareth this time.

He actually started His ministry in Nazareth a year earlier. He stood up in His family’s synagogue and read verses 1 and 2 of Isaiah 61, and Luke 4:22 says that “All spoke well of him.”

But soon He began to preach confrontationally and the mood changed so violently that Luke says in verse 29, “And they rose up, and drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, that they might throw him down the cliff. But passing through the midst of them, he went his way.”

Things weren’t too great with Jesus’ family either after He left Nazareth. In Mark 3, as word reached Jesus’ family of His activities, they tried to lure Him to a place where they could capture Him and take Him bound back to Nazareth, believing that He was “out of his mind.” Even though Jesus was God, He was also human, so the actions of His community and family must have cut deeply, for He loved them all.

But this time, Jesus is not alone. Verse 1 goes on to say that “his disciples followed him.” Jesus had performed miracles, cast out demons, calmed the wind and the sea and had even raised the dead to life. He was returning now not as just a local boy, but as a Rabbi, surrounded by His devoted disciples. Surely, they would be excited, hold a parade and welcome their returning hometown hero!

II. BUT IN VERSES 2-4 WE SEE A COLD RECEPTION – “And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.”