Everyone Loves A Scandal Series

EVERYONE LOVES A SCANDAL

Text: Mark 6:1 – 6a

Introduction:

• It seems like almost everyone loves a scandal

• Read about Lindsay Lohan’s latest trip to rehab in the Enquirer

• Find out about the latest feud between Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie in the Star

• Time magazine’s top 10 scandals of 2008 includes Miley Cyrus’ revealing Vanity Fair photos, John Edwards’ extramarital affair, AIG’s $400,000 spa retreat after an $85 billion bailout, and a 9-year old Chinese girl lip syncs a song at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics because the 7-year old singer was not cute enough

• Did you hear the scandalous headline about the illegitimate trade worker that claimed to get messages from God? – Nazareth Gazette, 2000 years ago

• v. 3 – “They were offended at him”

o “offended” – Greek skan-dal-id’-zo: English “scandalize”

o Scandalize – to offend or horrify by doing something thought to be wrong or improper (World Book Dictionary)

o Why were they so offended?

I. This was Nazareth’s second chance (v. 1)

• Jesus had been teaching in Capernaum, crossed Sea of Galilee to Gadara, crossed back over Sea of Galilee, back to Capernaum, now to Nazareth, his hometown

• He had taught in Nazareth at least once before (Luke 4) and they were offended and tried to throw him off a cliff but He was able to escape

• By the grace of God, Jesus had returned to His hometown to teach in the synagogue

II. They were amazed by His teaching (v.2)

• “Where did He get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” (NLT)

• Recognized that He was teaching the truth, and had heard about His miracles in other places like Capernaum

• What was the problem?

III. They were offended because of who He was (v. 3)

• “Is not this the carpenter?”

i. Carpenter was a trade worker that built and repaired things with wood, metal, and stone

ii. This is what Jesus had done for the first 30 years of His life on earth – He had been taught Joseph’s trade

iii. Justin Martyr, 2nd Century Christian, talks about plows and yokes that were made by Jesus

• “The son of Mary”

i. This was an insult to Jesus, men were always referred to as the son of their father

ii. This indicates that they knew about the unusual circumstances of Jesus birth and considered Him to be illegitimate

• “Brothers and Sisters”

i. They were very familiar with the family

ii. James later became a Christian and the leader of the church in Jerusalem; wrote the book of James

iii. Juda (Jude) wrote the book of Jude

• Basically what they were saying was “What gives Him the right to sit there and teach us? He’s no one special. He has no religious training. He’s only the illegitimate carpenter from down the street.”

IV. Jesus declares that they are missing their chance for salvation (v. 4)

• Aesop’s Fables, The Fox and the Lion – fox first sees lion, scared to death and runs away; second time sees the lion, stands at a safe distance and watches; third time sees the lion, walks up to him and strikes up a conversation, walks away without a second thought; moral of the story: familiarity breeds contempt

• Rodney L. Cooper, Holman NT Commentary, “It is often hard to recognize greatness when we are confronted with it daily.”

• Jesus had built their furniture, repaired their windows, made their doors, provided them with plows and yokes, worked on their homes, and they could see Him as nothing more than a carpenter

• As a result, they could not get past the messenger to hear the message

V. God’s work was greatly hindered (vv. 5, 6a)

• It wasn’t that Jesus had no power, but that He chose not to do any works there because they did not believe

• Jesus did miracles to further God’s Kingdom, not to convince stubborn people who had already rejected Him

• Many people in Nazareth continued to be blind, lame, or deaf simply because they did not believe that Jesus was more than a carpenter

• Only two times in scripture that Jesus marveled: Here because of unbelief, and in Matthew 9 and Luke 7 because of the faith of a gentile

Conclusion:

• skan-dal-id’-zo literally means to put a stumbling block in the way so that others may trip and fall

• The fact that Jesus grew up with these people and had worked among them was a stumbling block to them

• They wanted a prophet that was more than just a common person

• Isaiah 53:2 “…he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”