Eyes To See

Eyes to See

Mark 6:1-13

Good morning.

There is a narrative in John 5 where Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath Day and of course, the Pharisees were mad at Him.

John 5:17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."

John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. NKJV

On October 17, 1989 the SF Giants and the Oakland A’s were in the World Series and I worked in the South of Market Area of SF; but, I lived across the Bay in Union City CA, at the time.

I decided to go to place called Hamburger Nancy’s and watch the game, rather than driving home immediately after work.

Those of you, who are old enough, may remember the day: The Loma Prieta earthquake happened at approximately 5:04 p.m., less than 30 minutes prior to Game 3 of the World Series.

The earthquake caused a piece of the Bay Bridge to collapse, as well as a big section of the Nimitz 880, double decker freeway.

At this time on a normal day, I would have been on either the Bay Bridge or on the 880 freeway heading home to Union City.

The earthquake caused 6 Billion dollars in damage (14 billion today); and because there was a lot going on in the Bay Area, there were 63 fatalities; but, there could have been many more.

The Lord is working all around us, all the time; but, there are those who do not have eyes to see His miracles because of their unbelief, so they fail to recognize all that God does.

Please open your Bibles to Mark 6 as we continue that study

Last week, Jesus and the Disciples returned to the other side of the Sea, to the area of Capernaum, as a large crowd was waiting.

Just then, a ruler of the synagogue named Jairus, came and fell at Jesus’ feet; because his daughter was at the point of death.

Jesus headed towards Jairus’ house to heal his daughter; but, then we heard about a woman who had a blood flow for 12 years, and as soon as she touched Jesus she was healed.

Today, Jesus leaves Capernaum and heads to His home town.

I. Jesus is ridiculed.

Read Mark 6:1-3

From Capernaum Jesus went about 20 miles southwest to His hometown of Nazareth; but, this wasn’t the birthplace of Jesus, even though, He grew up there.

Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem because Mary and Joseph traveled there to participate in a census ordered by Caesar Augustus, and Jesus born in Bethlehem during census time.

As a side note, Bethlehem is known as the house of bread and Jesus is the Bread of Life.

But who would ever think that the Savior of the world would come from such an obscure place as Nazareth?

Many would believe that the incarnate Son of God should have come from Jerusalem and some other prominent place like that.

J.D. Grassmick said, “Nazareth was an obscure hamlet of earthen dwellings chopped into sixty acres of rocky hillside, with a total population of five hundred—at the most.”

Notice, Jesus goes to the synagogue to teach on the Sabbath Day, which was very common for Him.

According to Luke 4, a year earlier, Jesus was rejected by these same people and removed from this same synagogue.

After their rejection, as a show of incredible grace; Jesus is teaching at the synagogue again and His hometown people are amazed at the authority, clarity, and insight of His teaching.

This time, instead of kicking Him out of the synagogue, they choose to ridicule the Lord. These folks knew Jesus when He left and they also remember ejecting Him from their synagogue.

Now, Jesus is amazing them by His teaching and His miraculous power; but, they are not buying into the fact that this blue collar worker from their own town is the Messiah and God in the flesh.

Someone may ask, “How did the people ridicule Jesus?”

So let’s break down their questions and statements…

1. These people wondered how Jesus became such a powerful teacher and miracle worker.

Notice vs.2 says, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!

Jesus very clearly claimed to the Messiah and these folks in Nazareth are questioning His claims.

2. These people believe Jesus is merely a carpenter.

Earlier, Jesus had taken up the trade of Joseph as a carpenter of that tiny village before He began His earthly ministry.

The people of Nazareth are saying Jesus had no formal theological training, nor was He a student of a prominent rabbi; so, He could not be a great Rabbi Himself.