Introduction
Mark has made it clear how Jesus amazed people. He amazed them by his teaching; they were definitely amazed at his casting out demons. He amazed them by his healings; he amazed his disciples by calming the storm, and he amazed two parents by raising their daughter to life. The amazement wasn’t always positive. Sometimes it was the kind that was of fear or anger. The religious leaders became more and more opposed to Jesus; one town wanted him to go away. They didn’t want the kind of amazement he was causing.
But there are two times in the gospels where even Jesus is amazed. Matthew and Luke tell of the time a Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant who was near death. The story is similar to the one about Jairus’ daughter that we just looked at? Hear is the difference. In the previous story, a pious Jew asks Jesus to come lay hands on his dying daughter. He believes that Jesus’ touch is necessary, or at least his presence. The centurion merely asks that Jesus say the word where he is, and he knows that healing will take place. The centurion recognizes what I have been saying before: Jesus doesn’t heal through exercising power, but by exercising authority.
Here is what I mean. Miracle healers today will speak of having a gift for healing. There is some kind of power they possess by which they can cause healing to take place. Jesus, of course, has power and is quite capable of causing anything to happen that he desires, but he acts more out of authority than power. For example, you take your car to an auto garage. You tell the head mechanic your problem, and he replies, “No problem; I’ll have it fixed in a few minutes.” He may then do one of two things. He might actually open the hood and work on the car himself. That’s using his power to fix the car. Or he might call a mechanic under him to fix it. That’s using his authority. The first way demonstrates his ability, the second his position of authority.
The centurion was himself a man of authority. He gave orders that were obeyed because of his position. He recognized the same in Jesus. That was insight the Jewish people had yet to grasp; it was faith that no one else had yet to demonstrate. And Jesus was amazed. The only other time Jesus is reported to be amazed is in our present story. He is again amazed by faith, this time, however, by the lack of it.
The Text
Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. His hometown is Nazareth, about 15 miles west of the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee. How exciting this trip must have been. The disciples get to see where Jesus grew up. Hometown friends and relatives get to see him, now that he has become famous. Remember, news about him had been broadcast throughout Palestine.
But then, just how excited is family? The last time we hear of them, they had tried to take Jesus home because they thought he had gone out of his wits. Now that we think about it, there must have been some ambivalence in the town about Jesus. Nazareth, by the way, would have only had a few hundred citizens. It truly would have been a town where everybody knows everybody, meaning everybody knows everybody’s business. From what we gather so far from Mark, Jesus’ mother and brothers have not been bragging on him to the neighbors. “I don’t know,” one of his brothers might have said in response to an inquiry by a neighbor about Jesus. “He’s my older brother, but he never seemed to quite fit in. And these miracles: he sure never did any for me and I could have used a few.”
So Jesus returns. We don’t know what day of the week, nor are we told of his reception. Mark picks up in the story on the Sabbath. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
This is Jesus’ pattern as we learned in 2:39. He traveled about in Galilee teaching in the synagogues on the Sabbath day. It was common in the synagogue worship to call on distinguished visitors to read scripture and then make appropriate commentary. Jesus undoubtedly would have been issued an invitation. We don’t know what he taught, although we can be fairly sure that it encompassed the gospel. Whatever the text and the sermon, he amazed them.
It seems, then, that things are going well. The hometown boy whom they’ve heard so much about has preached one fine sermon. But let’s try to follow the peculiar logic that leads the people to actually reject him.
“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
Where did this come from? What are they upset about? It certainly would help if we knew what he said. There is a similar story in Luke 4:16-30 that tells us the passage read and his comment. But we cannot assume that this is the same story. The people seem to be rattled by Jesus’ wisdom and the miracles that they have heard about.
Where did this man get these things? First of all, the wisdom. Jesus might pass himself off as a learned Rabbi, but they know that he had received no better education than they. He had not been shipped off to Rabbi school. We might say, “What does that have to do with anything? Either he’s smart or he isn’t. Just listen.” But they don’t know how to listen. They don’t have the education to make an informed decision. Jesus might sound wise, but how would they know? That’s what the educated religious leaders are for. And, by the way, Jesus has not been receiving any endorsements from those leaders.
Then there are the miracles. The NIV and KJV makes it sound as though one question is being asked about the wisdom that allows Jesus to perform miracles. But it seems more reasonable that the two are separated: what about the wisdom (which we just looked at) and what about the miracles? Well, what about them? Shouldn’t the miracles have impressed them? We are going to come back to that; however, it seems from this comment and the lack of any reference by Mark to miracles, that Jesus had yet to do any in Nazareth. Maybe he came in the night before; maybe he’s trying to have a private visit with his family. Whatever the case, the townspeople seem to be speaking of miracles that they have only heard about.
The folks are then saying, “What’s all this fancy talk? Where did he get to think he was so smart? And what’s this we hear about miracles? We never saw him do any when he lived with us.” And then they go on: 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?
Isn’t this the carpenter? He worked at “Joseph and Sons.” He’s a contractor. I had not thought about this until I visited Israel, but as our tour guide pointed out, there’s not a lot of wood in Israel. What you have a lot of is rock. Joseph and Jesus were more like building contractors who worked with stone and metal, as well as wood. This is fine, honorable work, but the point Jesus’ hometown folks want to make is that he was a common laborer just like everybody else in town. He was not a scholar.
Isn’t this Mary’s son? You and I might miss the little slight here, but there is one. They call him Mary’s son, not Joseph’s. Joseph has probably died by now, but still, the proper designation should have been “Joseph’s son.” They are not calling him a “momma’s boy”; they are bringing up the old rumor that maybe Joseph wasn’t the real father. In summary, they were saying, “Just who does he think he is!”
Mark now turns his attention to Jesus’ response. First, he makes a reply. 4 Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” Touché! Jesus is quoting a common proverb. Let’s make sure we understand the point. The problem of the hometown people is not that they are jealous of Jesus’ fame or fail to appreciate his success. Most of us take pride when the “local boy or girl” makes good. My little hometown has a Nobel prize winner in medicine. In fact, I grew up in the very house he lived in. You can already catch my pride. When you enter the town limits you will see a sign welcoming you to the hometown of Joseph Goldstein. We like to see neighbors make it big; it makes us feel important.
The problem with Jesus, as is the problem with prophets, is his behavior. If he preached as he had been doing, he would have made clear that they need to repent of their sins; that the kingdom of God was near because of him; that he spoke as he did from his own authority; and that if anyone did not accept what he said, the problem was with the listener, not him. I suppose that if Dr. Goldstein returned to Kingstree and lectured the town about its deficiencies, he also would not be received well. “Who is he to lecture us? Why, I remember watching him ride his little tricycle.” “We use to play together. Where is he coming from telling us what to do? He doesn’t even live here anymore.” “Jesus, ha! He always was the strange one. Imagine him telling me I need to repent!”
The next phenomenon that Mark reports is quite interesting. 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. I always chuckle when I read this. I imagine coming home at the end of the day and my wife asks how things went. “Okay, I suppose. I could only heal a few sick people, nothing spectacular.” I’d love to have one of Jesus’ off days!
But Jesus, the miracle worker, was not living up to his reputation, as Mark makes clear. We have had story after story of startling miracles – calming the storm, casting demons out of one man and into 2,000 pigs, healing a woman ill for twelve years, and, finally, raising a young girl from death to life. Now, he seems stumped. I’ve said before that there is no record of Jesus unwilling or unable to heal anyone. Mark has just said he “could not.” Why can’t he? What’s stopping him?
Apparently faith, i.e. lack of it, is the culprit. 6 And he was amazed at their lack of faith. It is time for Jesus to become dumbfounded. Up until now, he has had quite a bit of success with the common people. Indeed, as we have already noted, the people are too excited about him. He can hardly travel without a huge following and simply walking in a town is the occasion for mass gatherings. His teaching certainly has appealed to many, but we know that probably most are attracted to his healings. The sick are coming from all over for the opportunity to be healed.
He comes to his hometown and is met with skepticism. Why? It could be familiarity. They knew Jesus before the miracles began. It would have seem odd to them that someone who had never distinguished himself as more than a builder would become a celebrated miracle worker. Where did that come from? they would wonder. The skepticism could have come from what his own family had told them. The family had, after all, tried to “rescue” Jesus, thinking that he had gone mad. You can almost hear one of the brothers saying, “It was worse than we thought. He doesn’t even claim us as family. He calls strangers his brothers and sisters and even his mothers.” They would have shaken their heads at that report. Again, maybe his preaching had soured them. Jesus’ sermon evidently had not won him admirers. Whatever the cause, the hometown folks, except for a few, had little faith in him.
This raises a quandary. Is Mark teaching us that Jesus’ power really was limited by the people? He wanted to heal, but their lack of faith prevented him. No, clearly faith, in and of itself, cannot limit or enhance Jesus. He calmed a storm when his disciples lacked faith. The only ones who showed faith that he could cast demons out of the possessed man were the demons. Mark does not indicate that anyone shared Jesus’ confidence that he would raise the girl back to life. No one had expected Jesus to cast out a demon the first time he did, nor did anyone “ask in faith” that he heal Peter’s mother-in-law, the first recorded healing. No, Jesus can do whatever he wants to do. If he had wanted to perform mighty miracles in Nazareth, he could have done so. He did not need the faith of anyone.
From Mark’s report we know that Jesus healed the few who came to him for healing. They may have come in private, concerned about the reaction of the neighbors. But he had no intention of making any kind of public show. But then, that has always been his pattern. Jesus’ miracles were often public only because the people made them public. He did not go from town to town as a miracle sideshow. His disciples didn’t pass out fliers announcing that Jesus the miracle worker had come to display great wonders. He came to preach, and if someone desired healing, he healed; if someone appeared before him demon-possessed, he cast that demon out.
No, Jesus did not need faith. Faith is what the people needed, real faith. They needed honest faith. What Jesus really wanted from people was an honest faith in him to recognize that he was more than a miracle worker. He wanted people to believe that in him was the truth; that if they would hear with minds and hearts of faith, they would hear the words of true life. They would recognize that he who spoke was no mere miracle worker, but the Holy One of God. He could have entered town performing such miracles that everyone must be forced to bow down before him. He could have used power to force allegiance. But he had come, not in power but in humility, and his method was not to overwhelm people with his might, but to appeal to them in such a way that only through faith would they recognize his true glory.
So then, what does Jesus do next? He leaves to carry out his ministry according to his original intention. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Again, teaching defined his true ministry.
Lesson
There is one clear lesson that Mark has for us. Faith is the essence of being a follower of Jesus Christ. Lack of faith in Jesus is what Jesus rebuked his disciples for in the storm; faith focused on Jesus is what he commended the sick woman for; faith directed to him is what he exhorted the father to possess.
What about your faith? Are you like Jesus’ hometown neighbors? “I’ve got no trouble with Jesus as long as he remembers his place and doesn’t try to interfere with my life. I’m as decent a person as the next, and I don’t need him (or his church) telling me what I need to believe or do.” Let’s be honest. Most people reject Jesus because he is cramps their style. Get rid of the repentance stuff and the commands, and he would be a nice person to respect. Jesus’ neighbors refused to accept Jesus on his terms. They would have been happy to have him as a miracle worker superstar; they just did not want him as a prophet who speaks God’s Word to them.
But that is precisely how you must receive him, not merely as a prophet, but as the Prophet who reveals God and his redemption. You have got to believe in him – what he says and the work of redemption that he has done. Do you want a miracle in your life? Then have faith in Jesus. Trust completely and only in him. That is a scary thing to do, but it will produce a greater change in you than you know. Jesus doesn’t lack power, but he has chosen to work through the heart, through your heart of faith. You must choose your part.
This story also provides a good lesson for Christians who focus on miracles. One school of thought is that Christian teaching ought to be regularly accompanied by miracles. Teaching might be the primary work, but miracles are what open the doors to be heard. If so, Jesus sure did miss his opportunity in Nazareth. A few displays of power in the synagogue would have changed the reception to his preaching.
But it is not by miracles that Jesus wants us to believe. It is by hearing the word of truth. He wants faith that rises out of hearing. As Jesus told Thomas who believed in his resurrection only after seeing him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
Do you want to know real blessing? Then don’t look for it in a miracle sighting. Look for it in the springing of faith in the heart, a faith that turns a bitter disposition into one of love; that turns a despairing heart into one filled with hope. That is real blessing. That is real faith.
