BACK WHERE IT ALL BEGAN (PART II)
Mark 6:1-6
In 1858 the Illinois legislature--using an obscure statute--sent Stephen A. Douglas to the U.S. Senate instead of Abraham Lincoln, although Lincoln had won the popular vote. When a sympathetic friend asked Lincoln how he felt, he said, "Like the boy who stubbed his toe: I am too big to cry and too badly hurt to laugh."(Max Lucado, God Came Near, Multnomah Press, 1987, p. 57.)
It doesn’t matter who you are, rejection hurts. None of us like to be rejected but it especially stings when we are rejected by those who are closest to us. Jesus was no stranger to rejection. When He was born there was no room for Him in the Inn. Once He began His earthly ministry, He was rejected by the people of Israel. (John 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.) He faced much rejection and opposition from the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees & the Herodians. Not only was He rejected by the religious elite and the political leaders, He was rejected by the common man as well. But Mark Chapter 6 tells us of a time that had to be especially difficult… even for Jesus. He returned to His hometown of Nazareth and there He was rejected by His neighbors, His friends and even His own immediate family.
- I would like to pick up where we left off last time and continue to consider the subject “Back Where It All Began”. Previously we examined:
I. THE REUNION IN NAZARETH
We spent some time looking at:
A. THOSE WHO WERE WITH JESUS - v1 Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him.
When Jesus returned to Nazareth, He took His Disciples with Him. He would soon send them out to preach the Gospel and He used this event to prepare them for the rejection that they would endure. Not only did we look at Those Who Were With Jesus, we also examined:
B. THOSE WHO WERE WAITING FOR JESUS - v2a And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "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!
In the synagogue on that day were certain groups of people who had different relationships with Jesus. We addressed the fact that:
1. SOME WERE JESUS’ FRIENDS - v1 “Then He went out from there and came to His own country” It is safe to assume that in the town where Jesus had lived for 30 years, He had some (likely many) friends.
- We also discussed the fact that:
2. SOME WERE JESUS’ FAMILY - v3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" Mark tells us that Mary was there along with Jesus brothers and sisters.
- The last thing that we saw was that:
3. SOME WERE THE FOES OF JESUS
Though Jesus friends and family were present, they were also among those who were His opponents. The people respected Him enough to ask Him to teach on the Sabbath. But they were not converted by His message, in fact Mark tells us that they were “offended at Him”
- We have seen Those Who Were With Jesus, Those Who Were Waiting For Jesus, now as we return to this passage we will consider:
c. THOSE WHO WERE WONDERING ABOUT JESUS
This was not the first time that Jesus had returned and preached in Nazareth. The first time that He returned was very similar to the second. So much so that many commentators think that the account in Luke 4 and Mark 6 are actually the same event. Others disagree with this view and I do as well. Though the details are similar, the timeline does not seem to match up. When Jesus went to Nazareth the first time He was asked to teach in the Synagogue. He stood and read from the Book of Isaiah and then explained the text.
Luke 4:17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.
On that occasion, Jesus made it clear that He was the Promised One. The people did not believe Him and they responded by attempting to cast Him off of a cliff. But Jesus passed through the crowd and went on His way. Since that time Jesus had done many more wonderful works. The people had heard the testimonies of the lives that were changed. They had the opportunity to hear of the amazing teaching. They even heard it in person on this day. With all of the evidence that was before them, they still rejected Jesus. They rejected Him even though they were amazed by His teaching.
v2b many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "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!
The people could not understand how this humble carpenter could teach with such power and authority. This is another wonderful illustration of the humanity of Jesus. The people who had grown up in His presence could not grasp the fact that Jesus was God in the flesh. They just saw Him as the hometown carpenter. – v3 “Is this not the carpenter”?
It also seems that they were implying that Jesus was an illegitimate child. They referred to Him as “the Son of Mary”. The normal Jewish practice was to identify a son by his father’s name. If a child’s father was unknown he would be called by the name of his mother. It seems that this was a purposeful insult and an implication that Jesus was illegitimate.
There is no denying the fact that the people of Nazareth were amazed by Jesus’ teaching. But in spite of their astonishment, they refused to believe in Jesus. This leads us to the next truth that I would like to consider. We have seen The Reunion In Nazareth, now let us examine:
II. THE REJECTION IN NAZARETH
v4 But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house."
In this passage, Jesus clearly refers to Himself as a Prophet. This is merely one of His roles as the Promised One. Jesus was and is Prophet, Priest and King. There were many occasions in the Gospels where people saw Him as a great prophet.
When Jesus raised the man from the dead in the city of Nain, the people called Him a prophet. (Luke 7:16 Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen up among us"; and, "God has visited His people.")
When Jesus fed the five thousand those who witnessed this miracle said -"This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world." (John 6:14)
In John 7:40, many of the Jews who were in the crowd when Jesus was teaching said "Truly this is the Prophet."
In John 9:17 the when the blind man was asked about the man who gave him his sight said, "He is a prophet."
On Palm Sunday when Jesus made His Triumphal entry into Jerusalem the multitudes said of Him "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee." (Matthew 21:11)
The Chief Priests and Pharisees wanted to seize Jesus but they did not do so because they knew that the multitudes believed He was a prophet. (Matthew 21:45-46)
After Jesus’ resurrection, He encountered two men on the road to Emmaus.
Their eyes were “restrained so that they did not know Him”. They began to tell Jesus the story of Jesus. And in their description of Him, they said that He was “a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people” (Luke 24:19)
I do not mean to imply that everyone who saw Jesus as a prophet also saw Him as the Messiah… that is certainly not the case. It is also true that many who believed that He was a prophet later turned on Him. In fact, some were even among the crowd that cried “crucify Him”. Many others never accepted the fact that He was a prophet. Nevertheless, Jesus was indeed a Prophet from God. (And so much more)
The people of Nazareth were among those who rejected Jesus. (v4 But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.") Just as many of the prophets before Him, Jesus was rejected by the people in His hometown. God had sent prophets to Israel in times past and they rejected them. (2 Chronicles 36:15 And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.)
Now God had sent not only a prophet, but His own Son to them. He had sent their Messiah and they rejected Him. These people had watched Jesus grow up. He had played with some of their children. He had likely been a guest in some of their homes. They knew His background and to them, He was nothing more than a carpenter, and the Son of Mary. The rejection in Nazareth is a preview of the coming rejection of Jesus in Jerusalem. The people in Nazareth rejected Jesus. Israel as a whole rejected Him and many are still rejecting Him today.
- There are consequences for rejecting the Son of God. Jesus explains this reality in the following verses. We have seen The Reunion In Nazareth and The Rejection In Nazareth, now let us examine:
III. THE REVELATION IN NAZARETH
- There are certain truths that we can glean from Jesus’ response to the rejection He faced in Nazareth. Let’s take a moment and consider:
A. THE OPPOSITION THAT IS REVEALED
v6a And He marveled because of their unbelief.
This means that Jesus was literally amazed at the unbelief of the people in Nazareth. His family, His friends and His neighbors had the wonderful opportunity to receive Him and they chose to reject Him. They refused to take Him seriously. They would not believe His teaching even though they were amazed by it.
There are many people today who are intrigued by Jesus and His teachings; But they refuse to see Him for who He truly is. When confronted with the reality that He is Lord and Savior and the only source of salvation, they refuse to surrender to Him. There are many people who have no problem at all with the idea that Jesus is Savior. They truly believe that He is the Sinless Son of God. They are intrigued by the possibility of eternal life and a home in Heaven. But they have no interest in making Jesus Lord of their lives. Please understand that you cannot accept the parts of Jesus that you like and reject the things that you don’t.
- If you refuse to surrender to Jesus as Lord, you cannot have Him as your Savior.
Romans 10:9 if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
The people in Nazareth knew that there was something different about Jesus. They were astonished by His teaching and His power. But they refused to see Him for who He was. And their opposition to Jesus prevented them from experiencing His miracles. Notice in verse 5:
B. THE OBSTACLES THAT ARE REVEALED
v5a Now He could do no mighty work there,
In response to the rejection of the people in Nazareth, Jesus “could not do any mighty work there”. This does not mean that He did not have the ability to work miracles there. He was God in the flesh and He could have healed every person in Nazareth and He could have done many amazing signs and wonders if He chose to do so. This very passage tells us that He did in fact heal a few of the sick people there. But because of the unbelief of the general population, Jesus chose to restrain His miracle working power. The reason that Jesus did not perform many mighty works among the people is because the miracles were not His main purpose. Jesus used miracles to reveal the fact that He was the Promised One from God… the Messiah. The result of this knowledge would lead sinners to saving faith in Him. If the people were not going to believe, the miracles were unnecessary.
There also a very practical reason that many were not healed in Nazareth. We have seen the fact that Nazareth was a very small town with a small population. There was not a multitude gathered around Jesus on that day like there had been in Capernaum and Jerusalem. Of those who were present, very few believed in Him. The people of Nazareth missed out on the mighty works of Jesus because they refused to believe in Him.
Unbelief is what is preventing so many people in our day from experiencing the miracle of salvation. This could be the case for some of you. If so, I pray that you will come to the realization that your only hope of forgiveness of your sins and eternal life come by faith in Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God)
- Though the majority in Nazareth rejected Jesus, there were a few who received Him. Because they received Him they were a part of something special. Notice:
C. THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT ARE REVEALED
v5b except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.
This was a great day for a handful of people there. There were a few sick people who were transformed by the Master’s touch. These people were not swayed by the opinions of others. They did not let the majority prevent them from an encounter with Jesus. Instead of following the crowd and rejecting Him, they received Him. The miracle of salvation is available to those who will believe in Jesus today!
When Jesus was rejected by the people of Nazareth, this opened the door for another group of people to encounter Him. In response to their rejection, Jesus left and went on to other cities.
- We have seen the opposition, the obstacles and the opportunity that was revealed; Finally I would like to examine:
D. THE OPENING THAT IS REVEALED
“Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.”
Jesus never forced Himself on anyone. If you will remember, when Jesus delivered the Demoniac of Gadara, the people begged Him to depart from their coasts. In response, Jesus boarded the boat and went back to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. The people of Nazareth refused to accept Jesus and as a result, He left there and went on to other villages and taught. What happens here in Nazareth is great representation of Israel as a whole. The Jews rejected Jesus and as a result the door was opened for the Gentiles. The people of Nazareth did not want Jesus, but there were people in other areas who would receive Him. Just as Jesus did not force Himself on people back then, He will not force Himself on you today. But you have the glorious opportunity to receive Him.
The Gospels record the stories of many people who were transformed by Jesus’ mighty power when they put their faith in Him. But none of the miracles that are recorded, the healing of the sick, the casting out of demons or even the raising of the dead can compare to what Jesus can do for you spiritually if you will believe in Him. Like those people who lived in Jesus’ hometown, you have a choice to make today. You must decide whether you will accept Jesus or reject Him. There were severe consequences for all who rejected Him. And there will be consequences for you as well.
On that day Jesus went to a group of people and gave them the opportunity to receive Him. If they had, they would have received salvation and eternal life. You have that same opportunity today; I pray that you will receive Him. And I can promise you that if you do, it will be the greatest decision that you could ever make.
