Mark 6:2-11 (NKJV)
"Shake It Off!"
Our text finds Jesus returning to Nazareth. Our Lord’s return to His hometown does not go the way one might expect it to. Jesus has been going around the countryside preaching, teaching, healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead and commanding the wind and the sea. He has proven that He is no mere man. BUT don’t forget that the last time Jesus was in Nazareth He went to the synagogue and read from Isaiah 61 and said, “Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing!” In that service, Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah. The people of Nazareth rejected His message and tried to kill Him by throwing Him over a cliff, but the Bible says that He passed through the midst of them unharmed! Now, a year later He returns to the very place He was so cruelly rejected. He wants to give His family and neighbors another chance to receive Him and His message. That is grace! (I am amazed that God would give you and me one chance but how many of us has God given another chance and another chance! Thank God for Grace!) When Jesus arrives in Nazareth, there is no record of crowds to greet Him. But they meet Him again at the synagogue and their reaction this time cost them His miracle working power!
I. The Carpenter - When Jesus began to speak, the people who heard Him were “astonished”. The Bible says they were offended at His Words, His Wisdom and His Works. His Words – When Jesus preached, His words were filled with divine authority. He did not speak like the local rabbis. “Where did this Man get these things?” He left no doubt in the minds of His hearers that His words must either be accepted or rejected. His Wisdom – When Jesus spoke, His words were filled with truth. The people heard Him declare old truths in new ways. They listened as He taught spiritual truth by using the common everyday things around them. The Lord’s wisdom left them astonished and offended. His Works – The Lord’s fame had preceded Him to Nazareth. They had heard about the miracles. They could not believe that a young teacher from their own town could do the things of God. They could not believe what they were hearing and Who they were hearing it from. They heard what Jesus had to say and were offended. To them, Jesus was just another boy from Nazareth. He did not deserve their respect. They saw Him as a common man with a common occupation. They call Him “the carpenter”. They saw Him as a common craftsman. They looked at Him and said, “You are no better than we are! Why should we listen to you?” They could not see past the carpenter; and they refused to receive their theology from a common man. They called Him “the son of Mary”. This was never done in that society! A male was always referred to as the son of his father, even if his father was dead. To call a boy the son of his mother was to imply that is mother had played the harlot. The people were calling the birth of Jesus into question, rejecting the notion that Jesus was born of the Holy Ghost through a virgin womb. People seem to have little trouble with Jesus going about from place to place preaching His message of peace and love like some itinerant philosopher. But, when you tell them that He is the Savior and that rejecting Him will lead to damnation, they can’t handle that! If your concept of who Jesus is stops with a baby in a manger or a dead man on a cross, you are missing the point! You must come to the place where you trust that Jesus is the CHRIST, the very Son of God, The Messiah, The Holy One of Israel.
II. The Contempt - The people rejected Jesus and they rejected His message. His response to their unbelief is to quote a common proverb, “A prophet is never without honor, except in his own country.” What that means is “familiarity breeds contempt”. They took for granted what they had and wanted what they didn’t have. They had contempt for Jesus and they treated Him as common. ILLS: Preachers who grow up in a church experience this problem all the time. The people in the church know you. They have watched you grow up. They have seen you succeed and they have watched you fail. You will always be little Larry! They cannot get past what they know about you to hear what you are preaching. The hardest place you will ever preach is your home church! In the modern church, pastors have what is known as the “Honeymoon.” You don’t know how long it will last but you know when it’s over! The “Honeymoon” is when the new fellowship is studying you, testing you, trying to figure out, who you are and how much you can take. You are enjoying the fellowship, feeling the companionship and appreciating the stewardship. They pack in the Bible Study and they follow you to the evening revivals. But when they realize that you are just a preacher and you don’t have a silver tongue or bag full of miracles... You may not know when the honeymoon started but you sure know when its over! Verse 5 tells us that Jesus never even gets a Honeymoon and because of their contempt, their unbelief, Jesus was unable to perform many miracles there. Only a few sick folks were healed. Let’s get one thing straight now; their unbelief did not hinder His power. Jesus was and is absolutely sovereign. He could have done anything there that He wanted to do. He possessed the power, but He refused to demonstrate His power in the face of blatant contempt. The hands of Jesus were not tied. A few sick folk came to Him in faith and received His Healing Hand. The rest rejected Him and were rejected by Him. I would remind you that we serve a sovereign God! He can do what He pleases, when He pleases and to whom He pleases. Our faith, or the lack thereof, does not pose a problem for Him. 2 Timothy 2:12 If we deny Him, He also will deny us. But If we are faithless, He remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself.
III. The Command - We are told that Jesus called His disciples over and gave them “power”. He gave them His power when He sent them out. As part of His commissioning, Jesus gave them commands. v.8-9 They were told to take nothing with them for their journey. They could take a walking stick, the shoes on their feet and the clothes on their backs. They were not to take a scrip, which was a travelers bag. Nor were they to take any money or food. They were to undertake this assignment with their full faith in the Lord and in His ability to supply their need. We are saved by faith and the Lord expects us to live by faith! He wants us to walk in complete dependence on Him and on His power to supply our needs, Philippians 4:19 “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” If the Lord sends us out in His service, we can trust Him to take care of us. They were told to take only one coat. In that day it was usually just the rich who could afford two coats. Jesus was sending them out as common men among common men. They were not to put on airs and come across as though they were better than the people they encountered. If it were not for His grace in our lives, we would be just like them! They were told in v. 10 to accept the hospitality of the local people and they were to abide in whatever house they were invited into. They were not to look for more comfortable lodging. They were to take what they were given and they were to be happy with it. (Don’t cut your task short because of you think it may be more comfortable in another house). The Christian life is not about being comfortable. There are times when serving the Lord is anything but comfortable. Stop Church Hopping! Our duty is to take whatever mission He gives us with a heart of gratitude and learn to be content with the things He provides, He will take care of you!; that is His promise Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave you nor forsake you." In v. 11 He gives them one last command that I leave you with today; if the message was rejected they were to leave that village and shake the dust off their feet. The Jews often did this when they were returning from a journey to a pagan land. Before they crossed back into Israel, they would shake the dust off their sandals. In this case, Jesus told His men to do this as a sign that those who rejected the Gospel would face a harsh judgment someday. In fact, their punishment would exceed the judgment that fell on ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? All Sodom and Gomorrah did not have Jesus walking the city. These villages had the Lord Jesus Christ! Somewhere in the last 500 years we stop talking about Hell! We point the way to Heaven, but we neglect to warn sinners about Hell. There is a Heaven to gain and Hell to shun. The only way into Heaven is through the Lord Jesus Christ, John 14:6. That is our testimony! It is a testimony of deliverance to those who receive it. It is a testimony of damnation to those who reject it! And Jesus says, if they reject the truth of your message, you need to shake it off! Jesus said, “Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me” Sometimes saints you just have to Shake It Off!
