HOMETOWN UNBELIEF (Mark 6:1-6)
INTRODUCTION:
As we have made our way through the first five chapters of Mark, we have seen the astonishment of the people at both the teaching of Jesus and at the divine power displayed in His miracles. Only two times in the New Testament are we told that Jesus was amazed by the people, and both of those occasions involved faith. On the positive side, Jesus marveled at the strong faith of a Roman centurion in Capernaum. Mark does not record this event for us, but Luke does and in Luke 7:9 we read, “Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, ‘I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.’ ” (Luke 7:9, NASB95)[1] This man’s faith was expressed by believing that Jesus could just say the word and the slave that he wanted healed would be healed. By contrast, the other time that Jesus marveled was in His hometown of Nazareth, and He marveled at the utter absence of faith that He found in the townspeople. We will be looking at this event in our passage this morning. If I had time this morning, I could show you that unbelief is a powerful force with devastating results, both in this life and in the life to come. I could show you examples from both the Old and New Testaments, but we need to get to this morning’s passage. Let’s pray and then we will get into God’s Word.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
I assure you that this morning’s message will be shorter than the last two. Last week I kept looking at the clock in the back and kept thinking I was doing okay. About the third time I looked I realized that the hands had not moved. This has been remedied, I replaced the battery on Tuesday morning. Turn in your Bibles this morning to Mark 6:1-6, our passage for today. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word, and follow along as I read.
Mark 6:1-6,
“Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, ‘Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?’ And they took offense at Him. Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.’ And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.” (Mark 6:1–6, NASB95)[2]
UNBELIEF CONCEALS THE UNDENIABLE (Mark 6:1-2)
This passage follows close behind several significant miracles performed by Jesus that we have looked at over the past several weeks. These miracles included the calming of the storm on the Sea of Galilee, the casting out of the “legion” of demons in the region of the Geresenes, the healing of the woman with the 12-year hemorrhage of blood, and then Jesus raising a 12-year-old girl from the dead. Amazed by His teaching and astounded by His miracles, the crowds in Galilee most often responded to Jesus with an attitude of enthusiasm. Their amazement and astonishment were more often the result of curiosity and fell short of saving faith. This popular excitement of the crowds stood in stark contrast to the open hostility of the Pharisees and the scribes who hated Jesus and wanted to see Him dead. The religious leaders’ outright rejection of Jesus was not shared by most of the people and as Jesus traveled through the towns and cities of Galilee He was most often received favorably by the general public. There was one exception and that was His hometown of Nazareth. The townspeople of Nazareth knew Jesus as a local carpenter who had grown up and lived in Nazareth for the better part of thirty years. Remember that Joseph and Mary had moved back to Nazareth after they had returned from Egypt when Jesus was still a young child. The townspeople had seen Him grow up and knew that He had become known in the region of Galilee when He began His public ministry around the age of 30. To those He had grown up among He was viewed as nothing more than the oldest son of a familiar family from the village.
The trip to Nazareth recorded in this passage was Jesus second recorded visit to His hometown since the start of His public ministry. The first had not gone so well when His preaching had enraged the townspeople and they had tried to push Him off the cliff that was at the brow of the hill upon which the city was built. You can read of this first visit in Luke 4:14-30.
It is several months, possibly even close to a year later when Jesus decided to return to Nazareth a second and final time. Leaving Capernaum and traveling southwest about 25 miles Jesus came into His hometown. The fact that Mark mentions that Jesus’ disciples followed Him indicates that this was not a private family visit but was intended for public ministry. This would be part of their training as the disciples would be exposed to the hard-hearted rejection that characterizes unbelievers.
Even though the first visit and Jesus’ preaching in the synagogue had ended violently, Jesus was again invited to teach in the synagogue. He had become more popular throughout Galilee, and this certainly made them curious to hear Him again. On a human level, they knew Him very well. They had heard the reports of the wonder and amazement that His preaching and miracles caused and the huge crowds that gathered to hear Him and witness His miracles. This time did not end as His first visit had with them trying to kill Him, but their unbelieving nature toward Him had not changed.
Mark records that the many listeners who heard Jesus teach that day were astonished. In other words, they were utterly amazed at His teaching, it was mind-blowing as He spoke as one with authority and understanding and not just the often-meaningless rambling of their own rabbis. This astonishment, however, did not lead the audience to put their faith in Jesus as Lord and Messiah. In the hardness of their hearts, they continued to reject the Lord Jesus. What should have been obvious to the townspeople, was that this man who spoke with such authority was empowered by God. Instead, these townspeople began to question the source of His divine power, wisdom, and authority. Mark records for us what they were saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?” (Mark 6:2b, NASB95)[3] The residents of Nazareth had watched Jesus grow up, they knew that He never trained to become a rabbi. But when He spoke His teaching was characterized by unparalleled clarity, truthfulness, and a depth of wisdom that even the most learned scribes of the day were left stunned and dumbfounded.
If they would not have been questioning where Jesus had gotten these things, they would have seen that His wisdom and miracles proved, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Jesus was from God, that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus’ teaching always left the people in awe, and His miracles authenticated that what He was teaching was from God. His miracles were undeniable displays of divine power. His miracles alone confirmed that He was God, and the people of Nazareth had heard the stories of His miracles as they circulated throughout Galilee and then to the rest of the nation of Israel. The religious leaders knew that they could not deny the reality of Jesus’ miracles. So instead of denying them they claimed that Jesus was energized by Satan.
The residents of Nazareth did not attribute Jesus’ wisdom and power to Satan, but at the same time they were not willing to acknowledge that His wisdom and power came from God. They were very skeptical as they asked, “Where did this man get these things?” Because of their unbelief and so that they could maintain that unbelief they looked for any other explanation other than the obvious one. Jesus had taught about the hard packed soil of the pathways in His parable of the four soils, and here in His hometown He has found hearts that were impenetrable and hard, they had enough evidence and still they refused to believe in Him.
UNBELIEF LIFTS UP THE UNIMPORTANT (Mark 6:3)
The townspeople reasoned that the obvious reason for Jesus’ wisdom and power could not be true, they began to focus on the unimportant information to justify their unbelief to who Jesus claimed to be. Even though they were astonished by His teaching and amazed by the reports of His miracles, they would not believe that Jesus was Lord and Savior. How could this man, who had grown up in their midst, just a common laborer from their village, with absolutely no theological education or any religious training whatsoever claim to be the long-awaited Messiah of God?
To maintain their unbelief, they began to raise issues that were unimportant and in no way related to the question at hand. It was true that Jesus was a carpenter by trade, the firstborn son of Mary and the half-brother to His siblings. But those facts were not relevant to the issue of His messiahship. The Jews of Jesus’ day had some misconceptions about the promised Messiah and His coming, but even with the misconceptions they understood that He would be born as a male child, grow up in a Jewish family somewhere in the nation of Israel. But instead of believing Jesus and embracing Him as that promised Messiah and thanking and praising God that He had chosen their obscure little village for such an esteemed honor, instead, the residents of Nazareth responded with resentment, contempt, and disbelief.
They asked themselves, “Is not this the carpenter?” Certainly, Jesus learned this trade from Joseph. The word translated “carpenter” is the Greek word tektōn which is a broad term meaning builder or craftsman. It could refer to a carpenter, a stone mason, a metalsmith, or a shipbuilder. The residents of Nazareth found it hard to believe that a craftsman from their hometown who had not previously revealed His divine nature could suddenly exhibit such wisdom and power. Don’t believe the stories that come around every so often about Jesus performing miracles as a boy in Nazareth. If they were true, the townspeople would have responded to Him differently. Jesus growing up seemed so ordinary and natural to His neighbors and family friends that they found it impossible to think of Him as possessing divine wisdom and supernatural power.
The townspeople also pointed out that Jesus was the Son of Mary. This is the only place in the Gospels where Jesus is referred to by this title. Normal Jewish custom identified a son by his father’s name. Jesus would have been called Jesus, the son of Joseph after His adopted earthly father. Even if Joseph had died, Jesus would still be referred to as the son of Joseph. This title was intended to be an insult, implying that Jesus had been born illegitimately so how could He be the Messiah.
They not only knew that Jesus was Mary’s oldest son, but they also knew that He was the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon. Being Nazareth was small, everyone knew how the brothers of Jesus felt about Him. They did not believe in Him and just a short time before had thought He had lost His senses. The townspeople shared the same perspective as His brothers. It was not until after Jesus’ death and resurrection that His half-brothers believed and were added to the church. Completing the family picture, the residents of Nazareth also asked, “Are not His sisters here with us?” Mary had a least 6 other children after Jesus was born, which exposes the lie of the doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity.
Using the unimportant and irrelevant information of Jesus’ occupation and family, the townspeople used these as stumbling blocks to defend their unbelief. Because we know these things about Jesus, He cannot be the Messiah. They turned their attention away from the obvious truth in order to justify their rejection of Jesus. They knew Jesus as the son of a local carpenter. Because of this they were unwilling to believe that He was who He claimed to be, the Messiah, the Son of God.
UNBELIEF IS OFFENDED (Mark 6:3-4)
Unbelief soon made what had been amazement and astonishment turn to offense, they took offense at Him. The Greek word translated offense is a word that means “to snare” or “to cause to stumble.” The first time that Jesus had taught in the synagogue in Nazareth the people had been offended by Him. The offense was His claim to be the Messiah and His confronting their hypocrisy and unbelief. Even though Jesus’ message at the synagogue this second time is not recorded for us it undoubtedly again emphasized truths that were similar to what He had taught the first time. They were offended and could not move past the fact that someone as familiar to them as Jesus would dare to claim to be the Messiah or would think He had the authority to rebuke them.
Jesus responded to their offense by quoting the same proverb He had quoted the first time He had been with them, and they were offended. “Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.’ ” (Mark 6:4, NASB95)[4] Notice how this proverb progresses from the broader social circles down to the narrower. As the proverb says, it seemed that no one in His hometown of Nazareth believed in Him, the same was true within His own family, both among his own relatives and in Hiis own household, only His mother Mary believed. His bothers would later come to believe, but at this point they do not. Many people outside of Nazareth regarded Him and honored Him as a prophet but in His hometown, they were offended that He would claim to be a prophet, or worse the Messiah. They were curious as Jesus gained more and more popularity among those outside of Nazareth, yet they could not believe this man who they knew, who had grown up in their midst would have the audacity to return and confront them with rebukes while claiming to be the Messiah. On the night before His death, Jesus reminded the disciples what He had taught them before, that they should expect persecution. Jesus said in John 15:18-20, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:18–20, NASB95)[5]
When His message cannot be refuted, unbelievers will not hesitate to attack Him and anyone who speaks for Him. Hemmed in by the truth, they strike back with ridicule, disdain, scorn, and sometimes even violent persecution. The religious leaders ultimately responded this way toward Jesus. Refusing to believe His teaching and miracles but unable to refute or deny His wisdom or His power, they devised a plan to silence Him permanently by putting Him to death.
UNBELIEF DESPISES THE MIRACULOUS (Mark 6:5-6)
How did Jesus respond to the unbelief of the residents of His hometown? He chose not to do any miracles in Nazareth with the exception of a few healings. Mark explains, “And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.” (Mark 6:5, NASB95)[6] Understand that the issue was not that He lacked the supernatural power to perform miracles. His reason for not performing miracles in Nazareth was that they were unnecessary. The purpose of the miracles of Jesus was to authenticate the truth that He is the Lord and Messiah. Because the residents of Nazareth had already set their unbelief and rejection of Him in stone, miracles were not necessary.
I have heard it said that Jesus could not do any miracles because His ability to do so depended on the faith of the people. That is false, Jesus frequently healed people who did not express faith in Him. In Luke 17:11-19 Jesus healed ten lepers only one of the lepers cured confessed faith in Him and was saved. In John 5:2-15 Jesus healed a crippled man at the pool of Bethesda and at the time of the healing the man did not even know who healed him, it was only later that He learned the identity of Jesus. The man born blind that Jesus healed in John 9 did not profess faith in Jesus until after He was healed. The demon possessed people whom Jesus delivered never professed faith in Jesus until after they were liberated. When Jesus raised the dead, He obviously did so without first requiring faith from them. During His ministry Jesus healed multitudes of people, even though not all of them believed. Jesus’ supernatural power and His ability to do miracles was not diminished by unbelief. But because of the people’s unbelief and hard-hearted rejection of Jesus there was no reason to do any miracles in Nazareth.
The unbelief and rejection by the residents of Nazareth was so fixed that even Jesus wondered or marveled at their unbelief. This word “wondered” indicates that Jesus was shocked by the deep-rooted faithlessness and open hostility that He encountered in His hometown. Jesus Christ had been an amazing and unique person among them growing up, they must have known there was something different about Him, they could not have missed the glimpses of His divine perfection at times. How could those who claimed to know all about Him stubbornly refuse to accept the only reasonable explanation regarding Him, that He was the Son of God? But such is the blinding power of unbelief. As Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4, NASB95)[7] This second visit had made it clear that Nazareth had rejected Jesus, this being clear Jesus rejected Nazareth. Mark writes, “And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.” (Mark 6:6, NASB95)[8] Jesus left His hometown behind and began a teaching tour in other, more receptive villages and towns in Galilee. For the residents of His hometown the outcome of their unbelief was horribly and forever tragic.
CONCLUSION:
In these few verses we have seen the first soil in Jesus’ parable of the four soils. The residents of Nazareth had hearts that were like the hard packed paths were some of the sower’s seed fell. The seed had no hope of germinating as it lay on the surface of the path under the scorching sun. It did not lay there long, as it was quickly picked up and eaten by a bird. Jesus explained that those who hearts are hardened by unbelief if they have any word sowed on them have it is quickly taken away by Satan. Just as Paul wrote in the verse, I just read to you from 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4, NASB95)[9] Even if they are astonished by the teaching of the word and amazed by the report of the miracles, Satan will put doubts, raise unimportant and irrelevant information to act as stumbling blocks to justify the person’s unbelief in their mind. As you share Christ in this world you will run into people who are like the residents of Nazareth, when you do witness to them and move on as Jesus did, but don’t let their response of unbelief discourage you because there will be others that you will witness to who have the soil of their hearts prepared by the Spirit of God and the word will sink into that soft moist soil and germinate and produce a yield of 30, 60 or 100 fold. All we are called to do is to be faithful sowers of the seed.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.