Written ~ 02-15-2024
Read Mark Chapter Six
Mark 6
One thing interesting about reading through the Gospels is that you get to read the same accounts of what Jesus did during His ministry. Each writer tells each story a little differently so you can get the whole picture when you read through the first four Books of the Bible. So in Mark 6, we read about Jesus sending out His disciples to tell everyone to repent of their sins and turn back to God. Next we are told how John the Baptist is beheaded by the king, Herod Antipas. Then Jesus feeds 5000 men, plus women and children, and later that night He comes to the disciples walking on the water. These are all very important moments during the time Jesus walked the earth, you may think it is redundant to read the same stories over and over again, but what it shows is consistency of what happened. Different authors, writing at different times, but each of them telling us about the same thing, Jesus.
Jesus had crowds of people following Him wherever He went. He was healing the sick and speaking to the people with great authority. But in Mark 6:1-6 we have a sharp contrast as Jesus visits His hometown, Nazareth.
1 “Jesus left that part of the country and returned with His disciples to Nazareth, His hometown. 2 The next Sabbath He began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were amazed. They asked, “Where did He get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” 3 Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And His sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in Him.
4 Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” 5 And because of their unbelief, He couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place His hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 And He was amazed at their unbelief. Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people.”
For this passage of Scripture, I turned to the “Expositor’s Bible Commentary.” I wanted to learn more about what happened to Jesus when He went to the town He grew up in and faced such unbelief for who He was. Below is what I found from this Commentary…
“Jesus responded to the doubts raised about the legitimacy of His teaching and His miracles by a proverb (verse 4) that has parallels in both Jewish and Greek literature. The people of Nazareth were incapable of appreciating who Jesus was because, like Jesus’ own family, they identified Him so closely with themselves.
Verse 5 is a bold statement in that it refers to something Jesus could not do. He did, of course, have the power to do miracles in Nazareth. His inability was related to the moral situation. In the climate of unbelief He chose not to exercise His miraculous power. One of the great emphases of Mark’s gospel is that Jesus performs His miracles in response to faith.
Jesus expressed amazement at their lack of faith. Apparently He did not expect such a response from His own townspeople.”
I think one of the most surprising and interesting things I learned was from verse 5, “…because of their unbelief, Jesus couldn’t do any miracles among them…”
These people, the folks Jesus grew up with in Nazareth, could only see Jesus as their friend or relative or just that “young kid” who grew up to be a carpenter. Even though they were amazed by His teaching, they couldn’t see passed who they knew Jesus to be, the son of a carpenter and of Mary. It says in verse 3b, “…they were deeply offended and refused to believe…”
Because of their unbelief and lack of faith, the Nazareth townspeople limited the power of God.
One of the statements from the “Expositor’s Bible Commentary” that I found intriguing was… “One of the great emphases of Mark’s gospel is that Jesus performs His miracles in response to faith.” That made me pause for a moment and think about what we have already read about Jesus and the miracles He has done so far in chapters 1-5 in the Book of Mark. As we continue reading in Mark let’s keep a sharp eye out for how Jesus responds to faith.
What is our response to Jesus coming into our lives? Do we welcome Him with open arms and accept all He has to offer us? Or do we hesitantly welcome Him with open arms but keep Him at an arms distance? Do we want to hear what He has to say, but aren’t ready to allow Him to show us His full glory? Verse 6a says, “Jesus was amazed at their unbelief…” Do we come to the Lord with unbelief and a lack of faith? Are we creating an atmosphere where Jesus can’t show us His wisdom and power or have the ability to perform miracles in our lives?
I think this whole concept of acceptance is quite true even for us today. Maybe you see a classmate or someone from your own family achieving success, but you scoff at their success because they were the class clown or didn’t take academics seriously as a kid. What about a prominent pastor or evangelist? Maybe you were their childhood friend or the sidekick to their mischievousness and you can’t believe any of the words they are proclaiming now. Maybe you find out someone close to you has written a best-selling book and its success is so surprising to you because you thought that person couldn’t possibly put two sentences together let alone a whole book.
It’s all in our perspective, isn’t it? How we choose to see someone based on a memory of who they were growing up. This gives an inside view of the disbelief of the Nazareth people. Their perspective of who they knew Jesus to be was not going to change by seeing Him perform miraculous wonders.
Let’s not be a people who keep Jesus at arm’s length. When we read the Scriptures, any preconceived ideas of who we think Jesus is should be placed on the “back burner” so it doesn’t keep us from learning the truth about who truly He is. If we were to continue in disbelief and a lack of faith, like the people of Nazareth, we will miss out on all the Son of God can bring to our lives! All the wisdom. All the power. All the display of His majesty through His miracles.
What happened when Nazareth did not accept who Jesus was…
Verse 6:6b,
“…then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people…”
When Jesus saw that His own family, His friends, His own hometown could not accept Him, He left and continued His ministry elsewhere. Their unbelief and the lack of faith could not allow Jesus, the Messiah, to share the Good News of Salvation.
Be ready to have Jesus come to your “hometown” and display His majesty! Accept Him! Choose to believe! And ignite a fire of faith so blazing that Jesus must respond to your situation.
Father God, I choose to believe in who Your Son Jesus is… I welcome His wisdom, I welcome His power, I welcome His miraculous wonders in my life. Help me build the faith I have right now into a blazing inferno, that nothing can extinguish it. I want to walk in faith through every life circumstance and live life abundantly through Your Word.
~AMEN~