Mark 6:1-6
Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph,[a] Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then he went about among the villages teaching.”
Prayer:
- Explain what we are doing – the Gospel of Mark from now until Advent.
- Add the last part of the Scripture that is missing from the reading for today.
- What are we to make of today’s Gospel?
- Let’s begin with the obvious question: How could Jesus’ family and friends reject him?
- They watched him grow up.
- They had to be aware of his loving nature and the fact that he worked hard, both as a student of the Torah and as Joseph’s apprentice.
- Before leaving home, he was acknowledged as a rabbi, a teacher, and he had disciples whom he taught. We can assume that the people of Nazareth heard about his success in ministry.
- The setting of this portion of Mark is in Nazareth which was only a short distance away from Capernaum.
- News traveled by word of mouth from one town to another and everyone was eager to hear and share what they heard.
- We have listened over the last two Sundays to Mark’s Gospel about the success of Jesus’ ministry: how the crowds listened to his teachings, expressed in parables; how they witnessed the healing of the sick and the demon possessed, and how astounded they were when Jesus brought Jairus’ daughter back from the dead.
- Earlier in Mark, you may recall that in the synagogue at Capernaum (which is on the sea of Galilee and near Peter’s house) the people were “amazed” and “accepted” his new way of teaching.
- But in the synagogue that is pointed out in the Scripture is in Nazareth — the birthplace of Jesus and the place where Jesus grew up— upon hearing what Jesus said — they were “offended,” and they rejected him, crying out: “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and Joseph and brother of James and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?”
- Now it’s interesting to note, that in this context, the original Greek word for “offense” means stumbling block.
- I suspect there was something emotional that blocked their acceptance of Jesus’ teaching. What stumbling block might they have had?
- Well to begin with, they lived in a Roman-occupied territory. It was dangerous for everyone, especially the Jews. Their relationship with the Romans was awkward at best. So, they probably tried to keep a low profile and not do anything that would draw attention to themselves.
- Jesus very association with them as a “son” of Nazareth was threatening from a political point of view.
- We can imagine that they were afraid that they would become tainted by his actions, that the Romans and the Jewish leaders would conclude that Jesus came out of a revolutionary atmosphere in Nazareth and might seek to crush that spirit.
- So, they sought ways to dismiss him, using time-honored methods:
- they belittled his lack of formal education;
- they made light of his occupation as a carpenter, and;
- they criticized his family as being one of little consequence.
- It is noteworthy that this rejection was not limited to Jesus’ fellow townspeople. Even his family and his wider circle of relatives rejected him and his testimony.
- There’s also the theory of familiarity breeding contempt.
- A Roman philosopher first coined this phrase when he wrote: “Familiarity breeds contempt—while rarity wins admiration.” Not to be upstaged, Mark Twain wrote that “Familiarity breeds contempt—and children.
- Jesus even invited this spin with his response, “A prophet is not without honor, except in their own hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.”
- Whatever the reason, or reasons, for their rejection of Jesus, I think we can safely assume that their hearts were hardened and therefore they were not open to Jesus’ teaching.
- How sad for them. They rejected Jesus.
- …and their rejection hurt him. Mark tells us “he could do no deed of power there” and “was amazed at their unbelief.”
- Their blatant rejection hindered his ability to do deeds of power among them; at the most, he could only “lay his hands on a few sick people and cure them.”
- How beautifully this passage illustrates Jesus’ humanity. Like us, he felt the pain of rejection, not only with his homecoming but increasingly through the
- rest of his ministry and ultimately on the cross.
- Through Jesus’ humanity we know that “God feels our pain.” And he needs us.
- This reading points out how the participation of the people through the exercise of their faith was strategic to Jesus’ effectiveness to transform lives; they were not simply observers, but participants in Jesus’ work.
- And their rejection of Jesus resulted in their own rejection of what he was capable of doing for them.
- So, we ask ourselves, how does this passage relate to our lives? Well, in several ways.
- When we reject strangers—we reject Jesus.
- It doesn’t matter what our rejection is based on. When we reject others, we do not love them as we were commanded to…and we limit God’s hand in their lives and in ours.
- Or – consider this!
- When we reject those closest to us—we reject Jesus.
- It’s so easy to belittle family members, to dismiss them and to show disappointment in them because they are not the people we wanted them to be.
- Why is it that we are hardest on those to whom we are most familiar?
- The answer to this question is best given by a psychologist, but let it suffice to say that when we deny our loved ones love we limit their ability to love and support us.
- And we limit God’s work through them and through us.
There is a relationship between what we give and what we receive.
- Twentieth century theologian and writer, Frederick Buechner asserted that miracles do not evoke faith so much as faith evokes miracles.
- Mark tells us in this chapter that Jesus recognized that he was a disowned “prophet without honor,” and as a result, he withdrew from the close familial and neighborhood ties of the past and began in earnest the creation of a new community, a new family in God, and a new political-economic-religious order, which we call the “kingdom of God.”
- And Jesus recognized that that new order could only be built by going beyond one’s own immediate community.
- Let’s look at several of the verses that follow Mark 6:1-6 — Page 1565 in our pew Bible: Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. 8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
- Thus, Jesus sent forth his disciples two-by-two to discover that potential community among those whom they met or healed or taught or stayed with in their homes across all of Galilee.
- And among those former strangers, Jesus build an alternative community to that of Israel,
- a community with all of its conflicts, its tragedies as well as victories, and its struggle to understand and embrace the mission to which Jesus called it.
- We call this church!
- Jesus and his disciples went out with “no bread, no bag, no money in their belts” to build together a new loving and caring community in the midst of the Israeli society that rejected all that God was about because of their fear of the domination of Rome and the Jewish religious hierarchy of their world and their hearts became hard and self-absorbed.
- Sound familiar? – how about today?
- We are members of that new community.
- We are participants in God’s plan.
- Through our open hearts and acceptance of others we welcome the stranger and the loved one to the Kingdom of God.
- We become partners with God in the transformation of lives.
- Never underestimate the power of God to take the most unlikely character and do something miraculous with him or her.
- Consider the prophets, David whom his father initially rejected to lead his people in battle, the first disciples, Paul the most unlikely of disciples and so on.
- By the way, Jesus did not give up on his family and friends back home. His brother, James, went on to lead the church in Rome and we understand that
- Jesus’ other siblings became followers. Joseph, by the time of Jesus’ return to Nazareth, had died, but there can be no doubt about his faith or that of Jesus’ mother, Mary.
- As for the rest, we know that God’s love extends to everyone. Despite rejection, Jesus forgave, and he died on the cross for all our sins.
- Let us never reject Jesus by rejecting others.
- Thanks be to God.