Jesus - "He's the guy who . . ." - Mark 6:1-6

Spare Me the Details - Just Give Me Jesus

People are funny about their hometown heroes.  I’ve had the opportunity to live in and around communities on two occasions when individuals rose from unlikely settings to positions of incredible status.  While I was in seminary in a town that bordered Raleigh, NC on the north a Raleigh native by the name of Clay Aiken made it onto ‘American Idol’ and had great success finishing as runner-up in the competition that season.  The people of Raleigh were crazy about Clay and celebrated him weekly.  Movie theatres shut down on ‘American Idol’ nights and had viewing parties that were open to the public, the local news had a ‘new’ story about Clay each and every night, and parades were held in his honor when the show was over.  It was crazy to see the response of the people over someone from their hometown.  Right after my family and I moved to Hickory we found ourselves in the same kind of excitement once again.  There are several smaller towns that border Hickory on the north and those towns (and many people in Hickory as well) were celebrating a young man named Madison Bumgarner.  Madison Bumgarner was a high-school pitcher at South Caldwell High School (the local high school for the towns of Granite Falls, Hudson, and Sawmills).  Madison was drafted by the San Francisco Giants right out of high school in 2007 as the 10^th overall draft pick.  By the 2010 baseball season Madison found himself as a 20 year old young man pitching for the San Francisco Giants and concluded his season pitching 8 shutout innings in game 4 of the 2010 World Series, giving the Giants a 3-1 lead and helping them earn their first World Series title in 52 years.  Everyone in and around these communities were celebrating Madison and his achievements.  They could not have been more excited for this young man who came from such a small community into the national spotlight.  Americans love to celebrate individuals who rise from what seems like very little into positions of status and fame.  So one would think that the story of Jesus would excite most of the people in our country and in our communities.  The second person of the Trinity wrapped Himself in flesh, was born in a cattle stall to two very poor parents, but later in His life was known by many for His authoritative teaching, His great and mighty miracles, and the massive crowds that would surround Him in the places He would visit.  So it’s really surprising for us to find that the story of Jesus is only celebrated by a very small percentage of people.  And we’ll see in the text that it isn’t just in America that Jesus is not celebrated, but even in His hometown of Nazareth Jesus was not celebrated, but found Himself to be a source of offense to the people.

When it comes to those ‘heroes’ that we love so much to celebrate, it’s incredibly important that we first discern well what is true about them and what isn’t.  Then having discerned what is true we need to decide if it is really worthy of great celebration and worship.  I would argue that we have tragically missed the point when we make much of those who entertain well but take offense to and push away the only One who can bring us salvation.

In Mark 6:1-6 I believe that Mark provides us with some important evidence concerning who Jesus is and that when we rightly recognize that evidence it should influence how we respond to Jesus.  Verse 1 of chapter 6 tells us that “He [Jesus] went away from there [Jarius’ house – see 5:38-43] and came to His hometown [Nazareth]. . .”  And again, we see His disciples following Him.  (Mark continues to emphasize the difference between discipleship and being a part of a crowd.  Crowds are fascinated by Jesus’ teachings and they marvel at His miracles, but they are not devoted to following Christ like we see with His disciples.)  Then verse 2 tells us that Jesus enters into the synagogue on a Sabbath day and begins to teach.  (Once again you’ll remember that synagogues are not like the temple.  The temple was a place primarily of worship through sacrifice and it was there that the priests made atonement for people.  Sacrifices were not performed at the synagogues, but the synagogues rather were places of teaching and instruction in the OT.  A synagogue did not usually have a regular teacher.  Instead the teaching responsibilities were taken on by the lay people of the community.  If there was a scribe, rabbi, or other visiting teacher in town then they would have been given the opportunity to teach there.)  We then see in verse 2 that Jesus’ teaching, along with the testimony of the miracles which He had previously done,  have a great effect on the people in the community.  Notice what the people say in their astonishment, “Where did this man get these things?  What is the wisdom given to Him?  How are such mighty works done by His hands?”  The people in Jesus’ hometown notice two unique things that set Jesus apart from everyone else: (1) His teaching, and (2) His mighty works.  And their question is “where did He get them?”

We’ve notice in the first few chapters of Mark that Jesus teaches almost exclusively in one form or another about the Kingdom of God.  Sometimes it’s in regards to what the Kingdom of God is like (see chapter 4).  Sometimes it’s about the role that He plays in the Kingdom of God (see 2:18-28).  And sometimes it’s a call for the people to respond by repenting and believing (see 1:15).  But what is incredibly clear is that when Jesus teaches it is with extraordinary authority, far surpassing that of even the most accomplished scribes (2:22; 6:2).  This raises a problem for the people of His hometown.  Jesus was a carpenter by trade.  We don’t have any evidence that Jesus ever served as an apprentice of a well known, highly regarded rabbi who would have been able to teach Jesus in this manner.  And we certainly wouldn’t be able to attribute Jesus’ great wisdom and knowledge to training that He received at home because His knowledge was much greater than what Joseph or Mary would have been able to pass on to Him.  That’s why the people in His hometown ask “What is the wisdom given to Him?”  The only explanation for the authority of His teaching is that it is divinely powered.  Jesus is able to teach with such great authority because He is in fact God.

Jesus’ teaching isn’t the only thing that sets Him apart though – it’s also His mighty works.  In the first three and a half chapters of Mark’s gospel we get some glimpses into Jesus’ mighty works.  We know that He heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law from a fever she has (1:30-31), He heals all who were sick and demon possessed in that same particular city (1:32-34), He heals a leper at the end of chapter 1, a paralytic in chapter 2, and a man with a withered hand in chapter 3.  But beginning in verse 35 of chapter 4 and continuing through chapter 5 Mark records some extraordinary miracles in which Jesus demonstrated His lordship over creation, demons, and even death.  Not only were these miracles extraordinary, but they were fresh on the minds of the disciples.  These are the stories that the disciples were probably sharing with all of the people from Nazareth and again we see the people questioning: “How are such mighty works done by His hands?”  And again the only explanation is that this power He possesses over creation, demons, and death is a divine power because He is in fact God.

This is the evidence that the people of Nazareth have brought to them.  This is the amazing news that becomes so vividly clear to them.  And verse 3 tells us that rather than believing in Christ, and rather than celebrating the fact that Jesus was indeed Emmanuel – God with us, these people question Him, demean Him, and also take offense to Him.  Jesus uses both divinely powered teachings and miracles to serve as evidence of who He is and the people push Him away.  And sadly this is the exact same reaction that most in our community and culture have to Jesus as well.  We have the same evidence that the people of Nazareth had.  We have records of Jesus’ divinely powered teaching.  We have testimony of His divinely powered miracles.  We have the true account of Jesus lowly birth and rise to great influence.  Yet even in the midst of a culture that celebrates this kind of story we find most people either questioning Jesus, demeaning Him, taking offense to Him, or re-defining Him to create a man that fits into their own ideas of what He should look like.  This is not the response that this kind of evidence calls for.  Jesus’ divinely powered teachings and miracles clearly demonstrate that Jesus is in fact God, not just a very talented individual.  His divinely powered teachings and miracles show Him to be One that we should follow, not push away.  In no way does the evidence Jesus makes available to us call us to question, demean, take offense to, or attempt to redefine who He is.  Jesus’ divinely powered teachings and miracles ultimately call us to worship Him.  The question for each of us to consider is “How have we responded to this evidence?”

After the people in verse 3 question who Jesus is, Jesus responds to them saying, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”  This was a proverb that would not have been uncommon among the Jews and the Romans during His time on earth.  The proverb was based off of another proverb which says “familiarity breeds contempt.”  The idea of this proverb is that, “the better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them.”  This is the problem that the people in Nazareth seem to struggle with.  Consider some of the things that they say about Jesus in verse 3.  “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?  And are not His sisters here with us?”  The people of Nazareth have a unique perspective on Jesus.  This doesn’t justify their response to Christ but it does help us to understand their reaction a little better.  Between the time near Jesus’ birth and the time he starts His public ministry we have only one story – the account of Jesus as a young boy remaining in the temple after His family begins their travel home after celebrating the Passover feast.  With the exception of that story we have no information about Jesus for the 30 years after His birth.  There are a few things we can learn from the NT and a few assumptions that we can make, so let’s begin by talking about those.  First it seems clear that Jesus’ father, Joseph, was a carpenter and that this was the trade that He taught Jesus as a young man.  It is very likely then that this is how Jesus made a living as a young adult.  The NT also seems to indicate that prior to Jesus baptism He was not engaged in public ministry – in either a teaching role or in a healing role.  So for 30 years Jesus was just friends and neighbors with the people of Nazareth.  He did work for other people in the town of Nazareth and He attended synagogue with them (but probably never taught).  So for the people of Nazareth Jesus had just been another guy in town for the past 30 years.  He was just a carpenter, just Mary’s son, and just one of the male kids who made up this particular family.  The people of Nazareth were very familiar (so they thought) with Jesus.  Then one day Jesus takes off from work and heads out into the wilderness to check out John the Baptist.  The next thing they know no one sees him for the next 40 days because He’s out in the wilderness being tempted by Satan.  Following that 40 day period Jesus seems to take a new direction in life.  He begins teaching in the synagogues (and with authority).  He begins traveling with a small group of fishermen and tax collectors healing people and proclaiming news about the Kingdom of God.  And along the way, “news” about Jesus travels around.  “News” that He is performing spectacular miracles, “news” that He teaches with authority unlike the scribes, and “news” that great crowds gather around Him to hear Him teach and to see the miracles that He performs.  For the people in Nazareth, this “news” and the reports that they are hearing just don’t match up with what they know and are familiar with.  Based on what they know and what they have experienced, these reports can’t be true.  So it seems that they begin to think something “fishy” is going on.  “Jesus can’t really be doing these things.  We know.  We’ve been around Him since He was a boy.  We’ve never known Him to teach or to perform miracles.  He’s just a carpenter.”  For this ‘guy’ to have such fame, to cause such excitement, and to provoke some to believe that He is the Messiah is offensive to them.  And that’s just how verse 3 ends, telling us that the people of Nazareth took offense at Jesus.      

Jesus responds to their offense by using a piece of human wisdom to give evidence of who He is.  If the people failed to recognize His divinely powered teachings and miracles as evidence of who He was then He would use human wisdom to serve as evidence.  If the people knew that prophets were without honor in their hometowns then Jesus would use the lack of honor shown to Him as evidence of His position as Messiah.  But it an interesting sense of irony while the proverb serves as evidence of who He is it also serves as a reminder that those from His hometown would not believe in, follow, or honor Him as a prophet (much less as the Messiah).  Consider this, three of the gospels give records of accounts when Jesus is challenged by a individual who asks Him what the greatest commandment is.  And in Jesus’ response we find that the correct answer is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matt. 22:34-37; Mark 12:28-30; Luke 10:25-28)  Jesus intended for us to use our minds (human wisdom) if we are going to really love God.  Blind faith isn’t enough.  God and Jesus intend for us to use our minds and to use the wisdom that God grants us to see more clearly who He is and who Jesus is.  We do this primarily by studying the scriptures.  But advances in science and technology have also given us more opportunities than ever to take advantage of the minds God has given us.  For example there are many scientists who are believers in both God and Jesus who use scientific research and findings to help strengthen their faith in and argue for the existence of God.  They use this information in a field called ‘creation apologetics’ to help show the non-believers in their field of work that even their own human wisdom can help them see evidence of God and who He is.   Using our minds is an important part of knowing God.  We can use the wisdom and knowledge He has given us to see the evidence of who He is and then to love Him more deeply.  But this wasn’t the response of the people of Nazareth and as a result verse 5 says that Jesus could do no mighty work there with the exception of healing a few sick individuals.  And Mark says in verse 6 of chapter 6 that Jesus “marveled because of their unbelief.”

Using our minds is an important part of not only acknowledging who Jesus is but also of worshipping Him.  It’s not enough for us to say, “We’re believers in Christ.  We don’t need to think critically anymore.  We just need to ‘experience’ Jesus.”  That’s not what either God or Jesus had in mind.  They want us to use our minds to think on Him.  We ought to be using our minds to study and work through the Bible.  We ought to be reading and challenging ourselves with insights that others have gained from the Bible that help reveal God in all of His glory and majesty.  When we think on God and Christ, when we understand more about who they are and what they have done, we will treasure them more deeply and live for them more passionately.

Let me end with a few quotes from James Edwards and a few words to go with them.  “Exposure to Jesus and the gospel is no guarantee of faith . . . We are again confronted with the mystery of the kingdom of God: some of those who have every opportunity to believe do not, and some who, like the Gerasene demoniac, would never be expected to believe do.”  Most individuals in America fall into the first category of having every opportunity to believe in Jesus but choosing not to.  We have to open our eyes to the evidence of who Christ is.  We have been through five chapters of Mark’s gospel so far and the evidence of Jesus’ divinity is unbelievable.  Those five chapters of evidence are not all we have though - we have the rest of the OT and NT bearing witness to who He is.  But so many in our culture don’t want to pay attention to the evidence.  Many want to invent their own evidence.  Many others don’t want to be bothered by the evidence.  And when presented with the real evidence they take offense and turn away from Jesus.  Mark says that God marvels at this rejection, “What amazes God about humanity is not its sinfulness and propensity for evil but its hardness of heart and unwillingness to believe in Him . . . Humanity wants something other than what God gives.  The greatest obstacle to faith is not the failure of God to act but the unwillingness of the human heart to accept the God who condescends to us in only a carpenter, the son of Mary.”

Small Group Questions for Discussion

1. The people of Nazareth ask in verse 3, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?  And are not His sisters here with us?"  In Matthew 16:13 and Mark 8:27 Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"  They respond by saying John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets.  If Jesus asked that same question to us today, "Who do people say that I am?" what would our response be?

2. How did others come to that conclusion?  Was there any evidence upon which they based their answer and if so what was it?

3. Assuming that many individuals are basing their ideas of Jesus on something other than biblical truth what must we as individuals, a small group, and a church do to help ensure that others have the opportunity to encounter real, truthful evidence about Jesus?

4. James Edwards says, “What amazes God about humanity is not its sinfulness and propensity for evil but its hardness of heart and unwillingness to believe in Him . . . Humanity wants something other than what God gives.  The greatest obstacle to faith is not the failure of God to act but the unwillingness of the human heart to accept the God who condescends to us in only a carpenter, the son of Mary.”  Do you agree with this quote?  What can we do about those with a hardened heart that is unwilling to believe?

5. What step of faith does this passage of scripture require us to take as individuals and as a small group?  How do we work this out on mission?