Mark 6:1-13, “Jesus Goes To Nazareth And Teaches On The Sabbath But Can Do No Miracles Because Of Their Unbelief / Jesus Sends The Twelve Out On A Missionary Journey”

 

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1.                  INTRO:

 

2.                  In our last study, we looked at verses 21-43 of chapter 5 of Mark.

 

2.1.            We considered two stories from our study in the book of Mark from the perspective of being the Sunday before Christmas, 2009.  We talked about Jesus’ raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead. Then, we discussed Jesus’ healing of the woman with a hemorrhage of blood who came up behind Him and touched the hem of His robe believing that she would be healed.

 

3.                  In our study today, we are going to look at verses 1-13 of chapter 6 of Mark.

 

3.1.            We will see in this story that Jesus goes back to the city of Nazareth where He had grown up.  We will see that this is the second time that He has been to the city since He began His ministry, and we will discuss what an amazing thing it is that He went back there after previously being rejected and the people attempting to murder Him.  But, we will discuss the fact that Jesus is the God of the second chance and He was always willing to go again to people who had rejected Him.

 

3.2.            We will also discuss Jesus sending His disciples out on an intern mission’s trip to preach the gospel, cast out demons, and heal the sick.  This was part of their training, and we will look closely at the instructions that Jesus gave to His disciples before sending them out, because these instructions have many things we need to learn from.

 

4.                  VS 6:1-6A  - “1 Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. 2 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? 3 “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. 4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” 5 And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He wondered at their unbelief.” – Jesus goes back to His home town of Nazareth with His disciples, and He was teaching there on the Sabbath and the people were marveling at His wisdom and miracles He performed, however the people took offense at Him because a prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown and among his own relatives and household

 

4.1.            Most commentators today believe that this story describes a second visit that Jesus made to His hometown of Nazareth after beginning His ministry.  Jesus’ first visit to Nazareth is found in Luke chapter 4: 

 

Luke 4:15-31, “15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. 16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ” 24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way. 31 And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath.”

 

4.2.            There are several unique details in this story that convince me that this passage in Mark reveals a second trip that Jesus made to Nazareth, including two very significant ones:

 

4.2.1.      In the Luke 4 passage, the people drove Jesus to a cliff tried to kill Him by pushing Him off of a cliff after He was done reading a Messianic passage from Isaiah 61 that described the ministry that the Messiah would introduce when He came, and then ended the reading by saying that the passage was fulfilled that day in their hearing.  The people of Nazareth did not attempt to kill Jesus in this account.

 

4.2.2.      That story recorded in Luke chapter 4 occurred during the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, yet this incident occurred at least a year and a half into Jesus’ ministry.

 

4.3.            Since this story in Mark is of a second trip that Jesus made to His hometown, it is amazing for us to consider that after the people of His hometown had previously tried to kill Him, and also that His mother and brothers had previously tried to come and take Him away thinking He was mad and then He had refused to see them and told His disciples that those who heard the word of God and obeyed it were His mother, brothers, and sisters, that Jesus now has now come back to this city.  We would expect Him now to permanently stay away from those who were a threat to Him and had been so hurtful to Him.  Jesus returned to the city though, and this story reveals something very significant about Jesus.  Jesus believes in the second chance.  He doesn’t write people off forever after they reject or persecute Him.  He continues to pursue those who have rejected Him even when His own life is threatened by doing so. 

 

4.4.            It has been said that the lovingkindness and longsuffering characteristic of God is our salvation.  Surely, if God were not longsuffering and give us as people chance after chance, we as a race would have been destroyed long ago.

 

4.5.            We as God’s people ought also to be those who believe in the second chance and again reach out to those who have rejected our Lord or left the church.  God’s people have been a people who believe in the second chance, as the scripture reveals over and over:

 

4.5.1.  In the book of Acts, we see that Paul went to the city of Jerusalem for a quick trip to Jerusalem (15 days) and met with Peter and James (Acts 9:26; Gal. 1:18-19), but had to flee for his life (Acts 9:28, 29).  Yet, at the end of his third missionary journey, Paul went back to Jerusalem to preach to His people even after being told by the prophet Agabus that he would be arrested and bound if he went to Jerusalem.  Paul went back to Jerusalem and was almost murdered there, and then he was taken to Caesarea where he was incarcerated for a couple of years.  When he finally was tried at Caesarea he appealed to Caesar which resulted in his being shipped to Rome to appear before Caesar.  In Romans 9:3, Paul wrote about the great burden that he had for his people, the Jews:   “3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”

 

4.5.2.      Many of the Old Testament prophets continued to preach and minister to the people of Israel after being persecuted.  For instance, Jeremiah suffered many things at the hands of the Judeans yet he kept telling them that if they repented of their sins they would not be taken captive by Babylon, but they were going to be taken captive to Babylon and if they would not resist the Babylonians they would not be destroyed.

 

4.6.            Peter, James, and John alone had been allowed to go with him to the raising of Jairus’ daughter (our previous study).  But note here that ‘His disciples followed Him’ to Nazareth.  Jesus determined that all of His disciples should see what enfolds as He heads into Nazareth.

 

4.7.         Jesus here is described by the people of Nazareth as, ‘the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon’ and having ‘sisters’.  It seems most natural that James, Joses, Judas, Simon, and these sisters were brothers and sisters of Jesus born to Mary and Joseph after Jesus was born.  James and Judas may have written the New Testament epistles bearing their names. 

 

4.8.            As Jesus begins to teach in the synagogue in Nazareth on this Sabbath, we read here the response of the people to His ministry:  ‘the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him.’  This reminds me of what is written of Jesus in John 7:40-47 when the Jewish leader had sent the temple officers to go and arrest Jesus and they were not able to do so because of His words:  “40 Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This certainly is the Prophet.” 41 Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Still others were saying, “Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? 42 “Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. 44 Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him. 45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” 46 The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” 47 The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you?” 

 

4.9.            There seems to be suspicion of Jesus when the people of Nazareth ask, ‘Where did this man get these things?’

 

4.10.        The people at the synagogue in Nazareth also marvel at the ‘wisdom’ of Jesus in the things that He was saying.  When we look in the scripture for men of wisdom we think of Solomon, he wrote the book of proverbs and had many proverbs.  However, Jesus was much wiser than Solomon and any other man who ever lived, He was the embodiment of wisdom.

 

4.11.        The problem with the people in Nazareth regarding believing in Jesus was the fact that they were familiar with Him.  There is a saying that says “familiarity breeds contempt,” and this was definitely the case with the people of Nazareth.  It should not be this way however because if anyone should be able to see what God is doing in someone’s life it is those who best know Him, especially when you are talking about Jesus.  One person has remarked that this saying should be, “familiarity breeds contempt among contemptable men’.

 

4.12.        Mark records here what the people in Nazareth said about Jesus and how that they were ‘offended’ by Jesus because of their familiarity with Him:  ‘“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.’

 

4.13.        The Wycliff Bible Commentary states the following about the people in Nazareth being offended at Jesus:  “The townspeople were offended. This verb originally meant “to be caught in a trap or snare.” they were caught in the snare of their own unbelief, and stumbled when they could have risen to their greatest opportunity.”

 

4.14.        The Bible Knowledge Commentary brings out how that their wondering how Jesus could be a prophet and yet the son of Mary was a derogatory statement:  “The phrase Mary’s Son was also derogatory since a man was not described as his mother’s son in Jewish usage even if she was a widow, except by insult (cf. Jud. 11:1-2; John 8:41; 9:29). Their words, calculated insults, also suggested they knew there was something unusual about Jesus’ birth.”   After all of these years, there was still the stigma in Nazareth of Jesus being born illegitimately.

 

4.15.        Because Joseph is not mentioned at all here it is believed that he is probably dead at this point.

 

4.16.        Jesus was a carpenter and the son of a carpenter, and The Pulpit Commentary states that St. Chrysostom had said that tradition has it that Jesus made plows and yokes for oxen in his carpentry career.  That Jesus made these items as a carpenter would make sense when you consider some of the things that Jesus mentioned in the gospels about plows and yokes:

 

4.16.1.  Matthew 11:29-30, “29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”” 

 

4.16.2.  Luke 9:62, “62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 

4.17.        So, many people knew Jesus as the man who had somewhat menial profession and crafted the plows and yokes for them, and though they thought of Him as being a good and kind man with exceptional abilities, they could not conceive of Him as being a great man, much less one who was fully God and fully man, God the Son from all eternity. 

 

4.18.    This Greek word translated ‘offended’ here means “to be caused to stumble, to be repelled.”

 

4.19.        We see here this very amazing statement that Mark makes about the people of Nazareth:  ‘And He could do no miracle there.’  Jesus had raised the dead, calmed the wind and the waves of the sea by a word, cast out a legion of demons from a man, and performed many other incredible miracles, yet it says here like He was limited in His power here by the unbelief of the people.  It is a sad thing when people cannot experience the power and miraculous works of Jesus because of their own unbelief.  God’s incredible works of power are only going to be performed in an environment of faith.

 

4.20.        Mark records here of Jesus that ‘He wondered at their unbelief.’  In the gospels, Jesus only marveled at two different things, the unbelief of people in spite of their having clearly seen and experienced the works of God, and the faith of the Gentile Centurion on Matthew chapter 8 who believed that Jesus could just say the word and heal his son.

 

4.20.1.  It is amazing to me that some people do not believe in God when His power and glory are so clearly seen through the things He has made.

 

4.20.2.  It is also amazing to me that when people hear the gospel and how that Jesus paid the full debt of our sin and all we have to do to receive the free gift of eternal life, it is amazing to me that they do not consider that this story could not have been made up.

 

5.                  VS 6:6b-13  - “And He was going around the villages teaching. 7 And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; 8 and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt— 9 but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two tunics.” 10 And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. 11 “Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” 12 They went out and preached that men should repent. 13 And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.” – Jesus sent out His twelve disciples in pairs of two and gave them authority over unclean spirits and told them to take nothing for their journey except a mere staff, and, He told them that when they enter a house that they were to stay there until they left town

 

5.1.            In Mark 3:13-15, we saw that when Jesus appointed the twelve to be with Him that He gave to them authority over demons and ability to heal the sick.  Now, Jesus sends His disciples out on an intern mission’s trip as part of their training, and they are to use that authority He had previously promised them. 

 

5.2.            I believe that this is the first time in the gospels that Jesus sent the disciples out by themselves to do missions work.

 

5.3.            This sending out of His disciples to preach the gospel, cast out demons, and perform healing was done for two purposes.  First of all, it enable the words and works of Jesus to be witnessed by more people and multiplied Jesus’ ministry.  Secondly, this was done as part of the training of Jesus’ disciples in preparation for the ministry that they will be called to.  We see in the gospels that after the disciples return from the two intern missions trips they are go on that Jesus discusses how things went with them and teaches them some lessons.  Surely, there was much discipleship that resulted from these debriefing sessions with the disciples.

 

5.4.            This sending out of the disciples by Jesus shows the importance of practical experience as preparation for ministry.  Not providing solid practical ministry experience has been one of the weaknesses of many of the seminaries in our country in preparing ministers for the ministry.

 

5.5.            Jesus sends the twelve out in six pairs because it would be an encouragement to them to have a fellow worker.  Missions work is best performed with at least one other person who can carry that burden and share the load, plus also hold you accountable to be obedient God in your calling and character.  Those who claim to be called as a pastor and are married need to have their wife behind their endeavor and committed to their work just as they are committed.  Otherwise, they will have trouble at home and in the ministry. 

 

5.6.            Mark states here that the twelve were given by Jesus ‘authority over the unclean spirits’ indicating that they were being called to cast demons out of people.  Matthew tells us more about this story, and he mentions that disciples were called to heal diseases also:  ‘Matthew 10:1, “1 Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.”’

 

5.7.            What is important to consider here is the instructions that Jesus gave to the twelve before He sent them out:

 

5.7.1.  The things He told them not to bring:

 

He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt— 9 but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two tunics.”

 

5.7.1.1.Matthew in his account of this story includes some additional things that Jesus told His disciples not bring:  Matthew 10:9-10, “9 “Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, 10 or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support.””

 

5.7.1.2.We have to ask the question of why Jesus would forbid His disciples from carrying these things with them?  The answer appears to be twofold:

 

5.7.1.2.1.He wanted them to learn to trust God to provide for them, and not trust in man or their own abilities and resources. 

 

5.7.1.2.1.1.Many people are hesitant to step out and do missionary work because they do not know how they are going to make ends meet, or how they are going to have their needs met.  Jesus’ encouragement here is that if God is calling you to be a missionary that you can also trust Him to provide for all that you need.

 

5.7.1.2.1.2.We as Christians need to learn to walk by faith, do we not?  God wants us to trust in Him even when we don’t know or see how He will work things out and provide for us.

 

5.7.1.2.2.Traveling light is a definite advantage to any itinerant ministry. 

 

5.7.2.  To stay in one house until you leave a city.

 

5.7.2.1.This exhortation appears to be given because it is not effective for a missionary to be constantly on the move.  One needs to stay put in order to plant a church and begin a work in a city.

 

5.7.2.2.You can’t plant a healthy garden if you are constantly digging up the plants and moving them from spot to spot.  Plants have to stay put in the ground if they are to grow roots and be healthy.  Pastors need to stay in one place in order for a church to be able to grow up.

 

5.7.3.  When a city or village rejects you, you are to shake the dust off of the soles of your feet as a testimony against the people.

 

5.7.3.1.This action is meant to be a public display to the people in a city that has rejected you that God’s wrath and judgment are going to come to them if they do not repent.

 

5.7.3.2.I think this shaking off of the dust is also something that helps us who are called out into mission’s work when people reject us because it helps us realize that when people reject us they are not rejecting us they are rejecting the Lord we represent.  We missionaries have to realize that we shouldn’t take rejection by men personally, and doing this can help us to deal with that.

 

5.8.            Jesus had called, taught, and trained His disciples so that one day this might happen, they would be sent out to do ministry.  It is important for us as Christians to keep in mind that we have been raised up to be used by God.  We have not fulfilled what God has for us until we begin to step out and let him gift and use us in ministry to others.  The future of Christianity and mankind itself was dependent upon these men being faithful to their calling.  Likewise the future of any church is dependent upon those who have been taught and trained to eventually begin to take that next step and become teachers, leaders, and ministers for Him.

 

6.                  CONCLUSIONS:

 

6.1.            Are you a believer in the second chance?

 

6.2.            Are you willing to go back to people with the gospel knowing that they may very well reject you, and could possibly even harm you?

 

6.3.            Are you trusting in God to provide you all that you need, and not relying upon the arm of the flesh?

 

6.4.            Do you realize that you have been taught and trained so that you might be used of God?

 

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