Text: Mark 6:1-6
Date: July 11, 2021
Event: The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
Mark 6:1-6 (EHV)
Jesus left there and went to his hometown. His disciples followed him. 2When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue. Many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did this man learn these things? What is this wisdom that has been given to this man? How is it that miracles such as these are performed by his hands? 3Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
4Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own house.” 5He could not do any miracles there except to lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6He was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went around the villages teaching.
Are We Dismissive of Jesus?
“Familiarity breeds contempt.” Have you heard that phrase before? Have you felt that? Maybe you really felt it during the more intense periods of lockdown throughout the pandemic that perhaps left you very frustrated with the people or the inanimate objects in your immediate surroundings. Did the four walls of the house seem to be closing in? Did the habits of the members of your household start to grate on your nerves to a degree that they really hadn’t before?
The more familiar we are with someone or something, the more the chances arise that we get irrationally frustrated with it or them. Think how, generally, your patience for your family might be shorter and abrupter than your patience for coworkers, or members at church, or even total strangers. That seems really backwards, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t we be more patient and loving toward the people to whom we are so tightly connected? But, the sinful nature will take something good and warp it into something negative.
It seems like that’s maybe what’s happening in our Gospel. Jesus has been doing preaching and teaching around Galilee, but has perhaps been conspicuously absent from the town where he grew up, Nazareth. But at this time, he goes “home” and is there during the Sabbath. It would have been common for any adult male in the congregation gathered in a synagogue to stand up and read. If we are to assume that this account and what is recorded in Luke’s Gospel (Luke 4:14ff) are the same event, Jesus stood up and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He read a section speaking about the coming Messiah, and claimed that at that moment what God promised through Isaiah was fulfilled in him.
This, combined with everything that they had heard about him performing miracles, led to astonishment at what Jesus was saying and doing. Many who heard him were amazed. (Keep in mind that they were amazed, as that will factor in later.) But it wasn’t just amazement. They were asking some probing questions, “Where did this man learn these things? What is this wisdom that has been given to this man? How is it that miracles such as these are performed by his hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” Not terrible questions at first blush, right? They had seen this Jesus grow up among them. They knew him to be Mary and Joseph’s firstborn son. Jesus might have stood out as an exceptionally well-behaved child, but that was likely the extent of it.
But with his wisdom and authority in these matters, our translation says, “they took offense at him.” I think it’s even a bit stronger than that. Literally, it means they “they were caused to sin by him.” So this is a little bit more than amazement and wonder at their hometown boy. We might sum up their questions with something a bit more negative-sounding with negative implications and overtones. When they thought about Jesus they were thinking something along the lines of, “Who does this guy think he is?” The knew him too well to respect him as the Messiah, or even as a prophet sent by God. Their familiarity with him bred contempt.
And Jesus points that out. “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own house.” Jesus was prevented from doing much of anything, miracle wise, because of their lack of faith. The miracles always served the purpose of pointing to the validity of the things that he was teaching. When they had flat-out rejected his teaching, there was no reason to do any miracles except in a few isolated situations. And while they were amazed at what he said, Jesus was amazed at their unbelief.
Good thing that’s not what Jesus says or thinks about us, right? Or, are we getting a little bit hasty assuming he doesn’t?
Are we dismissive of Jesus like the people of Nazareth? Has our own familiarity with Jesus bred contempt for him, his will, and his Word in our lives? Is Jesus amazed at our unbelief? How we can know? How can we measure that faith?
Faith, of course, is not a tangible thing. Faith is the trust in Jesus as Savior that God gives and strengthens through his Word and the sacraments. But in his letter, James (likely the same James listed in our Gospel as one of Jesus’ brothers) gives us a metric to follow. There he writes: Be people who do what the word says, not people who only hear it. Such people are deceiving themselves (James 1:22).
So, we can’t see faith, but we can see how it’s working and thriving. Just like we can’t see someone’s body temperature, but a thermometer can give us that reading. So, how often do we come to church or connect in online, hear what God says, and then let it go no farther. How often do we let Jesus’ teaching have no effect on us or assume that he doesn’t really care what we do or don’t do? Has our familiarity with Jesus’ patience caused us to be dismissive of his will and warnings?
How often have we left this place and then been harsh with our spouse or children? How often have we left this place and been completely apathetic to the needs of other people when they interfere with our desires and goals? How often have we left here feeling like we’ve put in our “hour for God,” and then proceeded to live the other 167 hours of the week according to the whims and desires of our heart that is so often led astray by selfish sin?
More often than we’d like to admit, right? We sometimes like the idea of being a Christian, but not the implications that it brings. Implications of needing to put others first, implications of needing to correct our sinful tendencies (even those things that our sinful natures have deceived us into thinking are “fun” or “wholesome”). We’ve become so familiar with law and gospel that we hardly hear God speak anymore, and we get irritated when he would have the audacity to correct us, as if we didn’t know it all already.
But, that’s what Paul said in our Second Lesson, didn’t he? What is the purpose of the God-breathed, perfect, inspired Scripture? It is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, well equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If the Word is not rebuking us, if it is not correcting us, if we’re not letting it apply itself in our lives we’re treating our Savior with the same disdain and disgust that the people of Nazareth did. Who does this Jesus guy think he is?
Well, who do we know he is? He is our God who took on flesh in a way so unassuming that the people around him didn’t recognize him as something different. And he didn’t do it just to teach a new morality or to give an example to follow. He did it specifically because there were people in his world and in our world so dismissive of him that it was leading to hell. He came to offer his life as a sacrifice to pay for our dismissiveness and horrendously upset priorities. He died to set us free. He has given us a new life, a life we live not to feed our desires but to serve him in thankfulness.
So, my brothers and sisters, let this good news encourage you and let it be fresh in your mind and heart. Your sins are forgiven! You have eternal life! As a result, don’t let your heart be a place where the Prophet, your Savior Jesus, is without honor. Instead, hear the Word! Apply the Word! Make your heart an environment where the Word makes lasting changes. Find joy in being corrected, trained, even rebuked by Jesus because his is the way that leads to eternal life. Sin, left unchecked in our lives, will lead to unbelief and hell, but by God’s grace our lives are lived in thankful service to our God. They are lives that continue to prioritize his will above our own and seek change where we have erred, whether it be a new problem this week or something that has haunted us for decades. This life draws its strength from the gift of God in Jesus, which has completely forgiven our sins without any action on our part.
Are we dismissive of Jesus? At times, yes. But by God’s grace and Jesus’ forgiveness, we are washed clean of that dismissiveness and contempt for God and every other sin as well. Instead, we rejoice to have him speak to us, both words of comfort and words of correction. Lord Jesus, mold me into the person you want me to be so that I may thank you for your free forgiveness with my whole life! Amen.
