Mark 6:4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith.
Mark Moore made some comments on this passage that went something like this. If you want to impress Jesus, how are you going to do it? Are you going to create a fabulous painting that will impress the one who created the universe? Are you going to do some amazing feat or stunt that would wow Jesus? He raised from the dead - it doesn't get any better than that! It is a difficult thing to amaze Jesus, but the gospels record that it happened twice.
Jesus was amazed by the faith of the centurion - who asked Jesus to just say the word and his servant would be healed. It also happened here in Mark 6 - Jesus was amazed at the lack of faith of those in his hometown of Nazareth. Interesting - all the things that we do to try to impress Jesus, and Jesus is amazed by great faith and no faith at all. Why were the people of Nazareth so faithless?
When Jesus came with his disciples to Nazareth, he went to the synagogue and began to teach. At first it seems that the hometown crowd is impressed - verse 2 says that "many who heard him were amazed." But their amazement, like that of Jesus, was a negative amazement - they were scoffing at Jesus as they asked a series of five questions:
So the equation here is familiarity minus faith equals offense. They were offended that this carpenter had come back home as a Rabbi.
And that offense and lack of faith had consequences. Verse 5 says that he could not do many miracles except to heal a few people. Jesus is God - why would he not be able to do miracles? Well, it's not a lack of power on Jesus' part, but a lack of willingness on the people's part. In chapter 5, Jairus went to Jesus. The bleeding woman desperately clawed through the crowd to get to Jesus. In Nazareth, only a couple of people came to Jesus in faith, and only they received the blessing.
The application here is are you too familiar with Jesus? Do you see him as another aspect of your life or the source of your life? Do the stories and teaching of the New Testament seem common and dry? I think it is easy at times to think of them as "merely" stories, like the people of Nazareth saw Jesus as "merely" a carpenter.
I think this is one reason why so many young people fall away from a relationship with Christ. They have been taught the stories all their lives at church. They know the stories, but they don't have a relationship with the author. They study Acts, but not Romans. I have seen the rolling eyes and the heavy sighs from many young people that communicate loud and clear "we've heard this before."
Maybe if you are too familiar with Jesus, then you don't fear him enough. Maybe there is no faith - just familiarity with the stories.
Don't miss the opportunity to be blessed and healed by Jesus because of a lack of faith.
When Jesus came with his disciples to Nazareth, he went to the synagogue and began to teach. At first it seems that the hometown crowd is impressed - verse 2 says that "many who heard him were amazed." But their amazement, like that of Jesus, was a negative amazement - they were scoffing at Jesus as they asked a series of five questions:
- "Where did this man get these things?"
- "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles!"
- "Isn't this the carpenter?"
- "Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?"
- "Aren't his sisters here with us?"
- He's just a man - a common man. There is nothing special about him. He's just the carpenter, and that's all.
- Since we know him and his family, we know all there is to know.
- A person is defined completely by his family connections - we know them, and there is nothing special about them, either.
So the equation here is familiarity minus faith equals offense. They were offended that this carpenter had come back home as a Rabbi.
And that offense and lack of faith had consequences. Verse 5 says that he could not do many miracles except to heal a few people. Jesus is God - why would he not be able to do miracles? Well, it's not a lack of power on Jesus' part, but a lack of willingness on the people's part. In chapter 5, Jairus went to Jesus. The bleeding woman desperately clawed through the crowd to get to Jesus. In Nazareth, only a couple of people came to Jesus in faith, and only they received the blessing.
The application here is are you too familiar with Jesus? Do you see him as another aspect of your life or the source of your life? Do the stories and teaching of the New Testament seem common and dry? I think it is easy at times to think of them as "merely" stories, like the people of Nazareth saw Jesus as "merely" a carpenter.
I think this is one reason why so many young people fall away from a relationship with Christ. They have been taught the stories all their lives at church. They know the stories, but they don't have a relationship with the author. They study Acts, but not Romans. I have seen the rolling eyes and the heavy sighs from many young people that communicate loud and clear "we've heard this before."
Maybe if you are too familiar with Jesus, then you don't fear him enough. Maybe there is no faith - just familiarity with the stories.
Don't miss the opportunity to be blessed and healed by Jesus because of a lack of faith.
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