March 2 – Mark 6:1-13

As Jesus and His disciples travel through Galilee, they stop in Jesus' hometown of Nazareth. On the Sabbath, Jesus teaches in the synagogue, and “many who heard him were amazed” (v. 2). So, His teaching was impressive, and His miracles were undoubtedly well-known. But in that small town, He was still the local carpenter. Mary’s kid. An ordinary blue-collar worker turned itinerant rabbi. Because the people of Nazareth knew Him so well, their familiarity bred contempt, and “they took offense at Him” (v. 3). Their own personal bias blinded them to the reality that the Messiah had grown up in their community.
Jesus understood that prophets often receive no honor among their family and friends, and He said as much (v. 4), but this lack of respect was also accompanied by an astounding lack of faith, even in the face of His amazing teaching and reputation for miracles (v. 6). Verse 5 tells us, “He could not do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them.” This does not mean that the people’s lack of faith somehow took away Jesus’ power. Jesus once healed the son of a man whose faith was weak (Mark 9:24). He raised Lazarus when Martha did not believe that He could, even after He called for the stone blocking the tomb to be removed (John 11:23–24, 39). The difference between the people of Nazareth and these other two cases is that Martha and the man whose son Jesus healed in Mark 9 both trusted Jesus. They may have doubted His ability to perform a miracle, but they did not doubt Him.
God does not go where He is rejected, so when Jesus could not do any big miracles in Nazareth, it was because the people had rejected the work of the Holy Spirit. They had hardened their hearts against the work God was doing in their midst and thus “[stood] condemned already because they [did] not believe” in Jesus (see John 3:18). The miracles confirmed Jesus identity as Messiah, and due to their bias, there was no confirmation that the people would have accepted. They were stiff-necked, hard-hearted, and contemptuous toward the Son of God.
Not to be deterred from His mission, Jesus continues to teach in other villages (v. 6). He sends His disciples out in pairs as emissaries with His authority to call people to repentance, cast out demons, and heal. He asks them to exercise faith by not taking any provisions with them. They are to rely on God and the hospitality of others, and if they are rejected, like Jesus was in His hometown, they are to leave and “shake the dust off their feet” (v. 11), a practice that Jews normally did after returning from foreign (unclean) lands. This showed that the community, like Nazareth, had rejected God and the work He wanted to do among them.
The disciples showed faith in Jesus while the people of Nazareth did not. Because the disciples’ hearts were open to Jesus, He worked in and through them. They were ordinary people who trusted God. That’s all God asks of us—that we have a little faith in Him (faith as small as a mustard seed). He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20), but we will never see it if we turn our backs on Him.
As you spend time talking with the Lord today, remember that this time with Him is an expression of your faith in Him. Though your faith may be small, it opens the door of your heart to receive all God has for you. Share whatever is on your heart with Jesus today in prayer, knowing that in this sharing, the doors of your heart are opening wider and He will respond in ways that make your faith grow.
Comments