Homecoming
Gospel of Mark: Jesus a life to serve • Sermon • Submitted
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Familiarity Breeds Contempt
Familiarity Breeds Contempt
Don’t get to comfortable in your Christianity for you may miss something that he Lord has for you in His Word and confirmed by His Spirit. As Jesus goes home it is not a normal homecoming that one would like to expect.
“The better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them.” — The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
“If you know someone very well or experience something a lot, you stop respecting them.” - The Free Dictionary
“The more you know something or someone, the more you start to find faults and dislike things about the.” - UsingEnglish.com
Those are pretty hard hitting points, I think the Bible tells us time and time again to be on the alert, to be aware, to be sober, and that holds true in the common places, familiar places and family places too.
Jesus is returning home after about a year, last time, well it did not go so well, they were enraged and wanted Him gone (Lk4:28-29) .
LK
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.
So now He has another homecoming with a hope they will hear, repent and be baptized as know that He is the fulfillment of the prophesy due to the signs and wonders they had heard about Him doing. He came with proof, but even proof does not move people sometimes does it?
This time coming to Nazareth is different too, He is coming as a teacher who has a following (disciples); hence why they allowed Him to speak in the synagogue.
Jesus has just come through a great time of shining a light on who He is.
He stilled a storm (Mk4:35-41)
Cast out a legion of demons (Mk5:1-20)
Healed a 12 year blood issue woman (Mk5:25-34)
Raised a 12 year old child from death (Mk5:21-24, 35-43)
Word travels fast and many come and are touched, healed, believe and follow Him, but it’s time to go home.
Home normally is a place where love lets us be ourselves; pride shares out achievements and understand, well it covers our faults. But in our passage today, let’s see what Jesus reception is.
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.”
Mk
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. And He was going around the villages teaching.
MK6;
What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?
Allowing familiarity to breed contempt can be to one’s disadvantage. Today we are going to look at that.
I. When the message is not received
I. When the message is not received
It was not that Jesus did not have a known reputation, for His reputation proceeded Him, but still they did not believe the message given because of His history there. They were familiar with Him.
At first the people were astonished and had wonder (Mk6:2; Lk4:22)
2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
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?
Astonished and were asking the right questions, but with the wrong heart and for the wrong purpose.
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?”
They were familiar with who he was, for He grew up there they knew His family, they were common folk, how could this be that He did these miracles?
They col
“They could not deny the godliness of His presence, the wisdom of His words or the power of His miracles.” - Lloyd J Ogilvie (Preacher’s Commentary)
They cannot accept the change, are unwilling to accept the change, it has bred a familiarity of contempt that comes from a sprout of unbelief.
Why?
One reason for contempt; they knew Him as a carpenter (MK6:3)
The son of Mary (Mk6:3); Mark makes no mention of Joseph; they know his brothers and sisters, they were just common people.
Lk4:23-30 gives us more information so let’s look there too.
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.
What do you add to the story now in looking at the Luke passage?
They became angry (Lk4:28)
They drove Him out of the city to kill Him (v.29)
But it did not stop Jesus, he passed through (v.29) and moved on (Mk6:6)
Familiarity breeds contempt is a well-known maxim dating back to 2BC; so this was nothing new, you can even read Aesop’s fable using the illustration of a fox and a lion, that the end results is even the most scary of circumstances with familiarity can seem harmless. But a lion is a lion and will act as a lion and when hungry would eat the fox.
Phillip Brooks a clergyman in Boston back in 1800’s said it like this.
“Familiarity breeds contempt, only with contemptible things or among contemptible people.” - The contempt shows by the Nazarene’s says nothing about Jesus but a great deal about them.
Because of their contempt; their familiarity, they did not respect Him as a prophet (Mk6:4; Lk4:24)
24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.
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.
They took offence to Jesus, not because of what He said, or even what He did, but in who He was. He was a common man, a carpenter, the son of Mary.
The questions asked are good questions
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?
Lk4:
The first question, where did this man get these things, should be to find out is Jesus human or divine?
Second question about wisdom? Is it just human philosophy or eternal truth?
Third question about miracles being done by His hands? Is he just a miracle workers like others or is He really the Son of Man as He has claimed to be?
How these questions are answered was important than, and is important now for either Jesus is a liar, a lunatic or Lord as C.S. Lewis put it.
The evidence has been provided and yet due to familiarity that bred contempt now brings unbelief.
Unbelief has consequences and is tragic and can be eternal. Due to their unbelief Jesus did not do any miracles. HE is not a worker on command or demand. His miracles were coupled with faith, and in general they did not have any, for familiarity bred contempt.
6 And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.
As Jesus last recorded time in Nazareth it would be easy to be discouraged. The homecoming was not what one would expect, look at what Jesus said (Lk9:58)
58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Some self truths to look at and consider:
Can we breed familiarity today with God’s Word?
How about the preaching/teaching of the Word?
How about no longer having respect for those you know so well?
Finally, no longer revering God and His Word?
II. Familiarity that breeds contempt can keep blessings from being received.
II. Familiarity that breeds contempt can keep blessings from being received.
Because they had unbelief, Jesus limited His miracles. Jesus limited His time and His teachings. He came to offer hope, to bring mercy and grace but n general they missed out on those blessings.
Jesus marveled because of their unbelief (Mk6:6)
6 And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.
Jesus left because of unbelief and trying to kill Him (Lk4:28-30)
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.
Because of their familiarity to Him, they were unwilling to believe.
Because of their unbelief, He could do no miracles (Mk6:5; Mt13:58)
58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
Oh He did lay hands on a few and heal them, but overall blessings of healings was held back due to unbelief that came from familiarity that had bred contempt.
Can we bred contempt to about things:
Necessity and importance of baptism? How about Lord’s supper
How about making the blood of Christ a common thing (Heb10:29)
29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Such contempt can close the door to the blessings that God wants to give to us, including grace and mercy
When we discount the importance of baptism for remission of sins (Act2:38, 22:16)
And loose the value of observing the Lords supper a communion with Christ (1Cor10:16)
16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
Or even in feeding on God’s Word so that we might grow (1Pt2:2)
2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
Or even in feeding on God’s Word so that we might grow (1Pt2:2)
Nor utilize prayer to receive mercy and find grace (Heb4:14-16)
Nor utilize prayer to receive mercy and find grace (Heb4:14-16)
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
(Conclusion)
We have seen what happened when familiarity bred contempt for the people of Nazareth.
6 And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.
A great homecoming it could have been, more for the people of Nazareth than for Jesus. They could have received the grace and mercy and promises that He had to offer, but because of familiarity that bred contempt, it lead to unbelief and Jesus had wonder and left.
We can do the same when the holy become common, or when we don’t think we are worthy of eternal life. Both are extremes, but end result are withheld blessings.
46 Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.
36 “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;
The way to avoid this, to prevent this is to pay close attention To Jesus
1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
or add to that
4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.
May our prayer be
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.
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Other scriptures referenced: Act13:46; Heb2:1-2; Mk4:4 and Psm119:18
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