Sermon Tone Analysis

What is worth fighting for?

The book of Mark is a book that is emphasizing that Jesus is the Son of God ().

The way John Mark has done is for the original readers is by cataloguing several things.

He opens up with the fulfillment of the forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist.

After John is put in prison, Jesus begins to manifest His authority through the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom ().

This is the good news of the kingdom of God.

Jesus then accompanies the message if the kingdom with many miracles so that people would believe in Him as the Son of God.

Jesus shows forth how powerful this kingdom is by subduing demons ().

Jesus also calls forth certain disciples to come and be fishers of men ().

Of course, the ministry of Christ is not without opponents.

The authority of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is challenged by the leading religious authorities of his time.

This is first seen when Jesus Christ claims to be able to forgive sins ().

Of course, the ministry of Christ is now without opponents.

The authority of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is challenged by the leading religious authorities of this time.

This is first seen when Jesus Christ claims to be able to forgive sins ().

Later, Jesus is accused of performing these miracles by the power of Satan.

().

What is he saying?

Even Jesus’ own friends and family do not initially believe who he is.

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In spite of this opposition, John Mark continues to catalogue how Jesus “amazed” those who were observing Him:

Jesus calms the storm ,

Jesus heals the maniac of Gadara -

Jesus heals the woman with the issue of blood -

Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead -

The original readers must have been challenged in their thinking.

If they were Roman, they would have been challenged to consider this Jesus to be the true God and that Caesar was not a god at all.

They would have been somewhat perplexed to see that the way Jesus showed his authority was by serving and not by force.

But as we come to our current passage, we must ask ourselves the question, “Is the divinity of Jesus really that important?”

By “divinity”, I mean the fact that Jesus is God and not merely a man.

This is one of the staple claims of the scriptures about Jesus Christ, and for Mark to be continually emphasizing these teachings and miracles of Jesus, you cannot argue that Mark is proving the case for the divinity of Jesus.

Also, the kind of authority Jesus had was unparalleled because it was an authority that not only dominated the physical realm, but clearly Jesus and the kingdom of God was over the spiritual realm.

There are several possible positions people today may have about the “divinity of Jesus Christ”.

First, there are those who purely reject the divinity of Jesus Christ.

One of the key objectives that we see in Jesus ministry, if not the key objective, is that his disciples would come to believe the fullness of who Jesus is.

Several of the miracles are performed with this intention.

Even the interpretation of some of the parables are given only to the disciples.

This opening part of is a preparation for the disciples.

First, Jesus will be rejected, and then Jesus will send forth his disciples with clear instructions on what to do when their message is rejected.

What is he saying?

The setting is in the synagogue Nazareth in Galilee

is a reference to Nazareth where Jesus Christ was brought up.

This was a small city in Galilee.

Some estimates of the population put it at 150 - 200 people in the village, and it is typically identified as religiously conservative.

Notice carefully how John Mark catalogues that the disciples “follow him”.

This is important in understanding this chapter.

The conflict is about Jesus’ teachings and works

Mark’s use of the Sabbath day should call us to remember Jesus’ prior teaching about the Sabbath Day, that He [Jesus] is the Lord of the Sabbath Day; but on this occasion, Jesus is bringing astonishment again through his teaching.

The conflict is not difficult to see.

Notice the questions that the people bring forth.

There are at least 4 questions that are all designed to point to the HUMANITY of Jesus and to downplay the DIVINITY (define and explain importance) of Jesus.

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The climax happens when they are offended by Jesus

The breaking point begins at the end of .

The people felt scandalized.

They were hearing what Jesus was saying, but they were unwilling to accept that Jesus was anything more than the little human, Jewish boy they’d always known.

The resolution is Jesus’ limited work in his hometown

Jesus then identifies their rejection of him and does not do any mighty works (dynamis) there.

The new setting is that Jesus proceeds to other villages to teach and work

Jesus leaves his hometown and proceeds to other villages to teach.

The Rejection of Jesus’ Divinity by his hometown

Why is he saying this?

For the disciples, this would have set forth an example before them of the rejection they would face for the message of Jesus’ divinity.

Jesus endures the most intimate type of rejection.

It is the rejection of those whom are his friends, his family.

Yet, the truth of the “gospel” and the kingdom are of such great importance that Jesus continues on to other places.

For the original readers, this account would have called them to accept Jesus as uniquely the Son of God and to persevere for this truth.

This is reminiscent of the letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, in which Paul is continually encouraging Timothy to continue and to endure: ,

Paul encourages Timothy to Remember Jesus Christ -

And this here in is where Christ himself is setting forth himself before the disciples as the ultimate example of One who is rejected, but one who will still go on.

The Requirement of Perseverance for Jesus’ Divinity

We must not expect that the divinity of Jesus Christ will be readily accepted by everyone.

Quote #1

One of the greatest enemies of the divinity of Jesus Christ in our lives is familiarity with the humanity of Jesus.

Quote #2

This familiarity with the humanity of Jesus causes us to not see a Jesus who is worthy of sacrificing everything for.

This is common for those who have grown up hearing all the wonderful stories of Jesus, seeing all the wonderful flannel-graphs of Jesus.

Quote #3

If Jesus be the Son of God, then He is worthy of following in spite of the rejection by those closest to us.

What is the point?

(proposition)

Because Jesus is indeed the Son of God, we can and must persevere for His divinity.

What is the problem?

First, let me say that we have gotten the doctrine of Christ’s divinity correct within the historical doctrine of our church.

Second, as a church we have sent forth several who have been willing to give up everything for this truth.

Third, there are people in our midst who so clearly believe this truth about Jesus that they are unselfishly loving each other.

The problem arises on several fronts though:

(1) The first question of the people reveals to us the cause or kind of rejection that Jesus needed to persevere through .

Their question reveals that they were not believing because they did not know the origin of these teachings and this power.

Their inability to know led them to further reason away from faith in Jesus Christ.

They were a people who, though religious — as they were in the synagogue, they had faith in knowledge rather than faith in the Lord.

Their security was built upon their ability to make sense of things.

Thus, anything that did not rationally make sense was to be questioned, and Jesus did not make sense to them.

Why?

(2) This leads to the second problem.

As the questioning progresses, it is noted that Jesus was a carpenter.

This means that Jesus earned a living like everyone else.

He was known as the son of Mary, thus Jesus was human like everyone else (so they thought).

He had siblings like most other Jewish children.

The problem here is that Jesus did not make sense to them because of what they did know.

What they did know was in conflict with what they apparently did not know.

Thus, they were offended or scandalized by Him.

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