Mark 6:1-29

Verses 1-3

As Jesus goes to His hometown of Nazareth, some of the the people who have known Him most if not all of His life are blown away at His teaching and display of power that we know is the evidence that His teaching is from God, but that they are rejecting. The people of Nazareth are too familiar with Jesus and think they know Him already, so they don’t take too kindly to Him teaching and displaying power.

Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? - Now as they ask these things about Jesus it’s more than amazement. Surely some were amazed, but more than anything the tone here is one in which the people were in disbelief and being skeptical and mocking. Notice they call Him "this man".

Carpenter (Tekton) simply speaks of a craftsman who was skilled in wood and stone. A Tekton was both a builder and an artist. They would build the practical things like yokes and tables, while also being skilled enough to add artistic features.

Is not this the carpenter -

This was no compliment. The idea is “this guy is just a carpenter, he’s no rabbi” We know Jesus, He can’t fool us with this whole Rabbi thing. He never followed and learned from any great Rabbi, how can He now be a great Rabbi with His own disciples?

They were too familiar with Him in His home town and because they thought they knew Him they rejected His claims. After all they knew Joseph, Mary and Jesus half siblings. Nazareth was a small town, smaller than Moriarty or Estancia. The kind of place where everyone knows everyone. We all know too well how living in a small town can make us think we know more about someone than we actually do…

Son of Mary - This is more than saying we know who His family is. John’s gospel shows us that the people would mock Jesus by insinuating that Mary was an immoral woman because she got pregnant out of wedlock and that Jesus was a bastard child.

They took offense at Him. It’s the Greek word (skandalizo) = To cause someone to experience anger and or shock because of something that was said or done.

Verses 4-6

One of the themes in Mark is Jesus performing miracles in response to the faith of those in need.

He marveled because of their unbelief. Another way to say it is that Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith.

Interestingly We have another place where we see Jesus marvel. In Luke 9 when Jesus heals the Gentile Centurion’s servant. Jesus is asked by the Jewish elders to go to his house to go heal the servant because the Centurion was a good man who was good to the Jews in that region...

Luke 9:6–10 ESV

And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he sought to see him. On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.

So we have Jesus marveling at the faith of the Gentile Centurion and here in His own hometown He marvels at the lack of faith of fellow Jews who were His neighbors.

I sure hope that we each make Jesus marvel at our faith and never our unbelief...

He went about…teaching -

Jesus wasn’t dependent upon others for His sense of worth or purpose. He wasn’t going to despair and get depressed over their lack of faith. He knew what He came to do and was unwavering in His commitment to the call to continue teaching the people in that region around Nazareth.

Verses 7-13

Both Matthew and Luke add that When Jesus sent them out He sent them out to free people from demon possession and to heal diseases as an evidence of the gospel message that they were sent out to preach. The account from Matthew includes the instruction to preach. If they just went out o cast out demons and heal without the gospel being the point of reference they would have made no real difference nor had any real impact. The exorcisms and healings were a way to prove the power of the gospel message preached. Their mission like ours today is to make much of Jesus and little of themselves. Matthew tells us that Jesus specifically told the 12 to go not to the Gentiles nor to a town of the Samaritans, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Jesus sent them to do His work, remember He was already out preaching the kingdom, casting out demons, and healing people.

So we see here the first living example of the work of the church upon the earth. This was a practice run if you will for the time after the crucifixion when Jesus would no longer be ministering in the flesh, but would rely on the church to minister on the earth.

Take nothing for the journey -

Then Jesus tells them not to stock up for their mission, but rather to trust God to take care of and provide for them. There is an old saying that we use here “where God guides, He provides”.

There's no need to take anything besides the Holy Spirit with us when Jesus sends us out. 

The more we take the more we tend to rely on stuff and not on Jesus.

The servant of God should always be totally dependent upon Him and not upon themselves or the things of this world.

Too many people rely on programs, gadgets, other people or themselves when the work is God's work and the provision for that work comes directly from Him. You and I share the same Holy Spirit that the Apostles had in them. He was more than sufficient then and is more than sufficient now.

The gospel is a simple message, when we use the stuff of the world we can overcomplicate the simple message of the gospel. Besides that, if we rely on stuff, if we need all the stuff aren’t we sending a confusing message? We can’t tell others to simply trust Jesus’ teaching, life, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and promise to come back for us, all while being reliant upon money, gadgets, or any of the other things that people use that convolutes the simplicity of the gospel message.

The gospel is so amazingly simple and powerful that it can be proclaimed one on one or to huge groups of people. It applies to every nation, every man woman and child, to every life circumstance, literally to every single person on the planet, to the remotest villages and to the largest cities, to the poorest of people and to the richest. Because the gospel is so universal in its need and application, we should never think that it needs any extra help from us or from the things of this world to make it any better or more palatable. The only thing needed for the gospel to really be the gospel is for it to be proclaimed truthfully and with a dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

We don’t preach to change other peoples minds, we preach the gospel to be lovingly obedient to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit draws people to Jesus, not us.

Whenever you enter a house stay there -

These 12 who were sent out ones commissioned by Jesus Himself, were to trust God completely to provide for their every need. That meant they also had to trust that God would send them to people who would care for them along the way. They had to trust that God would bring them to just the right people. People who would open their homes and kitchens to the 12.

These guys were not to be looking for a better place but a place willing to receive them. If they were brought in by one family but the neighbors had a nicer house or served better food they weren’t supposed to be a nuisance and go from house to house. They were on a mission to make much of Jesus, not themselves.

Shake the dust -

This is a custom of the Jews when they would leave a gentile place. They would shake the dust off there feet as a way of saying they were so separate from the rest of the world they wouldn’t even take the dust of wicked people with them.

So they went out -

They did what Jesus had told them and equipped them to do!!!

They went out and proclaimed that people should repent, they cast out demons, and healed the sick...

The idea of “preached that people should repent” may more accurately mean that they preached in such a way that people were brought to repentance.

Listen family, Jesus has also given us authority and power and He gave us the authority and power to carry the calling He has given to each of us individually and collectively as His church.

Verses 14-16

This would be Herod Antipas who was one of the surviving sons of Herod the Great. He held the position of Tetrarch (ruler of a 4th part).

“ When his father died, he became tetrarch (“ruler of the fourth part”) of Galilee and Perea. He was not officially granted the title of “king.” It was, in fact, his ambition to secure that title for himself that led to his downfall in A.D. 39 under Caligula. Mark may be using the title of “king” here ironically, or perhaps he is reflecting local custom (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

Herod Antipas had 2 brothers Archelaus who ruled to the south, and Philip who ruled to the north. Josephus tells us that he and his wife were unhappy that he wasn’t given the title and position of a king. Especially since his other brother Agrippa was just given the position in the region he ruled over. So she persuaded him to go to the Emperor at the time a man named Caligula and ask to get the promotion. She wanted to be known as a Queen not the wife of a Tetrarch so she sent Herod to ask Caligula for the promotion and made sure he brought lots of cash with him to persuade the Emperor. Unfortunately for Herod Antipas, his brother Herod Agrippa sent messengers to Emperor Caligula and said that Herod Antipas wasn’t to be trusted. The Emperor believed the Agrippa and when Antipas showed up Caligula took his money and banished him to Gaul. Herod and Herodias committed suicide there in Gaul.

It’s John - Herod Antipas was guilty and that guilt made him confused and superstitious. In fact when Antipas lost the battle against his former father in law the people said that it was God’s judgment upon him for killing John the Baptist.

Some said Elijah...

Malachi 4:5 ESV

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

a prophet - Moses promised that God would send another prophet like Moses for the people of Israel. Moses was of course not just a prophet but the one that God used to lead (deliver) His people out of Egypt and toward the promised land.

Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

Verses 17-29

Josephus writes in detail regarding this family and makes it very clear that the Jews found the actions of this family and the divorce and remarriage from one brother to the other absolutely repulsive.

Now this was a real mess, like a “reality TV” show.

Herod Antipas was first married to Areta the daughter of a neighboring Nabatean King from Petra. Antipas went to go visit his half brother Phillip (they had different mothers) in Rome and fell in love with Phillips wife Herodias. Antipas convinced Herodias to leave Phillip and come back with him and marry him. So he divorced his wife Areta so that he could marry Herodias. Areta’s dad was not too happy about that and sent troops to go to battle against Herod Antipas and won.

Herodias and Philipp had a daughter named Salome who is the daughter mentioned here. But to make things weirder, more gross, and more like a reality TV show, Herodias was the granddaughter of Herod the Great. Which means both Phillip and Antipas were her uncles. So she left her first uncle husband for another uncle husband. And if that wasn’t enough, Herodias is so mad at John the Baptist for publicly rebuking Herod Antipas that she gets her teenage daughter (16-17 years old) to do a provocative dance for Antipas at his birthday party after he gets drunk so that she can exact her revenge on John the Baptist.

So just to bring you up to speed. Herodias who is married for a second time to another one of her uncles, now has her own teenage daughter Salome (Salome is the great niece/step daughter of Antipas whom she is dancing provocatively for) doing a belly dance type thing in front of Antipas and all his drunk friends. Herodias knows this is going to seduce her own husband/uncle and that he will get so excited that he will ask Salome to name anything she wants up to half his kingdom. So Herodias tells her daughter Salome in advance that when Antipas her great uncle/step dad offers her anything she wants, that she is to ask for John the Baptist head on a platter, and to have it immediately before Antipas can sober up and change his mind.

I told you it was like reality TV. One thing is for sure, the ruling Romans were not a people of high moral standards.

The king was sorry; Nevertheless - He was drunk, prideful and wicked at heart, so even though he didn’t want to put John to death, he had already promised his great niece/step daughter that she could have what she wanted, even if it was something he knew was wrong and something he was reluctant to give her.