Just too Ordinary

Jesus left Capernaum and travelled southward into the hill country until he came to the village where he had spent his youth and the early years of his maturity.

Jesus returned to Nazareth as would a rabbi, accompanied by his disciples.

Our Lord returns to this little small town for one final visit to the people who were most familiar with Him.

After all if you grow up for 30 years in a town of 500, you know everybody and everybody knows you.

About a year earlier, He had made that other visit when they tried to kill Him. He suffered intense rejection in his hometown of Nazareth.

It started out well enough when, alone on the Sabbath, he stood in his family’s synagogue and read verses 1 and 2 of chapter 61 of the Isaiah scroll and “all spoke well of him” (Luke 4:22). But then he began to preach confrontationally, and the mood so violently changed that

“They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff” (v. 29).

The loving municipality of Nazareth tried to kill their homegrown boy just as he began his ministerial career. That is rejection![1]

Recently Jesus had undergone further personal humiliation when his own family had attempted to lure him into a place where they could privately restrain him and take him back to Nazareth because they believed, “He is out of his mind” (3:21, 31–34).[2]

Now Mark records another attempt on Jesus’ part to reach out to the people of his hometown. It appears, humanly speaking, that his recent miracles in calming the storm, liberating the demoniac, healing the woman, and raising Jairus’ daughter had given rise to the personal hope that his hometown and family would be softened to his claims and receive his ministry.

So Jesus planned another trip north to Nazareth in an attempt to reach his people, and thus we have the story before us.

In this text we witness the Lord

reaching out to an unbelieving people,

what happened to him in return,

and how he and his disciples responded.

There is considerable wisdom here for how a Christian lives in an unbelieving world.[3]

Jesus is Offensive (vv. 1–6)

Mark 6:1–6 (ESV)

1 He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

Their initial reaction was amazement.

They were amazed at two things: his “wisdom” and his “miracles.”

The words and the miracles of Jesus prompted questions concerning the source of his doctrine and wisdom and of the power which had been exhibited elsewhere=in miracles of healing and exorcism. It is possible that the people entertained the dark suspicions voiced earlier by the Jerusalem scribes (Ch. 3:22).

Jesus had not been schooled in rabbinic fashion but had been trained as a manual laborer.

His immediate family were well known to the villagers, who judged that there was nothing extraordinary about them that would have led them to expect something unusual from Jesus.

What was the source of his wisdom, and who had empowered him to speak and act with such authority?

To these questions two answers lie close at hand:

the source was God,

or it was demonic.

Their first impressions of astonishment shaded off to resentment when they recalled Jesus’ earlier vocation and standing in Nazareth.

Not knowing the source of his wisdom, they find his office as a teacher offensive.

In spite of what they heard and saw they failed to penetrate the veil of ordinariness which characterized this one who had grown up in the village.[4]

“Is not this the carpenter?” means, Is he not a common worker with his hands even as the rest of us are?

The additional phrase “the son of Mary” is probably disparaging.

It was contrary to Jewish usage to describe a man as the son of his mother, even when she was a widow, except in insulting terms.

Rumors to the effect that Jesus was illegitimate appear to have circulated in his own lifetime and may lie behind this reference as well.[5]

What they cannot ascertain is where one so familiar to them could get all this power. they apply human reasoning and they can’t figure him out

And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.

Their preoccupation with this issue means that they never get around to asking the crucial question:

What does it all mean?

The answer to that question will ultimately lead them to the answer of its source (see 3:27).

They are not driven so much by a desire to know what is behind Jesus’ miracles as by an itch to confirm their private prejudice that he cannot be all that remarkable.[6]

This jealous, rung-dropping attitude toward Jesus by his hometown was simply “part of humanity’s contempt for itself.” As a result of their contempt,

“they took offense at him”

Knowing his claims, they were faced with the great trilemma of C. S. Lewis: he was either the Lord, a lunatic, or a liar.

They chose liar and a demonized one at that.[7] because he doesn’t fit in our paradigm

If Jesus is the Son of God from heaven, risen from the dead … If he’s from outside the world, he’s going to offend you in some way because he’s from outside the world.

and therefore every single place in the world, every mindset, every culture, at some point, will be offended by him.

You inhabit some part of that world. So if he really is from outside, of course he would offend you.

If you’re sitting around saying, “Well, I accept Jesus as long as … I wish he didn’t say this,” or “I wish the Bible didn’t say this,” or “I wish Christians were like this, because that offends me …” If he’s real, he will have to offend you someplace.

So here’s the question. Is Jesus Christ the Son of God risen from the dead?

If he is real, of course he would offend you in some way.

Either he is the Son of God risen from the dead and you have to take him with his offensiveness, or he’s not, and so who cares?[8]

The people from Nazareth want “an altogether glorious, supernatural Jesus whose credentials will be obvious to all, and refuse to believe that God discloses himself in the humanity of this one who is a member of a humble family and whose way, according to Mark’s testimony is the way of the cross.

“And he could do no mighty work there”

In the presence of gross unbelief Jesus restricted his activity to the healing of a few sick individuals.

Jesus was not free to exercise his power in these circumstances.

Unbelief excluded the people of Nazareth from the dynamic disclosure of God’s grace that others had experienced.[9]

The people of Nazareth already knew of Jesus’ miracles (6:2) but refused to believe.

Doubt has trouble believing; unbelief obstinately refuses to believe.

Most likely this is divine judgment: they reject Jesus, so God rejects them.

God will not work where he is not wanted. I

n fact, Jesus will give the disciples the same principle when he tells them to “shake the dust off [their] feet” when people refuse to respond to the gospel (see 6:11 below; cf. Matt. 7:6).

The unbelief of the people in this sense led to a restriction (“was not able to”) on Jesus’s miraculous power; nevertheless, the mercy and grace of God did lead to a few healings by Jesus here in Nazareth.[11]

“And he was amazed at their lack of faith.”

Jesus “amazed” at them, certainly conveying his very human shock at the extent of the rejection and “unbelief” of his former friends and neighbors.

their offense at Jesus keeps them from seeing him for who he is

Amazement frames this episode. As Robert Stein says,

this foreshadows “the dark cloud descending upon the Son of God, which will eventually lead to the cross.[12]

Unbelief robs the Church of its power.

without a believing expectancy in Christ and his power, nothing will come of it.

Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

If we want to please God, to know his pleasure and power, we must believe that the God revealed in the Old and New Testaments exists and that he acts equitably in behalf of his children. Do you believe this?

The disciples, which now included the Twelve, sat transfixed in Nazareth’s synagogue.

as they watched the tragic exchange between Jesus and the hometown crowd.

They learned some important things.

They had seen his astounding displays of power, such as calming the sea. But now they saw that there were situations in which

“He could not do any miracles”—times when faith was undermined. To serve him they must believe.

They learned that it would not be easy out there. If Christ found it hard to work, how much more would they?

With these lessons in place, Jesus sent them out to the unbelieving world.[13]

Unbelief is the context in which the Christian mission advances and that rejection is an experience common to the Lord and the Church.

So you should feel the offense, but you mustn’t take offense, because he says, “If you take offense, my blessedness cannot come into your life. If you let the fact that my gospel, who I am, offends the part of the world you’re from to some degree keep you away from me, I can’t do miracles in your life. I won’t do miracles in your life, because you have to receive me. You have to embrace me.”[14]

Christ was amazed by faith as well as the lack of it.

What about us amazes him?

What about you amazes him?

Game over

Sporting events always have an “ending,” which is necessary in order to determine the winner and the loser of the contest. The ending might be determined by a point total (in tennis, where a certain number of games must be won), or by time (in a soccer match), or by length (a minimum number of innings in a baseball game). The same is true of other games as well, such as card games or board games.

Once the game has ended, the winners and the losers are determined. That is, the game is over, the final score is secured, and there is nothing more the players can do to impact the outcome.

There will be a time when it is “game over” for every human being. That is the moment when our lives end and we will be held eternally accountable for the life we lived and the decisions we made. Until the game is over we can still impact our eternal destination by opening our hearts to God through faith in Jesus Christ. The decision we make about Jesus has eternal consequences.[15]

Jesus Sent them out with Instructions (vv. 7–13)

Mark 6:7–13 (ESV)

7 And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— 9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. 10 And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

Verses 8 to 11 spell out their instructions for ministering to an unbelieving world:

What happened with the Twelve?

They heralded the gospel, preaching that the Kingdom was at hand and that people must turn from their sin in preparation for it (cf. Matthew 10:7). The result was, “they drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”

The Twelve experienced great power in bringing the gospel to an unbelieving world. It was repentance, deliverance, and healing, just as if Christ were physically there.

There was a foretaste of what the Church would do through the centuries when it operated in the power of the Holy Spirit.[18]

In this way the apostles, the Church, and we Christians today can do “greater works”—not because they are greater than Jesus’ works, but because we are frail human instruments. Knowing who we are, it is amazing he uses us at all!

What are the abiding principles for those who would minister midst unbelief?

We must expect difficulties in ministry. “A servant is not greater than his master.”

Nevertheless, Christ fights unbelief through those who truly believe. The faithful follower lives in dependence. He travels light. He does not seek comfort first, but God’s pleasure. He is straightforward about the condition of the world and the danger facing lost men and women. [19]

How does this relate to us?

In the last part of this passage,

Jesus shows us if you follow him, just as he offends people, and therefore just as he evokes visceral rejection, you too will offend people and evoke visceral rejection.

“When I send you out, I want you to go out into the villages to minster like this,” and it’s extremely interesting.

First of all, he says, “I don’t want you to go with a wad of cash.

I don’t want you to go with so much money you can live on the outskirts of town and kind of commute in in order to preach on the square.

I want you to be dependent on the hospitality of the people you’re ministering to. I want you to really live among them.”

You have to remember in those days, hospitality was a much more sacred thing than it is now, and therefore,

For the disciple to come with the message of Jesus but depend on the hospitality of the people there, to live among them, and to become dependent on them was an act of tremendous respect and humility.

Secondly, they don’t go just talking. They go acting. They go serving.

Notice they anoint the sick. They heal the sick. They exorcise demons. They’re not just going simply to tell people things. They’re going to minister. They’re going to serve. They’re going to meet needs. Also, they were supposed to come with amazing integrity and simplicity of life with regard to money.

But Jesus says, “In spite of the fact that you’re going to go and serve people …

In spite of the fact that you’re going to pour yourself out for people, you’re going to get rejection, because,” he says, “in many cases, people will reject you, and then you have to shake the dust off your feet.”

This was just an ancient Near Eastern way of saying, “You are now responsible for what I told you. I’ve told you about Jesus. I’ve given you the information, and now your responsibility belongs to you. It’s not on me anymore.” That’s what that meant.

Jesus is saying; “You should be incredibly attractive. You should go out loving people. You should go out sacrificially giving to people, serving people, healing the sick, and exorcising demons.

In that sense, you’re going to be incredibly attractive,

…but on the other hand, you’re still going to be telling people I am the only Lord and Savior of the world, and that’s going to be very offensive.”[20]

This mixture of attraction and offense is exactly what we see in the history of the early church.

Christians were the most inclusive-acting people the world had ever seen. They were the most exclusive-sounding people they had ever heard.

but they were the most inclusive-acting people they had ever seen. Christians cared for the poor in the way the pagan world didn’t do. Christianity included the different races. It brought the races together. It brought the classes together in a way the pagans just thought was completely improper. How do you account for this?

The most exclusive-sounding group of people in history up to that point was the most inclusive-acting group of people in history, and as a result, they were both incredibly attractive and they grew like wildfire and incredibly offensive, and therefore they were often persecuted. That’s the fact. They did exactly what Jesus said about them. They were selectively offensive … not offensive to everybody, not attractive to everybody. They were selectively offensive and attractive.

Now by the way, that’s a test for us. Christian friends, brothers, sisters, anyone in this room who says, “I’m a follower of Jesus,” here’s your test. If you are never offensive, if you never experience visceral rejection and hostility for your Christian beliefs or Christian practices … If you never are offensive, you are being a coward or inconsistent or something.

But if you’re constantly offensive, if you’re constantly clashing with people over your Christian beliefs and over your Christian practice, if you’re always in conflict, if you feel like people are always picking on you for it, if you feel like you’re always being offensive, may I suggest you’re probably not being persecuted for righteousness’ sake? You’re probably being persecuted for obnoxiousness’ sake, and God doesn’t promise any help in that case. [21]

Now we are children of the King, of the Father. Sons and daughters! We have a name! We have a place!

That means we can take any other kind of rejection there is. It doesn’t matter what they call you. It doesn’t matter what they say. Who cares what they think? Who cares what the peasants think when you have the love of the King of all, the King of the universe?

Do you see Jesus Christ doing that so you could handle rejection?

Do you see him being rejected, getting the ultimate rejection, the only rejection that really could have destroyed you, so we could be brought into the family of God? Does it melt you? Does it change you? Does it affirm you? When you see that, now we have the truth that doesn’t lead to exclusivity, but inclusivity.

What do I mean? People say, “If you think you have the truth, you’re going to be exclusive.” Well, it depends on what you think the truth is. If the core truth of your life is a man dying for his enemies, people who don’t believe what he believes, how can that lead you to be superior, mean, self-righteous, and exclusive toward people who have different views?

Guess what. The man dying on the cross is not just a man, not just anybody. That would be a moving example, but if he’s really the unique Son of God, if God himself, when he comes unto Earth, does that, then I know at the heart of the universe, in the heart of ultimate reality, is self-giving love, not power and conquest.

That gives me both the power and the reason to turn to people around me who don’t believe what I believe, who maybe are even enemies, and to pour my life out for them anyway. That is the most exclusive truth possible. The Son of God himself has come and died for me. But it leads me to the most inclusive life possible.

Do you see it?

Are you willing to be both attractive and offensive? Can you be? The closer you get in heart and life to what Jesus has done, to that ultimate visceral rejection he got on the cross, the more you will be come the most attractive and offensive person. Most of us aren’t either.

You know that. We’re kind of just blah, but if we ask God to make this truth real to our lives, we might start to actually begin to become the attractive, offensive people who can really make a difference in this world.[22]

“All other religions offer as salvation some form of liberation from ordinary humanness.”

Ultimate salvation, in all other religions is always seen as someday escaping the shackles of our humanity, the shackles of our individuality, our physical embodiment, getting away from the ordinary human life of eating, drinking, sleeping, and working. Every other religion says salvation means we’ll someday be released and liberated from ordinary humanness into a kind of ethereal, esoteric, transcendent, pure spiritual existence.

“But biblical salvation lies not in an escape from this world, but in the transformation of this world. You will not find hope for this world in any other religious system or any other philosophy of humankind. The biblical vision is unique.” The ordinariness of Jesus subverts and contradicts what every other religion except biblical religion says about salvation.

Every other approach says salvation means God releasing us from ordinary human life, but when you read the Bible, when you see the life of Jesus … Who’s Jesus? It’s God. According to the Bible, salvation goes in the opposite direction, the opposite trajectory. God comes down into our humanness. He gets entangled in it. He immerses himself in ordinary human life. He becomes the kind of person who needs to know, “Where am I going to eat tomorrow? What am I going to drink tomorrow?”

He not only gets involved in just simple, ordinary human life, but also in the vulnerability, pain, and suffering of our human life, and eventually he dies to redeem it. Tim Keller

[1]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 131). Crossway Books. [2]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 131). Crossway Books. [3]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, pp. 131–132). Crossway Books. [4]Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 201). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. [5]Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (pp. 202–203). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. [6]Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark (p. 231). Zondervan Publishing House. [7]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 133). Crossway Books. [8]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [9]Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 204). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. [10]Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark (p. 238). Zondervan Publishing House. cf. compare [11]Osborne, G. R. (2014). Mark (M. L. Strauss & J. H. Walton, Eds.; p. 94). Baker Books. [12]Osborne, G. R. (2014). Mark (M. L. Strauss & J. H. Walton, Eds.; p. 94). Baker Books. [13]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, pp. 134–135). Crossway Books. [14]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [15]Osborne, G. R. (2014). Mark (M. L. Strauss & J. H. Walton, Eds.; pp. 97–98). Baker Books. [16]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 135). Crossway Books. 11 11. Lane, pp. 208, 209. [17]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 136). Crossway Books. [18]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 136). Crossway Books. [19]Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 137). Crossway Books. [20]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [21]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [22]Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

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