Mark 6: 1-6

 

(Mark 6: 1-6) And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

 

After performing four miracles, Jesus left Capernaum and went with his disciples to his hometown. The hometown here is probably Nazareth. In Matthew 13:53-54『And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? 』 From these words, there seems to be a time difference between the events described in Mark and the events described in Matthew. In the Gospel of Mark, after telling the parables of the four kingdoms of God, the four miracles are described. Then the incident is described. However, in the Gospel of Matthew, this event is described immediately after the parable of the kingdom of God. Both records describe the same event at the same time.

In chapter 13 of Matthew, Matthew later describes what Jesus said in various parables about the kingdom of God in Capernaum rather than in many miracles. It was because it was written and recorded as the last act just before going to Nazareth.

When Jesus returned to Nazareth, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and taught. Mark does not speak specifically about the teaching, so we cannot know exactly. However, if we look at what Jesus taught in the synagogue when Jesus was first rejected from Nazareth in Luke 4, we can guess that. Luke 4:18-19『The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 』 These words quote the words of the prophet Isaiah, and the Messiah, which God foretold for them, came to those who groan through sin and its punishment of death, and now the era of grace to deliver them from sin and death has begun. It is the Gospel. Jesus would have quoted these words and testified of the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Many people were surprised to hear what Jesus taught. They were very surprised to see Jesus performing his wise words and miracles because they knew that Jesus was a native person. The people of Nazareth have never changed anything like this when they were dealing with Jesus before. Still, they showed unbelief toward Jesus. In Luke 4:22-23,『And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 』 When Jesus was first rejected from his hometown, the people of Nazareth thought of him only as the son of the carpenter Joseph, and also as the human Jesus, brother of James, Joseph, Judah, and Simon. So, they did not seek to accept Jesus as the Messiah, revealed in Jesus' teaching and in miracle work. He did not try to recognize the wise words and great miracles Jesus taught as the wisdom and power of the Messiah.

So they wondered how such a wise word came from Jesus, the son of Joseph, the carpenter's son.

In this way, Jesus returned to his hometown, taught the Word, and performed powers, but they still thought of Jesus as human. So, through the teachings and miracles of Jesus, they did not realize who Jesus was, despite hearing and seeing the wisdom and power of the Messiah with their ears.

That's because they still see Jesus in the human mind that they are familiar with Jesus' parents, brothers and sisters. They couldn't even believe in Jesus at least as a prophet. Their superficial knowledge of Jesus, however, hindered them from knowing Jesus right away. This kind of hometown was a miniature of the Jews who didn't even believe in Jesus as a prophet.

The people of Nazareth were not willing to believe when they saw the wisdom and power of the Messiah from Jesus. Rather, they were greedy for Jesus' miracles. Jesus knew their thoughts and revealed what they had.

『 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 』. Jesus spoke with the example of Elijah and the prophet Elisha. The most respected prophets in Israel are Elijah and Elisha. However, Elijah and Elisha were also rejected from their hometowns. The prophet Elijah helped the widow of Sarebda in the land of Sidon, and despite the many years of famine in the land of the drought that lasted three years and six months, there were many Israeli widows who needed help. It was a widow, a foreigner, Salebda. Elijah left the Israeli widow and went to the Gentile widow because the Israelites rejected him.

The prophet Elisha is like Jesus. When the prophet Elisha was active, the Israelites had many lepers in need. But Elisha did not go to them, but he healed the Naamanite. This is also because the Israelites rejected the prophet Elisha. Israel turned away from God's grace for them.

They looked at abundance and prosperity from Baal and Asherah. So, when the drought broke out, they relied on the solution to Baal and Asherah. This tells us that the Israelites wanted to find their will for Baal and Asherah. To such Israelites, Elijah and Elisha did not perform miracles, the grace of God. It was God's abandonment of Israel.

Even though Jesus showed that he was the Messiah through miracles, the Jews did not want to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, but were concerned only with the power of Jesus. With the power of Jesus, they sought their own benefit. It was for their own benefit that they wanted Jesus to perform miracles in Nazareth. They were Jews who rejected God's grace, the Messiah, and were greedy.

Because of the Jewish covetousness, Jesus was not respected in his hometown, his relatives, and his home, just as the prophet was not welcomed in his hometown. But he said that he would be respected elsewhere. Therefore, Jesus did not just say, "There is no one who is welcomed in his hometown." He said, "The prophet is respected outside his hometown, his relatives, and his home."

Jesus did no power in Nazareth. According to Matthew 13:58, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. 』

Despite Jesus' teachings and his miracles, the Jews did not see Jesus as the Messiah, and thus, by not believing in Jesus, Jesus did not reveal the power of the Messiah to them. It is because the people of Nazareth did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah. It was because none of them had faith that needed mercy as the Messiah.

Therefore, Jesus could not show any power in Nazareth. Jesus purposely avoided doing many powers there. This means that they were not given the grace of salvation through Jesus. Because Jesus' hometown, the people of Nazareth, rejected Jesus, they were not given the grace of the new exodus.

All of the Nazarenes, except a few, rejected Jesus. Few people accepted Jesus. Jesus performed a miracle of healing by laying hands on and healing those who seek mercy while looking at the power of the Messiah from Him, even though there are a few. They would have been able to participate in the new Exodus grace that Jesus fulfills.

『 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching. 』 Jesus wondered that the people of his hometown did not believe in him. Here, the word "because it was amazing " is the word "Damazora" in Greek. In Mark 5:20, "And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel." When the man who had heard of the military ghost was healed through Jesus, when he went to the Devabolics and told them the great things Jesus had done to them, everyone said, "It was amazing."

The Devabolics experienced a wonderful history of power through Jesus. However, they wondered about Jesus' great work and did not believe in him. They asked Jesus to leave the Devaboli. The Devabolics were surprised by the great work Jesus had done, but as if they did not believe in Jesus, Jesus was rejected from his hometown. Jesus wondered the stubborn unbelief of the people of Nazareth in his hometown.

This incident must have been an important lesson for the disciples. They themselves will experience this rejection in the future when they are directly involved in evangelism work. Jesus left Nazareth for the second time. Jesus left Nazareth and taught in various villages.

Jesus traveled all the surrounding villages surrounding Nazareth, teaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. After Jesus was rejected from his hometown, he traveled all the villages around Nazareth in his hometown to teach the gospel of God. And Jesus called the twelve disciples and went on a evangelism trip by two. These contents imply that Israel will reject Jesus in the future and the Gentiles will accept the gospel of Jesus.