Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: Welcome to Hope for Today, a weekly Bible teaching program that will bring you hope for every day.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Hello and welcome. It is a privilege to open the Word and study it with you. In Scripture, there are many examples given of what we should be doing and the kind of people we should be.
As God's servants, our desire is to please our Master. We live for the day when we will hear him say, well done, good and faithful servant.
However, not everything given in the Bible is an example of what to do. Sometimes the story given is an example of what we should not do.
Today we we have such a story Please learn from Mark 6 and do not respond like the people in Jesus hometown.
Our title is Amazing Unbelief and J. Mark will look at three effects of rejecting Jesus.
Let's learn from them and do the opposite of what they did.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: There's a line from a song that was popular during my youth that goes like There is none so blind as he who will not see. It speaks of blindness as a matter of the will rather than a matter of the eyes or the sight.
You know, highly educated and intelligent people who design complex systems and procedures for a variety of applications generally accept the theory of evolution without a question.
The evidence for the Creator is right in front of their eyes and under their microscopes every day. But they close their minds to the evidence and they refuse to believe it.
This rejection of truth is almost as old as humanity, and there are countless examples of unbelief in the Bible.
One of those examples shows up in our text for today. Mark 6:1 6 and so I've titled my teaching Amazing Unbelief.
Here is Mark chapter 6 before beginning with verse 1.
Then Jesus went out from there and came to his own country. And his disciples followed.
And when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in their synagogue.
And many hearing him were astonished, saying, where did this man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to him, that his hands perform such mighty works?
Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?
So they were offended at him.
But Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honour, except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.
Now he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.
And he marvelled because of their unbelief.
Then he went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.
In this portion of Scripture we see the effects of unbelief on the lives of those who reject Jesus as the Messiah.
The first effect of unbelief is a surprising reaction.
Immediately after the healing of Jairus daughter, Jesus returns to his hometown. He brings his disciples with him, and that demonstrates his position as a rabbi. He has a following during his visit to his hometown, the Sabbath arrives and Jesus attends the synagogue that was his normal practice. And when he's there, he's asked to teach as he's teaching. The people are astonished.
Later in this text, we'll encounter the word amazed.
To be astonished suggests a state of shock or disbelief. To be amazed is to be filled with wonder, to be in awe in either a positive or a negative way.
And so the people who heard Jesus teach expressed their shock by saying, whence these things to this fellow?
Calling Jesus this fellow was degrading. They didn't even have the common courtesy to use his name because they were skeptical.
The people questioned his wisdom. They questioned his works. In their minds, he. He's one of them, so how could he be so different?
They knew that Jesus had never studied in the rabbinical schools. Where did he learn to teach like this?
And how are such mighty deeds, miracles done through his hands? Isn't he the builder whose work we've seen?
Isn't he the son of Mary? Don't we know his brothers and sisters?
The local people knew his family. They knew his trade.
And they discounted what they now saw with their eyes and heard with their ears.
Their unbelief obscured what should have been obvious.
He was no ordinary Nazarene.
Their astonishing unbelief blinded their hearts and their minds.
You know, some of us have grown up with Jesus and we think we know him.
We have a set of assumptions about how he should work.
However, he often does things outside the box that we have created.
So we struggle to reconcile our perception of him with what he chooses to do.
At this point, some people just give up and walk away.
And others become openly antagonistic.
Jesus shows his power more openly in other places than with us.
He heals and saves people we think are beyond saving.
His teaching makes us uncomfortable because he exposes our prejudices and our pride.
But you know, when he does that, we have a choice.
The people of Nazareth chose unbelief.
What will you and I choose?
The surprising reaction of the people in his hometown demonstrates the first effect of their unbelief.
The next effect of their unbelief is a scandalous rejection.
Verse 3 says they were offended at him.
The English word offended is translated from the original word Scandalizo. And that's where we get our word. Scandalous. It means to ensnare or trap like a wild animal, to see in another what I disapprove of and what hinders me from acknowledging his authority.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Jesus fellow villagers were bound by their prejudices and their failure to appreciate who he was.
Perhaps they were trapped by their low self esteem. After all, Nazareth did not have a good reputation.
Ridiculing those who rise above their circumstances is often something we do in an attempt to protect ourselves.
In their anger and resentment, they could only see Jesus as one of them.
And so they rejected Him.
Jesus responded to them with a well known proverb. A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, among his relatives and in his own house.
So did you catch it? Jesus makes a definite claim to be a prophet. We know he was a prophet and much more than that. He is the Messiah, the Son of man, the Son of God. Emmanuel, the people in Jesus town didn't like his message. So they did what many people do today when they hear truth they don't want. They attack the messenger. They tried to demean his character.
His holiness and purity made them look bad in their own eyes and the eyes of their peers.
You know something? People are no different today.
Do your preconceived ideas about Jesus trap you?
Do you feel like you're not worthy of his love and attention?
There's a sense in which that's true. None of us are worthy. We're all sinners and we deserve death.
When we don't feel worthy, it's easy to transfer those feelings onto others.
But Jesus considered us worthy of his love.
So worthy that he was willing to give his life on the cross for our redemption.
That is amazing love.
So don't be offended by Jesus because He makes you feel uncomfortable. And don't allow yourself to be trapped by your preconceived ideas about Him.
Don't attack the messenger because you don't like the message.
Instead, come to Jesus in humility. Acknowledge your need and he will do a mighty work in you.
The surprising reaction and the scandalous rejection demonstrate the effects of unbelief.
And there is yet a final one. It is a suppressed result.
It's easy for us to miss the pathos in the statement of verse five. It says now he could do no mighty work there except that he lay his hands on a few sick people and healed them.
You know, I believe that was truly a disappointment to Jesus. These were his people.
I'm sure there were many people that were Needy in Nazareth just like there were everywhere else. But they missed out on the life transforming power of Jesus because they refused to believe who he was.
Jesus had the power to perform miracles in his hometown, but there was no reason for him to do so.
Why? Because the miracles were designed to authenticate his message. They were designed to reveal him as Lord and Messiah. And because the people of Nazareth were settled in their rejection of Him. Miracles weren't necessary. They had already made up their minds.
Jesus decision to limit his work in Nazareth has an element of mercy. Because if he had done mighty works there, it would have only increased the depth of their unbelief and resulted in greater judgment.
You may remember that Jesus singled out the towns of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum for harsher judgment than other places because of the mighty works that he had done in those unrepentant cities. In fact, he said Sodom and Gomorrah would fare better in the final judgment than those who witnessed his ministry and still rejected Him.
However, there's also the element of judgment in Jesus decision.
The purpose of miracles was never to entertain the hard hearted.
No. Instead it was to move those open to the gospel toward saving faith. Jesus miracles were of no spiritual benefit to the unbelieving.
This deep rooted faithlessness and open hostility that he encountered in Nazareth jarred Jesus throughout his entire life. He had been the most amazing person they had ever met.
They didn't know why he was different. But surely they could not have missed the fact that he was different.
They could not have missed the evidence of his divine perfection.
How could those who said they knew him so well stubbornly refuse to to acknowledge the only reasonable explanation for his unique position as the Son of God?
Their unbelief was amazing.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: So let me ask, what effects does the life and ministry of Jesus have on you?
Do you believe he is the Son of God? Or is he just a good teacher or a prophet?
Does he surprise you with the people he ministers to and the places he goes?
And then does Jesus message offend you? Does his presence make you feel uncomfortable?
If so, why are you disappointed when he doesn't stay inside the box that you created for Him?
Do you not like his message, so you attack his character?
The solution to these problems isn't to reject Him. Instead is to open your heart to him, confess that you don't understand him and ask him to show you how he wants you to live.
You won't experience his miraculous power if you refuse to exercise faith.
Oh, you'll have access to the things that he gives freely to everyone, the sunshine, the rain, the seasons and the other laws of nature.
But you won't know the life changing power of his love and mercy.
If you want to experience all the good things that Jesus has for you, there is a requirement and that requirement is faith.
The writer of Hebrews put it this but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, that is that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek Him.
Don't let amazing unbelief rob you of the rewards God wants to give to you.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: Thanks JMarc for this sobering look at Mark 6, verse 5 is quite surprising.
Now he could do no mighty work there.
Their unbelief had an effect on what Jesus could do as Creator and King of the Universe. His power was limited because of their unbelief. This is amazing and may the same never be said of us. Rather, let's make it our goal to have the opposite effect.
May great works and miracles be done around us because of our faith in Jesus.
If you have any questions about today's lesson or if you would like to contact us, you can reach us by email or Internet. Our email address is hopeheraldsofhope.org and our website is heraldsofhope.org There go to the Partner tab at the top. Under this tab you will see Contact Us.
From there you can message us directly. Please contact us with the method that is easiest for you. Today's example was the exact opposite of the two given at the end of Mark 5. Jairus and the Bleeding Woman showed great faith in who Jesus was and today we saw what happens when Jesus is rejected. May we learn from these examples and be people of faith, bringing the presence of Jesus everywhere. We go and see him do mighty works because we expect it.
