Gospel Mark 6:1–13
What do you think a person mean when they say; "attending church is not meaningful to their lives today"? Obliviously there can be more than one meaning. But in today's reading that is one take on what happened.
Mark 6:1 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.
Jesus returned to his hometown not as a favorite son coming home but as a rabbi. We know that he came as a teacher because he brought hIs disciples with him. The Lord was teaching in his town's synagogue. The local worshippers had heard the reports of the miracles. Works of healing performed with a power that was greater than nature. It was a power the witnesses could not define, describe or understand. And when Jesus taught the word of God they admitted he had been given special wisdom. But where did he, a simple wood craftsman receive it. The word Given, confirms they thought his wisdom came from an external source. We believe in Jesus as son of man and Jesus son of God.
Too many times in our world, people say church lacks meaning. What they mean is because they are not personally moved by a religious experience. The Jews in the synagogue when Jesus spoke were also not moved in a positive way. Actually scripture tells us they were offended by his presence. Some call it being hard hearted some call it disbelief; the point remains it was by their own personal free will choice that they separated theirselves from the awesome presence of God's word.
Maybe if they could have captured a heart like David when news of the death of King Saul and Jonathan reached him he was grieved. Despite the fact that King Saul wanted David killed. David's heart reflected the kind of heart God has for his children.
There are social reasons that could have lead those hearing Jesus teach in Nazareth into their blindness. First the training Jesus received in his youth was to prepare him to be a craftsman and not a rabbi. They were not accustomed to seeing someone being bi-vocational. Second the family of Jesus had not been among the elite, prosperous and respected in the community. How could someone trained to be a woodworker from a everyday normal and family teach us about God?
To allow them some human slack; there had been false prophets to rise up and incite the Jews against the Roman occupying army. There was a price for these riots. The price the Roman army put on the Jews because of riots was designed to make the Jews think twice before they joined another riot.
No matter about their reasons these hometown Jews were in the awesome presence of the one who defined a religious experience. His name is Yeshua ha-Mashiah, meaning Jesus the Anointed. With there hearts not being God like; their thorn in the flesh blinded from knowing a religious experience. The presence of God was right in front of them, but they could not hear or see.
Remember Jesus had brought his disciples along. We know his disciples were amazed with their teacher? Could it be possible our Lord had intended this negative experience to be a teaching tool for preparing the disciples for their mission work?
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.
The odd point to note is that Nazareth was not regarded as a special good city. Because of the kind of people living there Nazareth was regarded as the arm pit of Israel. Remember John 1:46. Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Now the people of Nazareth were looking down upon their local son. This was not the right response they should have given the anointed of God whom has traveled to their community.
The Shema; found in Deutomery 6:4 is Judaism basic confession of faith. The Shema calls for the Jewish people to respond properly with God. They must listen and obey our living God. After all God comes to his people first. This is the type of relationship indicated by our living God. God comes to people and not the other way.
The people of Nazareth knew about John proclaiming Jesus as God's chosen Messiah. The people of Nazareth knew about the miracles. They knew the power of his hands broke the laws of nature. These works also proclaimed Jesus's unity with our creator. They should have proclaimed Jesus as the holy one. Jesus is the Lord over all the earth and at the sound of his name every knee should bow. Jesus was amazed how their unbelief robbed these people from experiencing the presence of Adonai, our Messiah. Jesus came to teach with his disciples in attendance and yet Nazareth was blind and deaf to the presence of God.
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.
What did the disciples have to take from Jesus to the people he sent them out to? First, the disciples did not create a sermon message. The words they shared was the teachings about God, Jesus had shared with them. Their message was not the opinions of a human it was God's truth. Included in that truth was the painful message of their need to repent. For a proud people, the message of repentance is not easily accepted. But when a person accepts the message of Yeshua ha-Mashiah, that person knows the mercy of Adonai, our Lord.
Our lord sent his disciples on a mission trip. The disciples were to trust God to provide. This was the purpose of not wearing the bag like would be worn on a normal day, that was how coins were carried. Jesus did not want his disciples to be compared with the priest from the gentile temples, they journeyed seeking money for their temple.
The Jews had a different temple tradition, when a man entered into a temple he put off things of the world so he could approach an understanding of the sacred nature he was approaching. Maybe Jesus was teaching his disciples to treat their mission trip and each home they were invited into as a sacred place.
Hospitality in the times of Jesus was a community responsibility. Should a community not be accepting and extending hospitality. Jesus taught his disciples to treat the community as Rabbinic law prescribed for a Jew leaving a foreign land. The dust of that gentile country was defiled. A traveler was to shake off defiled dust before entering God's land. Likewise the dust of a Jewish community not extending hospitality to the disciples of Jesus was to be treated as dust from a gentile community.
I pray that attending church today has been a meaningful experience. May you grow in the experience of knowing and loving Yeshua ha-Mashiah.
