21. Mark 6:1-6a
Fresh off this double
healing Jesus and his disciples return to Nazareth, Jesus’ home. This scene
counterpoints the emphasis on faith in the previous “sandwich.” It shows how
lack of faith can hinder even Jesus’ work. Mark tells us he “marveled” or was
“amazed” over it (v.6).
It is sabbath and Jesus is
teaching in the synagogue. Apparently his teaching and “mighty works” are known
in his hometown. This is perhaps what garnered him the opportunity to preach
there. All too quickly, however, the “familiarity breeds contempt” syndrome
kicks in and local-boy-makes-good morphs into how-could-this-kid-we-all-know be
doing all this? An doubt creeps in and turns to “offense” (v.3) at Jesus.
Mark calls Jesus a
“carpenter.”
“Early in Jesus’ childhood, Sepphoris,
then capital of Galilee, had been destroyed by the Romans, and rebuilding had
begun immediately. Thus carpenters were no doubt in demand in Nazareth, a
village four miles from the ruins of Sepphoris; and Joseph, Jesus’ father,
probably taught his son his own trade, as was common for fathers to do in those
days. After Sepphoris had been rebuilt, they probably did most carpentry work
from their home, as most Galilean carpenters did. The observation that Jesus is
a carpenter is meant to identify him, not to suggest the unlikelihood of a
carpenter being a teacher, for we also know of other carpenters who became
famous teachers (e.g., Shammai).” (Keener, IVP
Background Commentary on the New Testament on Mark 6:3)
Israel had a shameful
history of rejecting the prophets God sent to it. Jesus joins himself to that
line. And Mark’s portrayal of his authority and power place him at the head of
it.
Which
makes especially poignant his note: “And he could do no mighty work there, except
that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them. And he could do
no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and
healed them.”
There’s
no contradiction here though some have thought so. It’s not just a matter of
doing miracles for Jesus. It’s a matter of carrying out God’s New Exodus
movement. Healing “a few sick people” marks the limited amount of success his
ministry had in his hometown. Jesus could strike no blow for the New Exodus
there.
“The point . . . is not that Jesus was
powerless apart from men's faith, but that in the absence of faith he could not
work mighty works in accordance with the purpose of his ministry; for to
have worked miracles where faith was absent would, in most cases anyway, have
been merely to have aggravated men's guilt and hardened them against God.” (Cranfield, Mark, 197)
A sobering
counterpoint to the faith of Jairus and woman in the crowd, huh? Resistance to
Jesus can spring up anywhere and for more or less noble reasons. It even
surprised Jesus here!
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