Mark 6:1  And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
2  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?
3  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.
4  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.
5  And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
6  And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

Jesus came into His own country which would have been the area of Nazareth. That is where Jesus grew up. His disciples followed Him to the various places He went. That is how they would learn Who He was and what He was about. It is when we spend time with a person that we get to know them. The true child of God needs to spend much time with Jesus through the Word of God in order to know Him.
Jesus came under the Old Testament Jewish law. The sabbath was the Jewish day of rest. It was the day that God gave them to set aside their busyness and to concentrate on learning of Him. It is believed that the synagogues were established around the time of the Babylonian captivity. The temple was destroyed at that time and was not rebuilt until the time of Ezra. There were still some Jews who wanted to study the Scriptures. Not all of the study was for the purpose of knowing the truth. However, man in general has a desire to worship. As we find, the Jews developed a very legalistic and ritualistic religion and they took some of their ideas from the corruption of God’s law.
In our text Jesus entered the synagogue to teach. He had one purpose there and that was to teach the Scriptures as they had been given. The Pharisees and their friends had done much to corrupt the Word of God. They and the common people needed to be taught the truth.
We read that Jesus taught with such wisdom that the people were astonished. They had heard the scribes and Pharisees rattle on about their heresies, but Jesus taught with such clarity and such authority. His teaching was not with antics. It was plain and the people could sense that this was different. Some would accept His teaching. Many would be curious, but not convinced that He was right.
The people were trained in such a way that they allowed a person’s background to either limit his abilities, or to enhance them. This was still common in the time of the apostle Paul, and it is also common in our time. The people assumed that Jesus was the carpenter. They knew His mother and his brethren and sisters. This and other verses expose the lies of the Catholics who claim that Mary was a perpetual virgin who had no other children beside Jesus. We are not told anything more about Joseph, the husband of Mary, but they did have other children, some of which are named here.
The sad fact here is that because they knew some of the background of Jesus, they took offence at His teaching, rather than receiving it. God can and does take people from different backgrounds and He prepares them for the work He has for them. In the Old Testament, Amos was a sheep herder. Jesus chose several fishermen to be His disciples. He also chose a tax collector.
God changes a person when they turn to Him in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
We see that Jesus knew the thoughts of the people. He acknowledged that a prophet is not without honour save in his own country. The prophets were recognized for their prophecies. Too often the people would receive a false prophet. They would show a certain level of respect for a prophet, whether they were true or false. Jesus was too familiar to these people and they would not accept Him because of that.
The fact that the people would not receive Him meant that He could not do any mighty work there except healing a few sick people. Jesus did not throw His pearls before the swine. He did not force Himself upon anyone. He made it known as to Who He was, and He did many miracles and His fame was spread abroad. However, those that did not want Him would not receive the blessing He wanted to give them.
In verse 6 we read that He marvelled at their unbelief. It was not that Jesus was taken by surprise at this. He knew their thoughts. It was such a dreadful thing that they would reject Him because they thought He was just a common man. Carpentry is a needed skill. We have lost that skill to a great degree in our time. In past generations, carpenters could craft some very nice looking furniture with just a few tools and with great skill. They took pride in their work. Their skills were sometimes taken for granted, but it is hard to find any woodwork that is done with such care and skill, today.
Jesus did not come to be a carpenter. He grew up under the care of a carpenter. He learned that skill to a degree. No doubt He would have been the best carpenter around because He was the Son of God. He was the Creator of all things, and He would have had complete knowledge of how to take a piece of wood and make the greatest use of it.
However, He came to lay down His life for the sheep. He came to teach the people what they should expect from the Messiah, the Saviour of mankind. He came to present Himself as the Messiah and Saviour. He showed the people their need to be forgiven and saved. He was not deterred by the unbelief of the people in His country. He continued to travel around and teach the people.
There are people in our secular world who have been labelled by the media and others. Certain people are banned from speaking in certain places because of what they believe. Terrorists are welcomed into our universities and colleges. Anti-semites are allowed to spew their vitriol and the media is happy to promote that. Our governments are also willing to protect the terrorists but they will not give protection to the Jews or to born again Christians. Montreal recently had a terrorist-run protest in the streets and the police protected them and arrested a journalist who was seeking to take pictures of the event. The terrorists did not want certain people taking pictures of them and they became agitated by having them around and the police forced them away so that the protestors could do their illegal activity without interference. These same police had little patience for the protestors who had opposed the illegal and unnecessary lockdowns of a few years ago. We are being groomed to think a certain way. That is called propaganda. That is quite acceptable across this country now. We can expect more of this if the current government continues after April 28.
True Christianity has never been popular during my lifetime. There has been a certain level of tolerance for it in the past, but that is changing. Even amongst professing Christians, there is little room for truth. The opposition to the truth is growing and will continue to grow. The Antichrist will bring in a religious system that is further designed to do away with truth. His false religion will be embraced by the majority of people. It is a shame that man is so ready to embrace lies over truth. It is due to the fact that the lies tend to agree with the natural man. The Holy Spirit is at work through the Word of God. He penetrates to the heart of man as the Word of God is preached and taught. As in our text, lost people take offence to the truth. They may focus their attack against the person teaching, but their real offence is against the truth. The truth is contrary to human nature. It is the truth that will make a person free. It is necessary to understand that we are not born free. We are born as lost sinners. As lost sinners we develop a tolerance for what we determine to be acceptable and what we do not like. Unless a person is willing to humble themselves and listen to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in their heart, they will not want the truth.
The true God-ordained preacher/teacher needs to have boldness in his life. He needs to be a humble servant of God who is willing to endure hardness as a good soldier. He cannot be a people pleaser. He will soon learn that what he believes and says is not acceptable, often even within his own family. Jesus pointed that out. He was rejected by His own. However, He did not change because of that. He continued to do the work He came to do in preparation for laying down His life for the sheep. It is important to know the true Jesus and to know His peace today.
Take the Word of God as your authority. Know the God of the Word and know His peace in your heart.
Pastor Bartel