Mark 6:1-29 - Experiencing Rejection
Introduction:
As we turn to chapter 6 in the gospel of Mark, we are reading the continuation of the story. Jesus has just raised the little girl from the dead. At the beginning of chapter 6 we see that Jesus leaves this town and goes to His hometown with His disciples. We would understand that Jesus' hometown would be a reference to the town of Nazareth. There is always something nice about going home again. I enjoy my annual trip to San Diego to be back in "my old stomping grounds," as we like to call it. I go to the places that I enjoy, eat foods that are only available there, and see people that I grew up with when I return. It is a homecoming to enjoy the place that we know very well. Jesus is coming back to Nazareth after preaching around the sea of Galilee. It is His homecoming as He returns to the place where He grew up and would see people that He knew and grew up with. With this background, we begin the story, as told by Mark in the sixth chapter.
Jesus Rejected (6:1-6)
The story
In verse 2 we read that the Sabbath day came, so Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. As Jesus is teaching, the multitudes who hear him in the synagogue become astounded and astonished. The word "astonished" here literally means, "to strike out; cast off by a blow." If we were to put it in our language today, the multitudes were blown away by the teachings of Jesus. They were amazed. However, they were not amazed in a good way. Notice the questions the multitudes began to ask. "Where did this man get these things?" "What is this wisdom given to Him, and these miracles performed by His hands?" "Isn't this the carpenter, son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?" "Aren't His sisters here with us?" These are the questions that are immediately brought to the people's mind. They knew this man Jesus. The people had watched him grow up with his brothers and sisters and do the work of carpentry just like His father. How could it be possible that this boy they had known had grown up to have this wisdom he has and perform the miracles he did? Therefore the people took offense because of Him. This caused the people to stumble because they knew the man as Jesus, but did not know that He was also the Messiah.
I would like to make a side point here before we continue on in our story. I want us to see that Jesus had brothers and sisters. Here we see four brothers named, and at least more than one sister. Some religious doctrines teach that Mary remained a virgin all of her life. Clearly this is not possible. They would argue to us that these people are referring to Jesus' cousins. But there are problems with this position. First, not one major translation renders these people as cousins. All the major versions call these people Jesus' brothers and sisters. There is no evidence that these were cousins. Second, it does not fit the context of the reading. The crowds have just noted that Mary was His mother. The rest of the people must also be close relatives and not cousins. Jesus had brothers and sisters. Joseph and Mary were married and had other children. Now, let us get back to the story.
Jesus responds to the offense the people of Nazareth took to him by saying, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household." Jesus remarks that a prophet may find honor among all sorts of people except within his home. This is a powerful statement made by Jesus from which we can learn some important lessons. Jesus tells us that rejection can be the greatest among our community, our extended family, and our close family. Why is this the case? Some reasons would include that these people have seen us grow up, they know our past, know our true self, and there is no façade that we can hide behind. They know who we are. They know our past mistakes and difficulties. This can be a cause of stumbling among others who are close to us. We must recognize that there will be difficulties when trying to teach our families, whether close relatives or distant relatives. These people will pose to us the greatest challenges of all. We cannot be discouraged in that we may be without honor among our own. Jesus was rejected by His own hometown; we must expect the same difficulties ourselves.
Limiting the power of God
In verse 5 we see something even more amazing. Mark records, "He was not able to do any miracles there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them." Now this is a rather remarkable statement. Jesus was not able to do any miracles except healing a few people. Was Jesus' power taken away for a time? Was Jesus lacking the power of God for a time? Not at all. The reason for this occurrence is given in verse 6. The people's unbelief was the cause for Jesus not working miracles. The people did not believe in who Jesus was. They did not believe that He is the Messiah, the prophesied king, or the Son of God. Jesus maintained all of His power and abilities, but He was not allowed to work this power in their lives because the people rejected Him.
We need to see that we can limit the power of God in our lives. Our unbelief can prevent the power of God to do its work in us. Consider some ways that our unbelief can hinder us. We can show our unbelief in prayer. The Lord has told us that He can do all things that we ask, but when we have a lack of faith, then our prayers are not answered. We have limited the power of God in our lives. We can have a lack of faith and belief that God will take care of us. We put ourselves first and worry about our possessions because we do not trust God. We limit the power of God in our lives. We can have a lack of belief that God can aid us in our spiritual growth. We do not rely on Him to build us up and therefore we limit the power of God. Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to His power that is at work within us." This power is at work within each of us. But we have to allow God to do His work. Our unbelief limits the power of God to change our lives. I wonder if Jesus would be amazed at our unbelief as He was with the unbelief of the people in Nazareth. Very few times do we read that Jesus was amazed at something. But here is one of those occasions. Let us not have Jesus marvel at our unbelief.
The Disciples Would Be Rejected (6:7-13)
The story
Jesus continues to go around teaching in the villages. Mark records that Jesus takes His twelve disciples and sends them out in pairs, giving them authority over unclean spirits. The instructions that Jesus gives to the disciples are something that we should carefully notice. Jesus instructs the disciples to "take nothing for the road except a walking stick--no bread, no backpack, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals, and not put on an extra shirt." Now imagine this scene if you will, because I believe we dismiss rather quickly what Jesus is telling the disciples to do. Let us try to put this into today's terms. Suppose we all gathered here at the building and we were going to go out by twos to teach in the city of West Palm Beach. So we are going to walk to the various houses in this city for the next week. What would you pack for this journey? I can tell you what I would be packing. I would get a backpack together and stock it full of food, a couple changes of clothes, and I would make sure that I had my wallet and had recently hit an ATM machine. I do this when I am driving to Orlando to stay in a hotel. Imagine all that we would be packing for walking around the city for a few days preaching.
But Jesus tells the disciples not to take a bag, not to take food, not to take money, and not to take extra clothing. Why do you think that Jesus would give them these directions? Is there something inherently wrong with taking these things on their journey? Of course not. So what is the point? I believe the point was that the disciples were going to rely upon God to take care of them. The disciples were going to need to put their trust in God that provision would be made for them. They would need to depend upon God to fulfill their mission. We need to have this kind of dependence on God also. I do not know if we would have been willing to sign up for this work if we could not take all of our provisions with us. What it shows is that we lack a dependence on God. To be a disciple of Jesus we must place our total dependence on God. We need to be willing to let go of control and trust that God will provide. This type of dependence on God can free us from worry, stress, and anxiety. But I believe we fail to truly depend upon our Lord to provide. We see that our trust and faith can be very small. The next time we begin to worry or be fearful, let us remember that we need to have faith in God to provide.
Expecting rejection
In verses 10-11 Jesus gives some more instructions for the disciples. In particular, I would like to notice verse 11. "Whatever place will not welcome you, and people refuse to listen to you…." Jesus here is telling His disciples that there will be rejection. Jesus does not sugar coat the reality that there will be some people, some houses, and some cities where the word of the Lord will not be received. We need to remember this in our efforts in evangelism. We cannot become discouraged when people do not listen. We cannot give up when someone that we are trying to teach refuses us. It will happen from time to time. It happened to Jesus, it happened to His disciples, and it will happen to us. But this should not cause us to give up. We must continue to press on. In verse 11, Jesus tells the disciples what to do. "Shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them." Now what does this mean for us today? Shaking your shoes at someone is not going to communicate anything to people today, except maybe that we are nuts. What we find is that after traveling through heathen territories, the Jews had a custom of shaking the dust off of their sandals before reentering the Holy Land. The Jews had been walking upon pagan land and now were back on what was considered holy ground. Jesus uses this custom and applies it to the disciples. For them to shake the dust off their feet to those who rejected them was a sign to treat that unreceptive house as unclean and pagan.
If we were to boil these instructions down, I believe Jesus is saying to know that there will be rejection. When you have someone who rejects, warn the person and move on. The shaking off of the dust from the feet would be a visible sign of warning. Then, stop wasting your time and look for others who are seeking God. I believe we need to do the same today as well. When we experience rejection, we need to warn them that they are rejecting the word of God. Second, we need to move on. Too often we spend all of our efforts on people who are stubborn and unwilling to change. We need to stop beating our heads against the wall. When we are rejected, we need to move our efforts to someone else who may hear the gospel. We only discourage ourselves further when we continue to fight against the rebellious. We need to find others.
Example of Rejection (6:14-29)
The story of John the Baptist
In this section of the scriptures Mark recounts for us what happened to John the Baptist. John had been preaching to Herod that it was not lawful for Herod to have his brother's wife, Herodias. Herod would continue to listen to John, and protected him because he was a righteous and holy man. But in a banquet on Herod's birthday, Herodias' daughter danced before Herod, pleasing him. Therefore Herod promised to give her anything she asked, up to half of the kingdom. The daughter goes and asks her mother what to request, and the mother says, "John the Baptist's head." This distressed Herod, but he did as he was requested and beheaded John. Now we may ask why this story is told right here. But I think there are some useful points to notice.
Learning from John
Teach the whole counsel of God. John would have had a good excuse not to be preaching to Herod about his unlawful marriage. He could have worried about the other issues with Herod. But John preached about everything in Herod's life that was in error to the word of God. We, as Jesus' disciples, must preach the whole counsel of God to all that we know. We are not allowed to leave some of the commands out to make it easier for people to come to God. We must inform people of sin--otherwise we are not doing them any favors nor helping them. They are still lost in their sins. We must help people become right with God.
Willing to lose it all for Christ. Second, we need to be willing to give up all things to be a follower of Christ. John was imprisoned for the sake of God. John was killed for the sake of God. How far would we go to teach the word of God? We must be willing to suffer to the point of prison and death, just as John did.
Continue teaching. In verse 29 we read that the disciples heard what had happened to John. Did the disciples quit? Did the disciples give up? No, the gospels do not end here. The disciples continue to teach the good news with Jesus. Imagine if one of our own was killed for teaching God. Would we pack it all up? The disciples knew that this was a possibility, but nothing was going to stop them from teaching. We must develop the same resolve that we will continue on, no matter what, for the sake of our Lord.
Conclusion:
To be a disciple of Jesus means to experience rejection, possibly from family and friends, even our governments. But rejection does not relinquish our responsibilities to continue to seek and save the lost. This is the faith that God demands in us. Even to the point of death, we will entrust our lives to the Creator. Let us live up to our calling. Let us not be ashamed of the gospel and teach the gospel to all who will hear us.
