Fulfilling God s vision of making disciple-making disciples Sovereign Servant: The Hometown Reject Mark 6:1-6 Vision Church Pastor Jerome Gay Jr. Parallel Passages: Matthew 13:54-58 Luke 4:16-22 When it came to Jesus hometown he lived in obscurity; in others words he wasn t well known and not many sought after him for anything, he was just seen as a regular guy. While many clamored for his attention in other towns in his hometown he found rejection, I could recall when I came to Christ and the rejection that I incurred. It s weird because from those that you expect excited you get a good for you or a subtle excitement rooted in dibelief. As we approach the text today I want to get at the heart of the text which; is the heart of people in Christ s hometown that will reject Him as Messiah. We re gonna see the people in his hometown of Nazareth use various smoke screens to keep from addressing the issue of their hard hearts. A smoke screen is something used to hide or camouflage the real thing. In essence smoke screens are used to keep us from dealing with our real issue. With this thought in mind I want you to beg the Holy Spirit to reveal to you your smoke screens and for you to turn from that and turn to Christ in humble, gracious and fervent repentance, thanking Christ for his mercy to love you to be able to live a lie that honors him I want to speak from this idea; Jesus. The Hometown Reject. Mark 6:1-2 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? John Mark let s us know that after healing Jairus daughter and the woman with the issue of blood that Jesus is now in his hometown. This location has significance because it s letting us know that this is a place of origin geographically speaking of Jesus humanity and a place of familiarity. Jesus hometown is Nazareth (Luke 4:16), although Christ was born in Bethlehem and spent a ton of his life in Capernaum, Nazareth is identified as his hometown and that s why we see him called Jesus of Nazareth in scripture. It s here that we see his hometown people reject him, but why they reject him is even more scandalous and it reveals how many of us approach Christ. As we dig deeper into the text, Luke s gospel let s us know that the people of his hometown wanted more miracles, but they also had made 1
certain observations about Christ that they thought were appropriate enough to question his authority and to use it as a smoke screen to reject him. I say smokescreen because the unsaved and even some that claim Christ will always question others to justify their own sin and a hardened heart towards Christ and his word. They questioned his authority: in verse 2 they asked, where did he get these things? (Sin at it s root will question the authority of God to infringe on your life and you will often use God to avoid God ex. God using someone to speak into your life) They questioned his knowledge: they said, what is the wisdom given to him? in essence they said what makes you think you know everything (He does know everything, he s God) They questioned his power: when they say how are such mighty works done by his hands? it carries two ideas: 1) The idea that they should be used in this way, meaning he s not special 2) The idea that Jesus is too common a person to be used in such powerful ways They questioned his identity: in verse 3 they looked at his family and concluded that he doesn t come from the right pedigree to do what he s doing. We will always resort to smokescreens not to deal with the real issues; our hardened heart towards God They compared themselves: in verse 3 they said aren t his sisters here with us? in essence their saying that Jesus isn t special and he s not better than them. We do this when we re confronted with our sin; we resort to one if not all the aforementioned smokescreens rather than submitting to God s will. It s vital to note that these questions weren t really for Jesus, but they were to nurture the delusion of their self- righteous rejection of the Messiah and if you re not careful to be intentional about pursuing the things of God you and I are subject to do the same. Now let s go to Luke s gospel so we can get a clearer view of what just took place. Luke let s us know that Christ opened up the scroll of Isaiah and quotes Isaiah 61:1-2 and I want us to read that so we can see what they really rejected: Luke 4:16-21 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord s favor. 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. 2
And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Keep in mind that Jesus said this prior to their questions, but Christ provides 5 Affirmations for their 5 Accusations and each of these are rooted in the gospel. Note that before he goes into the 5 affirmations he acknowledges that the Spirit is upon him and this statement validates that he is who he says he is, because the Messiah would be anointed by the Spirit (Isaiah 11:2). 1) The Gospel would be preached to the poor Poor here is not about social and economic status, but rather it s about our spiritual standing before a holy and just God. The gospel is news and not advice and it let s us know that we can be saved from the depth of our sin and be secure by the righteousness of Christ. This is a great reality because I need to hear and people need to hear of a God that loves them in spite of them and laid down his life to bring them in right standing with God. My natural birth that s marred by the sin of my first father Adam has been covered and washed away by the second Adam; Jesus. If you and I don t realize and embrace this depravity you and I will treat Christ just like these people did and reject him in exchange for saving ourselves, which in the end will NOT be sufficient for a Holy and righteous God. 2 Corinthians 8:9 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. 2) Captives will be released Sin promises satisfaction, but only delivers bondage because no sin can satisfy our souls, only Christ can do that. As the first affirmation didn t address the natural neither does this one; it s not that Christ isn t concern about those that are naturally poor of physically captive, but the true focus of his ministry is addressing our sin and freeing us from sin so we can experience the freedom of being in Christ and being right before God. Christ sets us free from our sin. He frees a woman from using her outward beauty and body for inward affirmation, he frees a man from his pride that destroys himself and his family, he frees us from valuing ourselves by our bank account, he frees us from the false hopes of this world and presents us with the reality of his sacrifice. The word release here means forgiveness in other words Christ releases us from the debt of our sin and pays the debt that we owe. Colossians 2:14 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 3) He would give us sight You and I are born spiritually blind until the Holy Spirit draws us to Christ. In essence the things of God don t make sense to us nor do we care to submit to them until our eyes are open to our sin and His grace. Psalms 82:5 talks how 3
people have eyes, but they do not see, it s not addressing physical sight, but rather spiritual blindness that keeps us captive and causes us to reject Christ and everything associated with him; Christians, the church, repentance, confession of sin, serving etc. 4) He would address the oppressed This addresses those dealing with life s circumstances and the reality that we can t keep the law. The law is described as a burden, a yoke and a bond of slavery in scripture as it relates to oppression. (Law example) Romans 7:6 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 5) He would confirm the year of the Lord s favor The year of the Lord s favor is basically the day of salvation (Isa. 49:8) and Christ is letting everyone know that this day has arrived. This should be a time of rejoicing because for 400 years no one had heard about God from God and now God has appeared in the flesh to redeem humanity, but they respond in contempt and we see in the next verses why. Mark 6:3 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. Take Note Assumptions about God s will, will ultimately lead to the rejection of His will After asking these questions that they really didn t want the answer to scripture let s us know that they took offense at him. Ultimately they rejected him because he didn t do what they wanted him to do (Luke 4:18-24). In Luke s gospel of this account we see Jesus opening up the scroll of Isaiah 61:1-2 and reading it and the people tell Jesus that they heard of the miracles that he had done and they wanted him to do the same in his hometown. In essence they wanted to use their natural understanding of their relationship with Jesus as a means to reject Him (familiarity breeds contempt). Let me make it plain oftentimes people want to use the title friends or family as a basis for not allowing people to speak into their lives and ultimately their issue is with God and it s him that they re rejecting. Familiarity should never lead to disrespect or opposition of God s word, but it will when people have the wrong motives for the relationship. Here in the text, people want physical healing, but not spiritual renewal. Their self- righteousness would lead them to reject the one who could save them in Luke s gospel he recounts how Jesus points to a widow in Elijah s day and a Gentile Syrian in Elisha s day (Naaman) the point is that those who understood their depravity would receive salvation while these self- righteous Jews would reject their king. Most of us think of self- righteousness as someone who is judgmental, but the way this plays out in a 4
lot of you is by tenure in other words you think you re cool with God because you ve been carrying the label Christian for a while or been apart of a the same church for many years, but if you would allow the Holy Spirit to really dig into you, ask yourself are you quietly rejecting Jesus by your refusal to serve Him on His terms? Mark 6:4 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. I could spend days on this verse alone, but I won t. Let s look at the idea of honor for a second the idea of honor biblically is clearly seen in the fifth commandment: Take Note An authentic relationship with Christ will lead to reverence and not contempt Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that you days may be long in the land that the Lord God is giving you. In the Hebrew it meant to honor to make heavy and it carries the idea like that of glory which means to give weight, the idea for us is honoring God in how we relate to people in the natural. How we treat people and those that have God given authority over us is how we honor God. Remember we saw them question Christ s authority and typically dishonor is rooted in authority issues, which is a sin issue. Romans 12:10 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Romans 13:7 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. 1 Peter 2:17 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Degrees of Honor Honor God: worshipping and obeying Him Honor People: loving and engaging them a. Family Authority b. Spousal Authority c. Occupational Authority d. Spiritual Authority Mark 6:5-6 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 teaching. 5
Jesus often responded to people s faith in Him and we see here that their willful rejection of Him caused them to miss out on the greatest of all his miracles; salvation. Some of you have been here for a while and are walking in quiet rejection and some of you have been wrestling with if you believe what you ve been hearing preached, here s your chance to respond, choose Him in faith and he will not reject you. The Hometown Reject was rejected so that we could be accepted. 6