Jesus feeds the 5000, Mark 6:30-44

Today we have come in our study of Mark to a story that I’m sure is familiar to anyone who has been to church for any length of time or to Sunday school. It’s one of the favorite stories of the Bible that is often taught to children.  It’s the story of Jesus feeding the 5000.  

And there is plenty to consider and learn about Jesus even if the story is told in a straightforward, simple retelling.  On just a rudimentary level, even a child can understand that the Lord is compassionate and is able to do miracles.  

But this morning I hope to help you gain more insight to this story and what Mark is teaching us through it.  You see, Mark is not writing a biography here, though there are biographical elements to his book. He is not writing history, though the story does give us historical facts.  Mark is writing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ, which is that God has sent His Son to earth, in the form of a man, to tell us the truth about God, and to provide the sacrifice for our sins, so that they who believe in Him and accept Him as their Lord might have everlasting life.

So this story then, looked at through that prism, is much more than a simple story about taking 5 loaves and two fish and feeding 5000.  This event is no less than a living parable  which illustrates for us several aspects of the gospel.  

The story starts with the apostles coming back from their mission trip, where they had gone out two by two throughout the region of Galilee as emissaries of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The gospel is the expression of the kingdom of God, and Christ is the King, who sent His emissaries out to spread the good news of the kingdom.  As the authorized representatives of the King, they were given the news of the gospel which they were to proclaim in every town, and they were given the power and authority to heal the sick and cast out demons in His name.  They were living on the road for probably a couple of months, and then they came back  most likely to Capernaum to reunite with Jesus and the other apostles.

And so Mark says in vs30, The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.  And He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many [people] coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)  They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

The apostles had great success on their journeys.  We read back in vs 12 They went out and preached that [men] should repent. They had been casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.”  They had been given a foretaste of what their mission would be like once the Lord Jesus would be taken away from them.  Upon the foundation of the apostles, the church would be built.  So I’m sure it was exciting stuff that they reported to Jesus, but He recognized that they needed some rest.  In Capernaum there were so many people constantly coming and going, so that they didn’t even have time to eat. And so they went away by boat to a secluded place to get away from the crowds and find some much needed rest.

But the crowds weren’t about to let them get away that easily. Mark says that they ran around the lake and got there before Jesus and the disciples crossed over on the boat.  Vs.33 [The people] saw them going, and many recognized [them] and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.

From what I understand, that would have been an eight to 10 mile trip around the lake on foot, or a four mile crossing on water.  That’s pretty amazing isn’t it? To think that people wanted to see Jesus so badly that they ran about 10 miles around the lake to beat his boat to the other side.  I suppose the disciples were rowing their boat, and perhaps the wind was contrary like it is today.  That can make for slow going.  And where they ended up is near the town of Bethsaida, which was really a small village.  The disciples and Jesus must have landed somewhere near the outskirts of that town.  It was an out of the way place.  Not any Holiday Inns there, or fast food restaurants or convenience stores.  Just a small fishing village.

But when they got out of the boat, they see that the crowd is already there waiting for them. Vs34 “When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.”

I think this is one of the most significant verses in this story. Because it reveals a principle that is so fundamental to our salvation.  And that principle is revealed by the phrase “He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

Jesus sees these people as sheep without a shepherd. Without a shepherd, a domesticated sheep is an animal that is prone to becoming lost, disoriented, an easy prey for wolves and succumbing to disease. They simply cannot survive for very long without a shepherd.  They can’t even find water without a shepherd, and neither can they find good pasture.

What’s interesting is that the Lord correlates humans to being like sheep without a shepherd. And I think that indicates that man was created for God, to be guided and cared for by God, and without God, man is lost, he is doomed to succumb to difficulties in life. He cannot provide for his ultimate welfare. 

And yet the greatest fallacy of humankind persists in thinking that we are independent, self sufficient, that we have life and vitality, and  somewhere in our subconscious we are oblivious to our mortality.  I heard a quote the other day from the 19th century poet William Earnest Hensley, from his poem Inviticus, which in Latin means unconquered. It’s quite a motivational speech. The poet says, ““Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” 

I guess after hearing that we're all supposed to  yell hooyah! And charge up the mountain. That sounds coureageous, brave and bold.  And we like to think that if you are strong and brave enough you can conquer life and bend it to your will. To the victor belongs the spoils. That mindset says only the weak have a need for God, the strong are their own god.  But the fact is that is a lie from hell.  Satan has deceived men into thinking that they are the master of their fate, the captain of their soul. They can somehow wrest fulfillment and even immortality from this life if they just believe in themselves. But it’s a lie.

Man was made to live with God and for God. He was designed to live with God as His shepherd, and to be under the care of the shepherd. The Westminster Shorter Catechism’s first question is what is the chief end of man?  And the answer is; Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.  But sin broke that fellowship man had with God.  Sin made man independent from God, estranged from God, and thus without truth, without life, without guidance, without protection.  And that fragile, fleeting, tenuous existence is like being a sheep without  a shepherd.  Man is in constant peril and has been marked for death. His life is fleeting, and in his dumbness, like a sheep lost and alone in the wilderness,  he is mostly unaware of the danger that he is in.

So the Savior, seeing these people like sheep without a shepherd, has compassion on them.  That’s the gospel in a nutshell, ladies and gentlemen.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The Lord having compassion on them, seeing their desperate condition,  goes to them and begins to teach them the truth about the gospel of the kingdom.  How they can be made right with God, and receive life from God, and have forgiveness of their sin, and have the Spirit of God to guide them and lead them into the path of life.

At a later time, Peter will respond  to the Lord Jesus saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” The gospel is the words of life. It is the means which by believing, the condemnation of death is taken away, and you are given everlasting life. And so Jesus gives them these words of life.  And His teaching goes on until late in the day.

But when evening approaches, the apostles get hungry. They were already hungry before they got in the boat.  They hadn’t had the time to even eat.  And now after they rowed across the lake, and they have been all day with the Lord as He is teaching the people,  they are hungry and tired.  But they manage to tell Jesus in such a way as to make it seem they are concerned about the people eating.

Vs.35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and it is already quite late;  send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”  Now maybe they were really concerned about the people being able to find something to eat.  But I think that they might have been hungry themselves.  And there is nothing wrong with being hungry. That’s natural, and we all need to eat.  But I think the disciples tendency was to be more concerned about physical needs than spiritual needs.

So Jesus said in vs 37 “You give them something to eat!” And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” I can’t help but wonder if Jesus wasn’t telling them to provide food for the people through miraculous means.   After all, they have just got back from this long mission trip in which they were given the authority to do miracles, to heal, to cast out demons.  And so Jesus might have been extending them the authority to miraculously feed the people. But the disciples don’t seem to see it that way.

Instead, the disciples respond to Jesus with what I think was a sarcastic question. “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?”  A denarius was considered a day’s wage in those days.  So they are saying should we take 200 days worth of wages and buy food so they can eat?  To them that was the only possible answer, but it was ludicrous.  It’s doubtful on the one hand that they even had 200 denarii.  That’s why they asked it that way, because it made the point that they could somehow feed the people was ludicrous. But I don’t think Jesus was joking around by saying “you give them something to eat.”  I think He really wanted the disciples to feed the people. They just didn’t see how it could be done.  Even if they had the money, there was no where to buy such a huge quantity of food necessary to feed this multitude.

So Jesus teaches them by example.  He says in vs 38 "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" And when they found out, they said, "Five, and two fish.”  The account in John 6 vs 8 tells us that it was Andrew who found the lad who had five loaves and two fish. It might have taken the 12 disciples awhile to canvas the crowd to see what kind of food was available.  And out of 5000 plus people, there is only one boy’s dinner that is available.

Most Sunday school lessons and Bible studies focus on this aspect of the story.  They say that the moral of the story is that if we bring our little bit to the Lord, then He can multiply it and make it useful far beyond it’s original limit.  Maybe they are trying to make it a sermon about tithing or something, I don’t know.

But I think what Jesus is really teaching here is that the apostles are to be the means by which God supplies the spiritual needs of the people. Their meager supply, when blessed by God and used for the glory of God, will supply the bread of life to those who are hungry for the truth. God will use the weakness of man, the foolishness of preaching, to provide salvation for the lost and hungry sheep.

So to further illustrate this fact, Jesus has the crowd sit down in companies of 100. Vs39 “And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass.  They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.”  I know I might be criticized as  grasping at straws here, but I believe this is an illustration of the conduct of the church, that everything will be done decently and in order.  God is not the author of confusion.  When it comes to the gifts God has given to the church, if He is orchestrating them, then they will be marked by being decent and in order.  God is not in charge of a melee.  The Spirit of God does not oversee confusion and chaos. The outpouring of the gifts of God is not a feeding frenzy. And when you see that sort of frenzy in the church I think it should be met by a great degree of skepticism on our part, that the Lord is in such a thing  at all.

When everyone then was seated on the grass in order and according to groups of 100, Jesus blessed the food.  He gave thanks for the food. God is the provider of our daily bread. God feeds the deer, the birds of the air.  He certainly cares more about His sheep than He cares about the birds. Jesus said, You are of more value than many sparrows.

Vs 41 “And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed [the food] and broke the loaves and He kept giving [them] to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.”  The point that shouldn’t be missed is that Jesus kept giving the broken pieces to the disciples to set before them.  Jesus is using the disciples to give them something to eat.  This is a lesson for the apostles.  There is also a lesson here for the 5000 that Jesus is the bread of life that came down out of heaven. But the apostles are the ones to which has been given the authority and commission to take the gospel to the world, to build the church.  And Jesus is using the passing out of the bread and fish to teach the disciples how they are to do that.

I can’t help but wish though I could have seen the hands of Jesus breaking the fish and bread. I imagine it’s kind of like watching a magician do a trick and you try to watch his hands carefully to see how it is done.  Of course, Jesus wasn’t doing a card trick.  He was creating food in his hands.  He was creating cooked fish in His hands.  Baked bread appeared in His hands as He broke it and gave it to the apostles.  I can’t help but correlate this to another incident where Jesus broke bread at the Lord’s Supper on the night before His crucifixion.  

1 Cor. 11:23 says,  the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”  Perhaps that very act of sacrifice was being symbolized in Jesus’s breaking of the bread and then giving it to the disciples to give to the multitude.

In John’s gospel we read that the next morning after this miraculous event, the people seek Christ out again hoping to get breakfast.  And Jesus says on that occasion, in John 6:32-35 "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.  "For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."  Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread."  Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” That was the lesson that Jesus intended for the multitudes, that His body would be broken so that they might have life. 

Well, back to the story of the feeding of the 5000, Mark says everyone ate until full. Vs 42 “They all ate and were satisfied,  and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish.  There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.”  Mark says there were 5000 men, but Matthew says that didn’t include women and children.   So there were very likely at least 15000 people that were fed dinner that night.  Amazing.  15000 sheep that were fed by the providence and power of God.  We should certainly not question if God can meet our needs, if we believe that He was able to feed 15000 people.

But again, the significant point to notice in that passage is that there were 12 baskets of food left over.  One commentator I read said that was a lesson about the importance of not littering.  I hardly think that’s what is being taught there.  The real lesson is again having to do with the apostles. There are 12 apostles, and 12 baskets of food left over.   Someone has said the original language is speaking of a something like a lunch basket.  But the point is that the apostles were fed in their feeding of the multitude.  As they served the church, the Lord provided for their needs as well.

So in summary, I think the whole miracle of the feeding of the 5000 or 15000 was intended to be a living parable about the ministry of the gospel. Jesus is the bread of life, which God gave to man. But it is also a teaching moment for the apostles and the role that they were to take in the ministry of the gospel. The training that they had practiced on their mission trip was continued in the feeding of the 5000.  The gospel was entrusted to them, to serve to the world, that they might  build the church of Jesus Christ, that they might be shepherds, which is the source of the word pastors, to the church. And by their ministry, the kingdom of God would be expanded, and souls would be added to the church.

We are not commissioned or called to be apostles today.  But we are commissioned to go into the world and proclaim the gospel.  God wants to use us to manifest His gospel to a lost and dying world.  Let us be willing and eager to serve the Lord, presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people in our world.  We don’t have to have a seminary degree to be witnesses.  We don’t have to have the gift of preaching or teaching.  But take the truth of the gospel, which everyone who has been saved knows, and simply giving that to our friends and neighbors.  And trust that the Lord will multiply your seed into a fruitful harvest.

2Cor. 9:10-11 “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;  you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.”

The Death of John the Baptist, Mark 6: 14-29

Tertullian, who lived as a Christian preacher and theologian in the second century, is credited with the expression, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”  He wrote this phrase in a treatise which he sent to the governors of the Roman Empire, in to hope to quell the persecution of the early Christians.  What he was basically saying is that the blood of Christians is a seed which multiplies the converts to Christianity, so rather than their persecution stopping Christianity, it causes the church to flourish.

That’s a counterintuitive thing to consider, that persecution makes the church stronger, not weaker.  But a study of the history of the church makes that clear.  Jesus said that the Jews had from ancient times murdered the prophets in His denouncement of the Pharisees and scribes and that such persecution would continue.  He said in Matthew 23:29, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,  and say, 'If we had been [living] in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in [shedding] the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure [of the guilt] of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city,  so that upon you may fall [the guilt of] all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.”

Today we are looking at the account of yet another prophet of God that was martyred for the sake of the gospel.  John the Baptist was considered the greatest prophet that ever lived up to Jesus Christ.  And yet in the wisdom and providence of God, He allowed one of His greatest servants to be decapitated at the whim of a hateful, spiteful woman.  And of course, we know that not long after this event, they crucified Jesus, the greatest prophet, the Lord God Incarnate. We also know that of His twelve apostles, eleven of them were martyred for their faith.  And yet the church of Jesus Christ continued to multiply, to grow and spread so that it was said that from this tiny seed of the apostles,  the gospel had spread throughout the entire world.

Now Mark’s account of the death of John the Baptist does not lend itself very well to a three point outline, but our purpose is to preach the word and let God take care of the application of it.  But I think there are some instructive points that we can take from it as we work through it.

Let’s pick it up in vs 14, “And King Herod heard [of it,] for His name had become well known; and [people] were saying, "John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.”  The context demands that we must connect this verse to the preceding verses which describe the ministry that the apostles were doing as the emissaries of Christ.  

In the preceding passage which we looked at last week, Jesus had sent His disciples throughout Galilee two by two, to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and had given them authority to cast out demons and perform miracles.  The gospel of the kingdom is that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One from God, the King of the Kingdom of God, and that by believing in Him, and believing His word, you would be saved from the wrath to come.

And the apostles were so successful in their ministry, that King Herod heard of it. He heard of the mighty works that were being done in the power of Jesus’ name. Perhaps Herod perceives this as threat to his own power and position as king.  However, Herod was not really a king.  He wants to be a king, and the people under him refer to him as king, but in actuality he is the tetrarch, which is more like a governor of Galilee.  

This Herod is actually one of four sons of Herod the Great, the same Herod that was king when Jesus was born.  You will remember that bloodthirsty tyrant had all the Jewish baby boys murdered who were under the age of two, in an attempt to put Jesus to death, because he was worried that Jesus might be a threat to his throne. 

That same bloodthirsty, demented type of personality seems to have been passed on to his sons as well.  Herod the Great had many sons with many wives, but upon his death his domain was split into four sections, with each section being ruled by one of his sons. The King Herod we are looking at today was one of his sons, whose name was actually Herod Antipas. He was the ruler over Galilee, but each of these four sons answered to the emperor of Rome.  They had very little power and authority other than what was extended to them by the emperor. So even though Mark calls him king, which was the popular title, Herod was not really a true sovereign in the full sense of the word.

But when he hears about Jesus’ ministry and mighty works, his guilty imagination wonders if it’s possible that John the Baptist, whom he had put to death, had come back from the dead and now possessed supernatural powers.  Vs.15 But others were saying, "He is Elijah." And others were saying, "[He is] a prophet, like one of the prophets [of old.]"  But when Herod heard [of it,] he kept saying, "John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”  

So everyone was speculating about Jesus, some saying He was Elijah, who was prophesied in Malachi to come before the coming of the Messiah to turn the people’s hearts toward the Lord. Others thought that some great prophet of old had come back to life.  But Herod thinks it’s John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded.

Then in vs 17 Mark recounts how it came about that Herod had beheaded John the Baptist. Vs17 “For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her.  For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."  Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not [do so;]  for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him.”

A little background on Herod’s marital situation might help us understand what was going on here.  Herod had a brother named Philip, actually he had two brothers named Philip.  But one was in Rome who had taken a wife who was the daughter of another mother but was technically his sister.  So Herod Antipas came to visit, he has an affair with his brother’s wife and the two agree to divorce their spouses so they can get married.  And that’s what they do. 

But everyone knows about it, and everyone knows that it was wrong.  John the Baptist somehow has an opportunity to preach to Herod, presumably with his new wife Herodius there with him, and he denounces Herod for taking his brother’s wife in an adulterous and incestuous relationship. John doesn’t refer to Herodius as Herod’s wife but as Philips wife.  He said, “"It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 

You know, it’s entirely appropriate for a preacher to call out sin, and to call sin, sin.  It’s not popular, and people might get offended by it, but that is what God has commissioned us to do.  If people don’t come to understand that they are lost, that they are sinners, then they will have no need for salvation.

But for the most part, people are not sorry for their sin when you confront them with it, but they end up hating you for telling them they are sinners.  That’s the response you see so often in our culture today.  They don’t want to think that what they want to do is sinful, and so they hate those who say that it is sin.  Herodius has that same response towards John the Baptist.  Mark says she had it in for him, and wanted to kill him.  That’s the same response that the Pharisees had towards Jesus.  They plotted to kill Him. And Herodius wants to kill John the Baptist but she lacks opportunity. But  finally she convinced her husband to arrest John and put him in prison.

Mark says Herod her husband was afraid of John the Baptist. I actually wonder who he was most afraid of.  I believe he was more afraid of his wife.  But he is afraid of John because he knows that John is a prophet of God, that he is a righteous and holy man.  And so he kept him safe in his prison.  And by some accounts, he was probably kept in prison for about a year.

That was probably longer or just as long as John had been in ministry. That’s one of the hardest things for me to understand about the wisdom of God.  That God allows His prophets and preachers to often undergo incarceration or something like that for a long time, when it would seem to us that it would serve the kingdom purposes much better if that man of God were able to continue in ministry.  I think of Joseph, who spent 13 years in prison. Or Moses, who lived in exile in the wilderness for 40 years. Or the Apostle Paul, who spent most of his final years of ministry in prison. Or the Apostle John who was exiled on the isle of Patmos.  It doesn’t make sense to us, but in the wisdom of God, it must somehow serve His purposes.

A couple of interesting things though happened while John was in prison.  One was his disciples were able to visit him.  And the other interesting thing was that he regularly preached to Herod.  Of course, Herod’s court, his government officials, would have also been that audience. God doesn’t just want the gospel preached to those who will repent, but also to those who won’t repent.  And that is so that they will have no excuse.  Contrary to what those who hold an extreme view of the doctrine of election might teach, God desires everyone to be saved.  

1Tim. 2:3-4  says, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”  And another passage in 2Peter 3:9 says,  “The Lord is not slack concerning [His] promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

So God wants the gospel preached to everyone, but of course, not everyone will come to repentance.  In fact, not many will come to repentance. And one of the reasons is that they don’t see their sin as sinful.  We might read between the lines and assume that perhaps Herod had some remorse about his sin.  His conscience bothered him about it. Mark says he enjoyed listening to John but greatly disturbed.  But not so with Herodius.  She just became more prideful and more hateful and wanted to add to her sin by killing John the Baptist.

Well her desire to kill John gave birth to a plot to kill John, and then one day came a strategic opportunity to bring her plan to pass.  Vs.21 “A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee;  and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you."  And he swore to her, "Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom."  And she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist."  Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."  And although the king was very sorry, [yet] because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.  Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded [him] to bring [back] his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison.”

Herod threw a birthday party for himself. That shows some of the extent of his vanity. He invites all the dignitaries of Galilee, all the military commanders and all the lords in his realm.  it’s the equivalent of a state dinner which he throws in his honor. And when they had eaten their fill and were drunk with wine,  the daughter of Herodius came out and dance for them. This was really a depraved situation.  I think Herodius was complicit in sending out her daughter to dance for these men.  It would have been a men only dinner. And she was probably only a teenager, who danced provacatively and was more than likely at least partially undressed. She’s not Herod’s true daughter, but his niece.  However such a family relationship was not ever a hindrance for the Herod’s.  They seemed to have no problem with incest.

Herod and his guests are obviously pleased with the girl’s dance.  And perhaps because of his illicit desire or intoxication or both, he makes a foolish offer to the girl. He says whatever you want I will give you, even up to half the kingdom.  It was foolish because he really didn’t have a kingdom to give.  But perhaps he meant it monetarily.  

But the girl begs leave of the king, in order to speak to her mother.  And that’s another reason why I think Herodius was behind it all along. Herodius is watching and waiting in the wings. Salome goes to her mother what shall I ask for?  And her mother said, “the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”  She wants John’s decapitated head served to her on a plate.  This was not only a hateful woman, but a barbaric one.  No wonder Herod was afraid of her.

And Herod, weak, fearful man that he was, immediately did what she demanded.  He was afraid of what she might do, and what his dinner guests might think if he didn’t fulfill her demand. I guess in some respects that’s what we would call peer pressure today.  I can’t help but wonder how many people ended up in hell because they were afraid of peer pressure. 

You know, it’s not cool today to be a Christian.  The culture thinks eastern religions are cool. If you’re into transcendental meditation or Zen or some sort of spiritism, then that’s cool. You can talk about it all you want.  You can openly try to convert people to your philosophy and that’s acceptable.  But if you believe in the God of the Bible, if you believe in the gospel of salvation, then you’re a kook or worse, you’re a fascist.  At the very least you will be ostracized from society. And I think the day is coming soon when you will be imprisoned for believing in and speaking about the gospel.  It’s already happening in Canada and Western Europe and it’s starting to happen in America.

Well, Herod sent an executioner to the prison cell of John the Baptist and he had him decapitated and his head brought to to Herodius on a platter.  He went against his conscience and against God in order to save face in front of his wife and peers,  but in so doing he condemned his soul to eternal hell.

What about John though?  What must have he been thinking as he went through this ordeal? How unjust must he have thought this whole thing was working out.  I wonder if he expected God to deliver him at the last moment as God had done with Daniel or other prophets. I wonder if he was disappointed in God that after all he had done for the Lord, the Lord would let him die in such miserable circumstances.  After all, the bad people seemed to win. Evil seemed to win over good.  Doesn’t God care?

Well the Bible teaches us that in heaven we will receive rewards commensurate with our works here on earth.  Jesus gave a parable explaining that principle in which he said in Matt. 25:21  "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’”

John the Baptist was faithful unto death.  And he will receive a martyr’s reward, which I think will be the highest reward given in heaven.  I’m reminded of Jesus’s last message to the 7 churches in Revelation. And he said to the church of Smyrna,  “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

John was faithful unto death and he entered into his eternal reward.  I hope that we do not count the temporary pleasures of this world as worth holding onto, or the acclaim of friends as more important, and thus end up rejecting Jesus Christ.  I hope that we are willing to follow the example of the prophets and the apostles, that we might declare as Paul did, saying in Phil. 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9\ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from [the] Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which [comes] from God on the basis of faith,  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

I don’t believe that John the Baptist was doubting the goodness or fairness or justice of God when he knelt to receive the axe upon his neck.  But I think he was rejoicing that he had been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ.  John had said to his disciples earlier, that "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

God has purposed in HIs divine wisdom that as the children of God, we should share in the sufferings of Christ, that we might be exalted in heaven.  Rom 8:16-18 says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with [Him] so that we may also be glorified with [Him.]  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

The apostle’s mission trip, Mark 6: 7-13, 30

This passage marks a significant transition in the ministry of Jesus Christ.  He has been preaching the gospel of the kingdom for about 2 years now.  He has called twelve disciples to be with Him, to follow Him, to learn from Him.  But up to now, He was the only one to preach, to heal, to perform miracles.  John the Baptist was another preacher sent as a prophet of God, but he has been arrested, and as Mark tells us in this passage, he has been put to death.  So Jesus is the only one preaching and doing the ministry of the gospel, and meanwhle the disciples have been learning.

Now two years into His ministry there is a transition. Jesus commissions the disciples to spread out over Galilee and acting as His representatives, do as He had been doing.  Mark says Jesus calls the twelve to Himself.  There were many disciples, followers of Jesus, but the 12 were called to be His special ambassadors, HIs apostles.  And for the first time in scripture, Mark calls these men apostles in vs 30.  The 12 apostles is a special office for a particular group of men. Other people were able to be apostles in a lesser sense of being sent ones, that’s the literal meaning of the word apostles, as missionaries for instance.   But Jesus’s 12 apostles was a one time office, for a particular time and for a particular ministry.  Some people are misinformed today in thinking that the Lord still appoints apostles in our day.  That office was for a particular time a place.  They were men that had been with the Lord, that were to be witnesses of His resurrection. (Acts 1:22)

So these men had been learning from the Lord as part of His inner circle for about two years.  And now it’s time for them to be sent out as emissaries of Christ, as representatives of Christ, to go through the regions of Galilee and proclaim the gospel of Christ.  It’s a short term mission trip, if you will.  A time when the ministry will be expanded through multiplication of 6 pairs of evangelists. It’s also still a part of their learning phase, of their ministerial education, where they will begin to practice the things that they have learning.

Notice then some things at the outset.  As I said, He summoned the twelve.  This is a special assignment, a special empowerment, for the twelve apostles. This is not a ministry model for the church today, other than in a general sense. We are not given the same commission as the disciples were here.  Neither are we given the same authority and power.  This is the commissioning of the apostles.

Notice next, the method of their ministry.  Jesus sent them out in pairs.  I think this is just a practical thing. I don’t think there is some spiritual dimension to being sent in pairs, other than the law required the testimony of two or three witnesses to confirm a fact.  But it does seem to be a model that continues during the apostolic age, as they took the gospel to the world following Jesus’s resurrection and ascension into heaven.  We see Peter and John work together in the early part of Acts.  Paul and Barnabas.  Paul and Silas, Barnabas and Mark.  But I don’t think it was an absolute necessity as time went on that there must always be two apostles going together on a mission trip. But I think it was just practical.  Two can be a help to one another, they can be a comfort to one another, strength for one another.  Ministry, especially missionary work or evangelistic work can be a lonely business. So there were 6 groups of apostles fanning out over Galilee to preach the gospel.

And then notice in vs 6, He gave them authority over the unclean spirits. In the parallel passage in Matthew 10:1 it says, “Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.”

This is a passage that is often misunderstood.  A lot of charismatics like to appropriate these verses as justification for their ministry and use it as a proof text for their supposed healing ministries.  But it was intended only for these apostles. There was a need for these men to have this power.  Because it validated that they were speaking and acting on behalf of God. 

Whoever can heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead, is from God. Those are the validating signs. Sermons and signs - they were given sermons that Jesus had preached, and they were able to do the signs that Jesus had done. In fact, they could heal the sick; Luke 9 says they were able to heal the sick, in addition to cast out demons, and here, in verse 12 and 13, it tells us they did that. Matthew 10:8 says they were told to raise the dead. So, they were delegated the same power over disease, over demons, and over death, that Jesus had exhibited.

Paul says in 2Cor. 12:12 “Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.” Those were the signs of a true apostle.  It’s not the sign of a pastor of a church. It’s not the signs of a television evangelist.  I wish I had the power to heal. But God has not given me that power. It’s not a matter of faith on my part. Of not having enough faith to do miracles. It’s that I have not been given the authority to do them as Jesus gave the disciples. But so that people would know that these men represented Christ, He gave them the same power to heal and do miracles that He had, in order to validate that their message was from God.

And that’s important because none of these men came from the religious establishment. None of them was a Pharisee, a scribe, a rabbi, or a priest. None of them was a temple attendant. No one was a ruler of a synagogue. They were completely outside the religious establishment.  But these men were to be the nucleus of the new Israel, which is the church,  in contrast to the Israel of the old dispensation which was represented by the 12 patriarchs. The apostles will be the foundation of the church, which is the true chosen people of God.

Eph. 2:19-22 says, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner [stone,]  in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

Now it’s important to understand that the confirming signs were given to them to support their message.  But the message of the gospel was their primary concern.  That’s their primary purpose, to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. In Luke 9:2, it says, “And He sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God.”

The gospel is the gospel of salvation.  That’s our primary purpose, to proclaim the gospel of salvation.  We don’t preach that too much today in our churches.  We preach about  relationships.  We preach a social gospel. We preach how to be successful and happy.  We preach anything but the gospel of salvation.  But notice in vs 12, the apostles went out and preached that men should repent.

That’s the beginning of the gospel. The good news is predicated upon bad news.  The bad news is that man is a sinner, under the condemnation of death. And you must repent of your sins that you might receive forgiveness. And you must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

So the preaching of the gospel is the primary ministry of the apostles.  The healings and casting out demons and other miracles are attesting signs of an apostle, that they are speaking on behalf of the Lord.  He gives them His authority to cast out demons and heal the sick.

And then notice the means of their ministry. Vs 8 “and He instructed them that they should take nothing for [their] journey, except a mere staff--no bread, no bag, no money in their belt--  but [to] wear sandals; and [He added,] "Do not put on two tunics.”  I think something has been lost in translation here, and though I am not a Greek scholar, I can tell you that there are some minor differences between the various gospel writers on this account.  I don’t think it’s a big deal.  Rather than approaching conflicting texts by saying we must chose this one or that one, I think it’s possible to say that both are correct.  

So we can assume that what Jesus probably said was “do not take along an extra pair of sandals, or staff, or an extra tunic,  nor take a money bag, nor any provisions for your journey.” The Lord wanted them to be totally dependent upon Him for their ministry and totally dependent upon His provision for their physical needs, which would be provided through the people that would receive the gospel.

Now this statement does not literally apply to ministers today.  God isn’t saying that ministers need to take a vow of poverty. That we can’t have but one set of clothes or one pair of shoes.  But the principle does still apply today.  We are to be dependent upon God’s supply through His people.  That the Lord will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.  He supplies the message of the gospel, He supplies the word of God, He supplies the power over demonic forces, and He will supply the physical needs as well for those who are acting as His ministers.

He applies that principle even to their living arrangements. Vs 10, “And He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town.’”  It was the duty of those who believed the gospel to be hospitable, to share, to welcome strangers.  And Jesus wanted the disciples to be grateful for that hospitality, and reward their hospitality, and not be looking for a better house, or more wealthy people to stay with and be jumping from house to house.  There is a danger in patronage which can result in the preacher modifying his message to accommodate the wealthy patron. That happened frequently in the Middle Ages as wealthy nobles patronized the church and built a building and supported the pastor and as a result they were able to adulterate the gospel to their liking. So perhaps that’s the danger that Jesus is attempting to prevent.

But the most important part of the mission was to preach the gospel.  Those who received it, they were to stay with them and minister to them until they  left town.  But not everyone received the gospel.  There would be many who do not believe the gospel.  And among the Jews, Jesus knew that some towns would not be receptive.  For those people Jesus prescribed a judgment to be delivered by the apostles.  

Vs. 11 "Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.”  When the Jews traveled through Gentile territory, they had a practice of shaking the dust off their feet before entering their homeland again.  The idea was that they wanted no polluting dust from the pagan lands to be carried into Israel inadvertently. 

Jesus is saying that unbelief of the gospel on the part of the Jews should be treated the same way. You will remember that Paul and Barnabas did the same thing when persecution was organized against them in the Jewish region of Antioch.  It’s as if to say, your blood be upon your own hands.  Your guilt is yours alone, you have heard the gospel and rejected it, and so the consequences are of your own doing.  It’s as John 3:18 says,  "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  So the disciples shaking the dust off their feet were giving testimony as a sign of God’s judgment upon their unbelief.

So after being commissioned, the disciples did what they were told to do. They were obedient to their call and commission.  That’s important for us to see.  There are a lot of people who are commissioned to proclaim the gospel, but very few are obedient to that call. Or, there are a lot of people that alter their commission to suit their tastes, and attempt to pander to the culture.  But the apostles were obedient and faithful to their commission.  

Vs12  “They went out and preached that [men] should repent.  And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.”  You know Paul gave a commission to Timothy and the pastors that he would establish in the churches, and which I feel God used to call me into the ministry.  Paul said in 2Tim. 4:2-5 “preach the word; be ready in season [and] out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.  But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

The minister’s job is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to preach the word accurately and completely, that’s sound doctrine, and preach it when it’s accepted and when it’s not accepted. The pastor’s responsibility is not to alter the gospel according to the culture.  His responsibility is not whether  it is received or rejected. His job is to faithfully sow the seed.  And God will take care of the increase and of the harvest.

In the case of the apostle’s ministry, they preached that men should repent.  The word there could also be interpreted as converted. Repentance is essential to conversion.  It means a change of heart, a change of direction, a realization of going in the wrong direction, and then going in the right direction. 

I think the problem with the Christian church today is that it is populated by people that are not converted.  They have not been changed.  My wife is in Italy right now taking a well deserved vacation with my daughter.  But before she went over there, we took some US Dollars to the bank and had it converted to Euros.  Because in Italy they don’t use US dollars.  They use Euros. A conversion means a change.  A change of heart, a change of life, a change of direction. And only God can change your heart.  You need to be forgiven, you need  a new life, and that can only happen when Jesus transforms you. You can be religious and not be converted.  You can go to church and not be converted. But let me tell you this, you will not enter into heaven unless you are converted.  Call upon the Lord to save you, to convert you, to change you, to give you new life.

So the apostles were successful in their mission trip.  Mark says many demons were cast out and many people were healed.  In chapter 9:18 it’s evident that the disciples were not always successful at expelling evil spirits. Apart from the power of God they were powerless.  And by the way, there isn’t some magical power in anointing people with oil either.  It was probably good old olive oil that they anointed people with. Olive oil is supposedly really good for you, but it won’t heal you of a leprosy or being paralyzed or lame. There is no magical power in putting a drop of olive oil on someone’s head. In those days oil was often used as a medicine, as you might remember from the story of the good Samaritan. But the best way to understand the use of it here is that it was a symbol of the power of the Spirit of Christ who had commissioned them to heal.

So then let’s skip down to vs 30, which was some time later.  Not sure exactly how long they were on their mission trip, but it could have been as long as a couple of months.  They come back, some weeks or months later, and verse 30 says, “The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.” They were told to do two things - preach the gospel, and demonstrate the power of Christ - so they came back and said, “This is what we preached, and this is what happened through the power that was delegated to us.” 

And the Lord commended them to a time of rest. Ministry is hard work.  And even for Jesus we see Him needing rest, and periodically taking the disciples apart from the crowds and the ministry for rest.  There is a rest that we have continually in ministry if we are doing it as He commissioned us to do it.  And that rest comes from knowing that the power and authority and method of our ministry is from the Lord.  He causes the increase.  He builds His church and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.  There is a rest in doing ministry God’s way, knowing that the power and the means to do it come from Him.

The Damnation of Unbelief, Mark 6:1-7

                                               

The Bible teaches us that to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is the basis for our salvation, the means by which we become a child of God, for receiving eternal life. In John 1:12-13 we read, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Believing in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the means by which we are born again of the Spirit.

Jesus was continually preaching that one must believe in Him for salvation. Jesus said in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” He said in John 6:35 "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” Jesus said in John 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’" In John 11:25-26 He said, ”I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” And in John 12:44 and 46  Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me…” 46 "I have come [as] Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”

So to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is the means by which we are born again. Paul said in Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

So what does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ?  It means to believe Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, that He is the Lord, the Sovereign King of the Kingdom of God, that He is the Son of God, who became flesh and blood and who died on the cross for our sins, and who was raised from the dead and now stands at the Father’s right hand, and who is coming again for those who believed in Him. 

Then what constitutes unbelief?  Unbelief may actually believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a man who lived in 30AD. Unbelief may actually believe that Jesus was a great prophet. Unbelief may actually believe that Jesus was the perfect man. But ultimately unbelief means that you reject the idea that Jesus is the Son of God, that He is the Messiah, God incarnate and that He died on the cross as our substitute and the perfect sacrifice for the atonement of our sin, and that He was raised from the dead and reigns forever.

Now the passage before us tells us that the townspeople of Nazareth where Jesus grew up did not believe in Him. They had been witnesses to Jesus as a child. We are not told what they thought of Him when He was young, but they would have naturally believed in what their senses told them - that He was the son of Mary, that they knew Him and His brothers and sisters as the kids living down the street.  But, having been witnesses to Him growing up, they couldn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God. You might think that they would have been thrilled to realize that Jesus, who had lived among them and grown up in their town, was actually the Son of God.  But having known His family, His father and mother and brothers and sisters, having seen Him growing up in their village, made it almost impossible for them to imagine that He was who He claimed to be. And so because it went against what their experience had taught them, they rejected Jesus as the Son of God, and consequently, brought condemnation upon themselves.

As the apostle John says in John 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Now let’s look at the text and see how Mark describes this unbelief of Jesus’s hometown and it’s consequences. He says in vs 1, “Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him.”  So this is His second visit to Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus.  The previous time that He came to Nazareth was at the beginning of His ministry.

In His previous visit recorded in Luke's gospel He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the scriptures. He read to them Isaiah 61, "“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

He then sat down and declared, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."  And as He began to teach them they were so filled with rage that they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff, but Jesus escaped from their midst.

Now Jesus has come back again to Nazareth, and in the mean time He had been doing what Isaiah had prophesied - He had been preaching the gospel to the spiritually destitute. He had been preaching deliverance to the captives and had healed the blind and all manner of sicknesses. He had even raised the daughter of Jarius from the dead.

So what is their reaction this time to Jesus?  Did they believe in Him?  Let’s look at vs 2, “When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, "Where did this man [get] these things, and what is [this] wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him.”

Their question is kind of odd isn’t it?  Where did this man get this wisdom? Where did He get this power? You can almost hear the indignant tone to their voice.  Because they knew Him as just Jesus the carpenter’s son. They knew Him as the son of Mary.  By the way, the fact that they don’t say Jesus the son of Joseph one of the reasons a lot of commentators think that Joseph had died by this point.  Once Jesus began His ministry Joseph isn’t mentioned in a living sense.  And so as the eldest son, Jesus would have taken on the responsibility for the well being of His family, in the place of His father.  We see that in His first miracle, the turning of the water to wine. We see that at the cross when Jesus gave to John the responsibility for the care of His mother Mary.

But that aside, the answer to their question is obviously that His power and His wisdom came from God.  But they don’t want to believe that. After all, they probably believed that He was born under dubious circumstances.  Mary had not yet been married when she had been pregnant with Jesus. And so they would rather believe that, than believe that somehow He was begotten of God. They don’t want to believe that this young man who had grown up among them was actually the Son of God. The only obvious answer to where His teaching and His power came from was God. As Jesus said in John 10:37, “If I do not do the works of My Father, don’t believe Me. But if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I in the Father.” The only explanation, again, is that God is present in Him.

And notice that the townspeople said his brothers and sister were there with them.  We know from John 7:5 that not even His brothers were believing in Him.  That’s a pretty sad state of affairs when one’s own family doesn’t believe in you.  Remember when His brothers and His mother came to do an intervention on Jesus because they thought He was losing His mind?  And so Jesus looking about at those who were sitting around Him who were believing in Him said, ”Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

And of course I must point out that the fact that the scripture tells us that Jesus had brothers and sisters indicates that Mary did not stay a virgin forever as the Catholic Church teaches.  The try to explain away the obvious for the sake of maintaining their worship of Mary as some sort of divine by saying that Jesus’s brothers and sisters must have come from a previous marriage of Joseph before He married Mary.  But there is no basis for that claim, other than their desire to venerate Mary as a perpetual virgin, who was sinless, and who was assumed into heaven, never having died. I’m here to tell you that if you hold to those beliefs about Mary, and you pray to Mary, and worship Mary, then you are guilty of worshipping another god.

So Mark says that the townspeople took offense at Jesus.  Did you know that the gospel is offensive? I think the majority of preachers in the contemporary church try as hard as they can to make the gospel unoffensive.  To make it as innocuous as possible.  I think that’s why they dare not talk about sin.  They dare not mention the judgement of God.  They dare not mention hell.  They only want to talk about love.  That God loves you just the way you are. Period.  And so every offense, every objection is taken out of the contemporary message of the gospel.

But Jesus said in Matthew 11:6  "Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”  Why is the gospel offensive? Because Jesus came to save sinners. People are offended at the idea that they are sinners, condemned to death.  They are offended that there is something about them that needs to be made right.  And I believe people are offended today if you tell them that they are sinners and need to be forgiven, they need to be converted.  We want to think that we are ok, that we are basically good people.  That God loves us just the way we are. It’s offensive to think that you need a Savior, that you need to be saved from your sins. And I think that is the root of their offense taken towards Jesus.  “This guy? This man who we saw grow up here, who does He think He is? This guy is not going to be our Savior.  He will not rule over us.”

So what is Jesus’s response to their unbelief?  Vs4 Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his [own] relatives and in his [own] household.”  What that means is Jesus was accepted in other areas on the basis of His word and His works.  But the exception is the people from his own town, and those from his own household who could not seem to accept Him.  As the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. Those who had grown up with Him found it impossible to reconcile what their natural  perception told them from what they might see spiritually.

What then is the result of their unbelief? The result of their unbelief is found in vs 5, “And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.”  Because the people of Nazareth rejected Jesus, and were in that respect even worse than the Gerasenes, for they had received more light, and greater privileges, they did not flock to Him to be healed or to bring their sick. So these rebellious unbelievers were not delivered from their illnesses.  Of course, the most deadly illness is that of sin.  And so being unbelieving not only prevented them from being healed physically, but it also prevented them from being healed spiritually.

It was not that their lack of faith rendered Him unable to heal, but their lack of faith prevented them from coming to be healed.  Jesus had just healed a dead girl, the daughter of Jarius.  She had no faith herself being dead.  But still Jesus healed her.  The demoniac of the Gerasenes had no faith, being demonically possessed, but he was healed from demonic oppression.  So Jesus could have healed, but their unbelief hindered them from coming to Him. That’s why I quoted the verse earlier that said, as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become sons of God.”  There is a responsibility on our part to believe, to receive Him as Lord and Savior.  And the people of Nazareth would not do that and so were not delivered.

And that reaction on their part, caused Jesus to be amazed at their unbelief. Vs 6, “And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.” That’s a poor translation.  The way that sounds it seems as though Jesus wondered why they didn’t believe.  No, Jesus didn’t wonder why.  Jesus knew full well why they refused to believe.  What it means is that Jesus was amazed at their unbelief. Or even better,  He marveled at their unbelief.  It’s like when you see a tremendous car accident.  You might marvel at it. You might say, how could someone be that stupid? How could someone be that blind? I think that’s the thought here.  

In another instance, the scripture says that Jesus marveled at the centurions faith who asked that Jesus speak and his servant would be healed.  And He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.” So here is the opposite to great faith, which is great unbelief, and Jesus marvels that they could have been given so much light, so much privilege, and yet be so unbelieving.

And so Jesus left Nazareth and preached the gospel to other villages in that region where His gospel would be received and believed.