Mark 6:1-6
"Jesus Was No Hometown Hero"

V.1 Jesus was no hometown hero

V.2 “When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue.”

“It’s time for church.”

Luke 4:16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.

“But I don’t feel like it.”
1 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Col 1:29 I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

V.2b Many were amazed but some doubted

Where’s His power from?

Mark 3:22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."

John 10:19 At these words the Jews were again divided. 20 Many of them said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?"

Who was Jesus?
"Jesus Christ was a great man."
"Jesus Christ was a wonderful moral model."
"Jesus Christ was an enlightened religious teacher."
"Jesus Christ was an esteemed prophet."
C.S. Lewis, "The issue with these three alternatives is not which is possible, for it is obvious that all three are possible. But rather, the question is 'which is more probable?' Who you decide Jesus Christ is must not be an idle intellectual exercise. You cannot put Him on the shelf as a great moral teacher. That is not a valid option. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord and God. You must make a choice. I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1960, pp. 40-41.)

• “Isn't this the carpenter?”
• “Isn't this Mary's son...?”
• “[Isn’t this] the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?"

“And they took offense at him.”

Mark 3:21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
John 7:5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
Luke 4:28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

V.5 In the climate of unbelief Jesus chooses not to heal.

Faith is what moves the hand of God

V.6 “[Jesus] was amazed at their lack of faith.”

What amazes Jesus?

Matt 8:5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." 7 Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him." 8 The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

“astonished”, “amazed”- thaumazo (thou-mad'-zo); to marvel; to admire.

Mark 1 Man with leprosy
Mark 2 Paralyzed man and his friends
Mark 3 Man with the shriveled hand
Mark 4 Jesus rebukes His disciples for their lack of faith
Mark 5 Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood

Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Jesus knew rejection

Isa 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Have you experienced rejection?

Heb 12:3 Consider [Jesus] who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.