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Book: Mark
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Mark 6:1-6 The Marvel of Unbelief
I. This is a record of the record of the visit of Jesus to His home
town of Nazareth.
A. This is not to be confused with His first visit shortly after
His baptism.
1. In His first visit recorded in Luke's gospel He went
to the synagogue and stood up to read the scriptures.
When He read to them Isaiah 61, "The Spirit of the
Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach
the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the
broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and the recovering of the sight to the blind,
to set a liberty them that are bruised, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord."
2. He then sat down and declared, "This day is this
scripture fulfilled in your eyes." He then began to
teach them, and they marveled at His gracious word's
and asked, "Is this not Joseph's Son?"
3. As He continued to teach, He was to straightforward
that they took Him to the cliff outside of Nazareth and
were going to throw Him over the cliff, but He passed
through their midst.
B. This is now the second time He returned to Nazareth, and in the
mean time He had been doing what Isaiah had prophesied, He had
been preaching the gospel to the poor, and healing the broken
hearted. He had 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.
1. On this visit the disciples are with Him. This could
mean more than just the twelve, but a multitude. He is
returning to His home town once again, the town that
had earlier rejected Him, and sought to kill Him.
2. Again on the Sabbath day He went to the Synagogue and
again He read the scriptures and began to teach.
a. Mark tells us that they were astonished at His
teaching and wondered how He ever learned all
these things, and what mighty wisdom was given
to Him. They also wondered at the works that
He did.
3. Their question was, "Is not this the carpenter, the
Son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses, and
Jude and Simon?"
4. Note the difference between the account in Luke.
a. In Luke they asked, "Is this not the Son of
Joseph?"
b. Here, "Is this not the Son of Mary."
5. This could mean one of two things.
a. Joseph had died by this time.
b. That as His fame spread throughout the country,
the rumor about His mother's becoming pregnant
before being married to Joseph was being passed
about.
c. John tells us that when He was disputing with
the Pharisee's that they said unto Him, "We
were not born of fornication." They were
possibly casting a slur at Jesus.
6. Jesus responded to their question, "Is this not the
carpenter, the Son of Mary?" with the statement, "A
prophet is not without honor but in His own country,
and among His own family."
7. We then read that He could do no mighty works there,
with the exception that He laid His hands on a few sick
people to heal them.
8. It is at this point that Jesus marveled at their
unbelief.
II. Why would He marvel at their unbelief?
A. He had done so many things to prove that He was the Messiah.
1. He had been fulfilling the prophesies concerning the
Messiah.
a. Not only those that He had earlier read from
Isaiah, but many others.
b. He had being doing miracles throughout Galilee,
casting out demons, even raising the dead.
c. Jesus said, "The works that I do, they do
testify of Me."
later to His disciples He said, "Believe Me or
else believe Me for My work's sake."
2. Even if the story of Mary being pregnant before being
married to Joseph had spread through the little village
of Nazareth, it was prophesied of the Messiah, "Behold
a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call
His name Immanuel."
which means, God is with us.
3. They had marveled at His teaching, and at His works.
They recognized that there was something extraordinary
about Him, yet they would not believe.
B. Throughout the whole area of Galilee He was met with throngs of
people desiring to be healed, or just to touch Him. He was
received gladly by the multitudes. Here in His home town their
seemed to be such apathy toward Him, it caused Him to marvel at
their unbelief.
III. Why their unbelief?
A. They were very mistaken when they thought they knew Him. They
only possessed a head knowledge of Him.
1. They knew a few facts about Him. He was the Son of
Mary, brother of James and the others.
2. They had probably brought their yokes to Him to be
repaired, or maybe ordered yokes or plows from His
shop. Perhaps they had bought a table or chairs from
Him.
3. They had been close to Him, they had commerce with
Him, they had touched Him as a child and a young man.
B. There was much about Him they did not know. Their unbelief was
based upon insufficient knowledge of Him.
1. There are many people today in unbelief because they
think they know Jesus.
2. They have formed their opinions upon the remarks or
statements of others. They have never searched for
themselves.
3. The claims of Jesus are so radical, and the
consequences of not believing are so great, that you
would be wise to examine all the evidence personally
before forming an opinion.
Jesus said, "He that believeth on Me shall be saved,
and He that believeth not shall be damned."
a. Eternal life or eternal damnation is at stake.
b. With the stakes so high, you should make more
than just a cursory examination of the facts.
c. Jesus had challenged them to search the
scriptures for in them you think you have
eternal life, but they a they which testify
of Me.
d. Paul the apostle thought he knew Him, all he
knew was the lies that were told to him about
Jesus. On the road to Damascus, he came to
know Jesus, and it turned his life around.
e. What do you know about Jesus? Where did you
learn it? Have you ever read the gospel of
John, and asked the Lord that if He were real
that He would reveal Himself to you as you
read it?
f. How can you be so foolish to reject something
that you don't really know or understand at
all.
g. It is really a sign of ignorance to be so
opinionated about something that you really
know nothing at all about.
C. The marvel of their unbelief is not as great as the marvel of
your unbelief.
IV. The results of their unbelief.
A. He could do no might works there.
1. Does this mean that their unbelief restricted His power
to do miracles? I hardly think so.
2. Does it then mean that He just decided to reject them
because they had rejected Him. Sort of a retaliation
thing. I don't believe so.
3. I believe that the unbelief kept people from coming to
Him.
B. Think of all the benefits they could have received if they had
only come to Him.
1. Their lame could be walking, their blind seeing. Those
who were possessed with evil spirits could have been
delivered.
2. They could have known the love, joy, and peace of the
kingdom of God.
C. Remember as He wept over Jerusalem, He said,
MAT 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and
stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not!
1. The reluctance or unwillingness was not on His part,
it was they who would not.
2. Your unbelief can keep you from coming to Him, and
thus miss all of the blessings and benefits that He
desires to bestow upon your life.
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