The Danger of Complacency Toward Jesus

Our response to Jesus should be faith not unbelief

Intro

After the Olympics, the Irish athletes returned from Paris to Ireland to a hero’s welcome. The homecoming they received was a welcome home and celebration of their achievements and success at the Olympics and the different medals that had been won. But it would be crazy if the team returned back to Ireland and people were offended by what they had achieved. The team was competing on behalf of everyone in Ireland, they weren’t winning just for themselves, but they were representing us. And so if they returned home and people were envious of their achievements, or upset that people from Ireland had done so well it would be ludicrous.

And yet as Jesus returns home to Nazareth in our passage this morning we see just that. Jesus is not welcomed back as we would expect, but the people are offended by him.

As we’ve been going through our series in the gospel of Mark, the current context of where we are is this. Jesus has told the disciples some parables about the nature of the Kingdom of God, and how it is sown – with the seeds landing on different types of ground and there being different receptions to the gospel. After finishing his time of teaching on the shore of the sea of Galilee he then calmed the storm on the sea, healed a demon-possessed man in gentile land, before returning back across the sea and healing a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

And now we’ve arrived at Nazareth this morning. And when Okiki read the passage I wonder if you think it sounded similar to what we’re doing today? There’s disciples of Jesus, people gathering on the Sabbath, teaching that happens in the gathering. Now there’s one very big difference in that I’m not Jesus, but there are some similarities. And another similarity is the response to Jesus that we can have. We see in the passage there is offence and unbelief on one hand, or faith and action on the other. Which will be your response to the gospel this morning?

1 - Offence and Unbelief

As we come to our passage, let’s first examine the response of the Nazarenes to Jesus and how their offence and unbelief can both challenge us and encourage us today.

1a - Offence

Look with me from verse 1:

Mark 6:1–3 · ESV

¹He went away from there and came to his hometown (that is, Nazareth), and his disciples followed him. ²And 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? ³Is 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 offence at him.

Jesus has just left the house of Jairus, having raised his daughter from the dead, and having healed the woman along the way, and arrived back in Nazareth, his hometown where he had grown up and where his family still lived. And when the Sabbath arrives, Jesus begins to teach. And at first the reception in verse 2 doesn’t seem to be overtly negative just yet. The people are rightly astonished at Jesus’ teaching and ask good questions.

Where did this man get these things?

What is the wisdom given to him?

How are such mighty works done by his hands?

These are good questions, and they should help the people to understand who Jesus is. The people rightly see Jesus’ teaching carries with it an authority unlike anything they’ve heard before. They rightly see that he has wisdom which must have been given to him from somewhere as it can’t be from himself. And they recognise the mighty works and miracles that he has done.

Jesus was not just another Rabbi. His teaching was so revolutionary that they didn’t know where he had gotten it from. Jesus wasn’t just following the Rabbinical teaching but was bringing something new. This was the same message that Jesus had been teaching in Mark’s gospel that we have seen – the arrival of the Kingdom of God.

But whether or not these initial questions are genuine at this stage, and whether or not their astonishment is at Jesus or his teaching, we certainly see the hearts of the Nazarenes in verse 3. Look with me: Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And they took offence at him.

Rather than turning to Jesus in fear and trembling and worship and faith, which their astonishment should have driven them to, the people instead respond with indignation and offence. How dare Jesus show up here and act like he’s some big shot. Sure we’ve known him his whole life. We know his family, and we know he’s not some prophet or king or Messiah. He fixed my door when it was broken. He’s Mary’s son, and who knows whether Joseph was involved in that or not.

The Nazarenes know Jesus. Or at least they think they do. They know who he is, what he does, who his family is. They know he can’t be some great teacher because he’s grown up here with them. He didn’t receive some fancy education. They think they know there’s some dubious circumstances regarding his birth too. Not only was he not born in some palace like a king, but by calling him Mary’s son rather than Josephs they also show their offence that this child born out of wedlock, whose father they don’t know, is coming to them as if he’s the Messiah.

In the first century people didn’t become great. They were born great. Kings were born kings. Caesar was born of and chosen by the gods. There was no pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and working your way up to becoming great. Jesus, they knew, was a humble, lowly carpenter, and like them, from Nazareth of all places.

And this should show us the danger of familiarity. When we come to think that we know everything about Jesus and who he is. The Nazarenes think they know everything about Jesus and who he is, so they reject this notion that he could be someone great. They would rather turn to be offended instead of their astonishment leading them to worship.

I didn’t grow up in the church. My parents aren’t Christians and even after I was saved when I was a teenager, it wasn’t until a couple years after that I became plugged into a local church. And I’m sure for you here this morning it’ll be different for each person, some of you may have been in churches all your life, and for others it may be something more recent. But something that struck me when I began going to church was how many people took it for granted.

Familiarity with the gospel, familiarity with Jesus, familiarity with the church had not led to greater love for and appreciation for these things for many, but had instead led to complacency. Having not grown up in the church, and having spent a couple years as a new Christian without it, when I began attending church I was so thankful for what a gracious gift from God the church is, and how nourishing and life giving it is to the Christian.

And I think this familiarity with church, with the gospel, with Jesus, is so sad – because it reveals to us our hearts. When we don’t see church as a priority, gathering with the church on Sundays, praying with the church corporately on a regular basis at prayer meetings, meeting with members for mutual encouragement. When we think these things are optional, when we think that other things are more important, it shows that our familiarity has driven us to complacency, and the risk is, that if we don’t catch this and change our hearts, that we will risk becoming offended by the idea that the church should be a priority in life for the Christian.

When we’re not astonished by the gospel anymore, when we’ve become so familiar to it that we don’t listen to it anymore, that it isn’t changing or growing us anymore, then it shows that our heart has become calloused to the gospel. We don’t think the good news of the gospel can change our lives, we don’t think it truly has power.

Just as it was easier for the Nazarenes to become offended rather than wrestle with the claims and evidence before them of Jesus, it can be easier for us to start ignoring the gospel, ignoring Jesus, than wrestle with the fact that the gospel is truly powerful in our lives.

And this is what makes the Nazarenes rejection of Jesus so bizarre. They have been astonished. They have by their own words seen that the things of Jesus do not come from him alone. They have seen he has wisdom he shouldn’t have, and they have seen that he does miracles and mighty works. The evidence is before them, and it all points towards one thing. And yet they reject the conclusion.

It would be like if someone showed you that 1 + 1 = 2, and proved it mathematically in various ways, you could see that the answer must be correct, and yet you rejected the conclusion because your mate Billy once told you that 1 + 1 = 3.

They don’t even have an alternative for who Jesus could be or what the reason for his power and wisdom could be. In Mark chapter 3 we saw that some said Jesus was performing signs because he was possessed, but here they don’t even try that. They would rather say “I dunno” in response to who Jesus is, than accept the evidence that he is who he says he is.

Many people today act the same way. They would rather distract themselves from having to truly come to terms with who Jesus is, than accept that he is Lord and Saviour. Just like the Nazarenes don’t have an answer for who he must be, people today will just scroll to the next post on social media, or find something to be outraged about, or whatever it is, rather than actually have to consider who Jesus is. Because to truly examine who he is would be to say that he must be who he claimed to be, the son of God, the Messiah, the one who saved us from our sin and deserves our allegiance, love, glory and honour.

And this isn’t something which just applies to the unbeliever, but to Christians too. It can be easy for us to not wrestle with the things of God. We can be content to become stagnant in our faith – not growing in knowledge and godliness. If something seems too difficult to understand we can ignore it and move on to something easy we’ve heard before, instead of wrestling with it. Studying the things of God is not easy. But we will not grow and mature if we don’t put in the effort to. And when we are not doing these things, when we are not growing and maturing, when we need to keep going back to hearing the same basic things over and over – the author to the Hebrews warns us that this is a bad sign, and that you’re in danger of apostasy.

And when you do study scripture – do you find yourselves being ashamed of and offended by Jesus’ words? Do you think you know better than God? Would you happily share everything that is contained in scriptures with your colleague or neighbour or family as something that is true and that you believe? Do you take offence to scripture – or do you believe it?

Jesus warns us a couple chapters later in Mark: “whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

And while we’re on the topic of offence and of wrestling with what scripture says – this passage of scripture should be an offence to many in Ireland. We live in a country where, although it is dwindling, a Roman Catholic understanding of Christianity is dominant. And this passage directly contradicts one of the dogmas held to by the Roman Catholic Church – namely the perpetual virginity of Mary. We’re told very clearly here of the fact that Jesus has at least four brothers and at least two sisters. As protestants, when we declare the gospel in Ireland it will be an offence not only to those who consider themselves to be unbelievers, but also to Roman Catholics, whose understanding of the gospel is vastly different to our own.

1b - Unbelief

Offence at the gospel leads to unbelief.

Look with me from verse 4:

Mark 6:4–6 · ESV

⁴And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” ⁵And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶And he marvelled because of their unbelief.

Jesus deserves honour. He deserves glory. Because he is Lord and God these things are rightfully due to him. Jesus refers to himself as a prophet in verse 4, but the reality is that while he is a prophet, he is also much more. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And this makes the Nazarenes rejection of Jesus and unbelief so much more serious. To dishonour a prophet is bad enough, but to dishonour the Son of God is incomparable. Mark will illustrate this even further in chapter 12 with the parable of the vineyard when he shows how the people of Israel beat and killed the prophets God sent them which was bad enough, but then they killed the son of the vineyard owner, the Son of God.

Unbelief is rejection. It is a rejection of God who deserves our worship and obedience. For the Nazarenes to reject Jesus, who is God himself, even as they claim to worship God was astounding. They don’t even treat Jesus as just-a-prophet, which would be the bare minimum for the evidence in front of them.

We read two times in the gospels of when Jesus marvels. One time is when he is in Capernaum and he marvels at the faith of the Roman Centurion who trusts that Jesus can heal his servant with a word. The other is here at the unbelief of the Nazarenes. Why does the unbelief of this group of people in particular warrant such a rare reaction from Jesus?

Well if you remember the context of where we are in Mark’s gospel we’ve seen the different reactions of people to Jesus – his works and teachings. For example when Jesus crossed the sea of Galilee to the gentile region, the demon in the demon-possessed man recognised who Jesus was – yet the Nazarenes who know Jesus cannot.

But the other reality is that the two times Jesus marvels should really be the other way around. The Roman Centurion has no earthly reason to have such faith in Jesus, and the people who grew up knowing Jesus do. The people of Nazareth, and indeed Jesus’ own family, knew his mother, Mary. They should have heard of her visits from angels before Jesus was born. They should have known of her and Joseph’s lineages as descendants of King David. They should have known the stories of Joseph’s dreams and after Jesus’ birth – of the shepherds and wise men who visited, and their escape to Egypt. Or Jesus’ staying behind in Jerusalem and questioning in the temple as a child. They should have seen his growth in wisdom and stature. They should have heard of the prophecies of Simeon and Anna about Jesus. They should have known of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and of the prophecy of Micah that the Messiah would come from there. As Jesus lived with them and grew up with them they should have noticed his perfect life, that he never sinned and walked in righteousness. Of all those who rejected Jesus the Nazarenes had the least excuse. This is why Jesus marvels at their unbelief.

And yet the very familiarity with Jesus that should have brought them to belief instead gave them offence. They squandered the privilege they had.

And where Jesus had healed the whole of Capernaum from sickness and demons when they came to him – because of the hardness of the Nazarenes’ hearts and their unbelief Jesus could do no mighty work there. Where Jairus had begged Jesus to heal his daughter, and where the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years pushed through the crowd to get to Jesus to touch but a piece of his garment, here there is no one who wants anything to do with Jesus.

In fact verse 5 almost reads as if Jesus, on his way out of Nazareth, lays his hands on a few people who just happened to pass by him, or didn’t bother getting out of his way, compared to the crowds in other places who were so bad that Jesus was often prevented from entering towns and cities and had to stay in the wilderness instead.

When we read that Jesus could do no mighty work there we shouldn’t think of it as if Jesus was somehow powerless now. No, Jesus is God himself, fully omnipotent. And we shouldn’t think either that it was merely a lack of faith on its own that was the reason Jesus did not perform many miracles here. We saw Jesus calm the storm despite the disciples lack of faith a few weeks ago. Rather, it is the extent of the lack of faith that has stopped Jesus from exercising his power.

Jesus’ miracles served to present his glory, to show his power and authority more clearly, to confirm his teaching about himself and about the Kingdom of God. There was no reason for Jesus to perform miracles here as if he was some sort of supernatural entertainer, as the people had made clear their opposition to him. The disciples lack of faith on the boat was with regard to the degree of faith. They still turned to Jesus for help. The Nazarenes have willingly and explicitly rejected Jesus, even after already seeing his wisdom and power from verse 2. There remained no more reason for Jesus to heal here in the face of such unbelief, and the fact that he still did choose to heal a few sick people even still shows the depth of his compassion for those sick people.

Hebrews 11:6 · ESV

⁶And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Jesus rewards those who seek him. Jesus couldn’t do miracles in Nazareth as the people were offended by him and instead responded not in faith, but in unbelief, and thus did not come to him or seek him.

The peoples’ responses to Jesus begin with astonishment, and then lead to offence and unbelief. The questions they begin to ask of Jesus are good, and should have pointed them to who Jesus is. They should have led to fear, and faith, and worship. But instead they led to offence and unbelief. Rather than asking “Who is Jesus?”, they have instead asked “Who does Jesus think he is?”

If we look at Jesus and we start with astonishment, but we end up in offence or unbelief or doubt of Jesus and his character instead of worship we need to examine ourselves and the faith we claim. Life and faith will be a struggle at times, yes, but even when we don’t understand things, whether our lives and circumstances, or God’s words and plans in scripture, we should still trust in faith rather than unbelief. Where the Nazarenes didn’t fully understand they chose to reject Jesus, but Jesus’ disciples who still haven’t fully understood him are still following him.

And this unbelief is to be a challenge to us too. For most of us constantly struggle with this unbelief. How often do we not trust God when we are in trials and suffering and storms. It is not many who in those times fully and whole-heartedly say and mean that they are trusting God completely. Rather for most of us we question why God is allowing us to suffer, or question if he cares, or think we know better than God and his plans for us. For us to doubt that the one who has given us the most precious thing, his own Son Jesus, to doubt that he will not give us every good thing, and to doubt that he is working all things for good for those who love him, is an unbelief worthy of marvelling at.

As the hymn says – When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within – do we truly look upward and see him there who made an end to all my sin? Or do we rather listen to those words and doubt that the God who has taken away all our sin will listen. Or fear to come into his presence despite the fact that we can boldly approach the throne because of the blood of Jesus?

When we are faced with temptation do we believe in the words of God who said that he will not let us be tempted beyond our ability, and that by his Holy Spirit we can triumph over all sin? Or do we fall into unbelief and think that we cannot have victory, that sin is too powerful.

Unbelief from those who have not tasted and seen that the Lord is good is to be expected. But for those of us who have trusted in Jesus and followed him unbelief is to be marvelled at. And it is a sin which we must be putting to death each day.

If Jesus was to walk into Redeemer this morning, would he marvel at your unbelief?

This is what Charles Spurgeon has to say about this lingering unbelief in the life of the Christian:

First, it is very wonderful in saints of God to be disbelieving, because of their relationship to the Father and to the Lord Jesus. To doubt a stranger is not at all an extraordinary thing, but for a child to doubt its father, for a brother to doubt a tender, truthful, loving brother, for a bride to doubt the bridegroom who has made her blest, these things are strange; and for me, for you, for any blood-washed souls to doubt your Father God, to mistrust your elder brother Jesus, to have suspicions of the Bridegroom of your hearts, even Jesus, the Well beloved of heaven and earth, well may we marvel, and mingle sadness with the marvel, and well may you marvel, and mingle bitter penitence with your wonder. [For what reason] do I mistrust my Lord? He has never lied unto me. Blessed be his name, he can forgive even this sin; but it must wound him sorely; it must be another crucifixion to him, that those who are saved by him should yet doubt him. Forgive us, Jesus, and help us against this sin in the future.

We need to be alert and sober-minded. We need to be constantly watching our hearts to examine whether and in which manners we are falling into the sin of unbelief. Whether it is because of a love for sin and the world, a lack of prayer and reliance on God, a laziness and lack of diligence, we need to be vigilant in ensuring we continue in faith in the one in whom we first had faith.

As a final warning against unbelief we should consider, as some have noticed, that this is the last time we hear about Jesus going to Nazareth in the gospels. This was likely the last time he went there. Near the start of this wider section of Mark’s gospel Jesus taught a parable where he taught that the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. We must be careful we don’t harden our hearts in unbelief such that what we have is taken from us.

The questioning of the Nazarenes in verse 2 isn’t bad in and of itself if it leads to honest examination. The Berean Jews were considered to have noble character because of their examination of the scriptures to see if what Paul had taught them was true. But the Nazarenes don’t honestly examine the evidence before them. They see Jesus as wise and mighty, but their own prejudices and familiarity with Jesus, which should have made them know and recognise Jesus even more, instead made them be blinded by their offence at him.

2 - Faith and Action

Our second point this morning is our consideration of our response as Christians instead of offence and unbelief, which is faith and action. We won’t dwell as long on this, as we’ll consider some of this further next week.

2a - Faith

But let’s look again at verse 1: He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

The context for our passage is, as we’ve already considered, faith. Jesus has just come from Jairus’ house. He has seen and commended the faith of the woman who came and touched his garment in the crowd. And the second part of verse 1 is also that of faith. His disciples followed him.

These are the same disciples, who on the boat on the sea of Galilee a few weeks ago we saw Jesus rebuke for their lack of faith. But their faith is enough that they are still following him. Rather than leaving Jesus, their reaction to seeing his power and authority is to question like the Nazarenes. “Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?” they ask. But though they don’t fully understand who Jesus is yet, they still have faith in him and continue to follow him. Jesus’ rebuke of their lack of faith did not turn them away from him but rather encouraged them to follow him more resolutely.

We have seen that the rejection of Jesus by the Nazarenes, their unbelief, prevented Jesus from doing any mighty work there. Without the Holy Spirit bringing people to faith there can be no mighty work done. If we want to do mighty works as Redeemer bringing people to trust in Christ, we need to remember it works in the same way. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. We must pray for the Holy Spirit to work, bringing people to faith by his regenerating work in their lives. But we also must take action – this is what faith should drive us to do.

2b - Action

As mentioned, this passage is a continuation of the section beginning with the parable of the sower. There will be different responses to the hearing of the gospel. The disciples following Jesus here, and all that has happened in these verses is part of the disciples training by Jesus. He is teaching them practically of the responses by people to the gospel as he prepares to send the disciples out.

If you are a disciple of Jesus then you are sent out into the world each Monday. We gather at the beginning of the week on Sunday to worship God and to be encouraged, strengthened, and equipped to be sent out into the world.

This is the second passage in Mark which talks about Jesus’ biological family. In the first, a couple chapters previous, Jesus said that whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. When the man who had been demon possessed wanted to go with Jesus, Jesus told him to proclaim how much the Lord had done for him, and he did – causing the people who heard him to marvel. Those who have faith respond with action. They respond with doing the will of God. They respond by telling others about what the Lord has done.

When Jesus arrives in Nazareth nothing happens immediately. The people are not immediately offended. It is only on the Sabbath verse 2 when Jesus begins to preach that the people hear and are offended. We can be Christians living in communities, and families, and workplaces and not cause offence – because we don’t preach the gospel. The gospel offends and so if we are not sharing we won’t see offence.

You may have heard the following quote, wrongly attributed to Francis of Assisi, before.

Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.

The idea being that our lives should proclaim the gospel rather than the words we say. Jesus’ life with the Nazarenes for 30 years, his genuine perfect living, all the miracles associated with him and all the stories from his childhood did not convince them of who he was. If the life of Jesus himself will not convince people of the gospel, then our own sinful lives certainly won’t on their own.

No rather Paul writes these words in Romans:

Romans 10:13–15 · ESV

¹³For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ¹⁴How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

People need to hear the gospel to have faith. And people need to preach the gospel for people to hear. The means God uses to have people call upon him is to partner with Christians to preach the good news of the gospel.

And what is the gospel we are to proclaim? In a summary, that which Jesus proclaims and Mark records for us in chapter 1. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Jesus, though much more, does confirm that he is a prophet. And in his prophetic role he teaches, exhorts and calls sinners to repentance. And even though he is rejected in Nazareth, he went about among the villages teaching. Jesus’ rejection did not prevent him continuing his work, rather he went about his ministry elsewhere.

2c - Faith and Action in an Unbelieving World

Which is our final consideration this morning as we consider how to have faith and action in an unbelieving world.

We should expect offence to be the response to hearing the gospel. Jesus taught with authority. He experienced people taking offence to the gospel. We shouldn’t be surprised when we experience the same. Jesus prepares the disciples with his own experience that they witness for what to when he sends them out. Look at verse 11: if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.

The disciples saw Jesus rejected by his own people and family who witnessed his life, teaching, and miracles, so that they would not be discouraged themselves when they were rejected by others.

You have likely heard people say before – “If only God appeared to me visibly, or spoke to me audibly, or performed a miracle for me – then I’d believe.” We see in this passage as clearly as can be that this is not the case. The Nazarenes do not have faith. Only the Holy Spirit, having regenerated someone, can then produce in them faith. And so we should not be discouraged when we proclaim the gospel and people do not believe. We are not commanded to, nor can we, make people believe. We are commanded to proclaim the gospel, and that is what we must do.

And we should remember this too when we proclaim the gospel to people and they don’t respond immediately. Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith on the sea of Galilee, and yet they came to believe and trust in Jesus. They weren’t abandoned.

If you are ever tempted to think in your heart, even if you wouldn’t say it out loud that – “Oh, that person couldn’t be saved” or that group of people, or those types of people – stop for a moment and consider the people in this passage. These people, of whom their unbelief is so great Jesus is amazed at them, do come to believe – at least some of them. We know that at least two, James – who becomes the leader of the church in Jerusalem and author of the book of James, and Judas, another way of translating the name Jude, the author of the book of Jude, do both come to believe. And not only believe, but become pillars in the church. Do not quench the Holy Spirit by not allowing him to work because of what you think, but faithfully proclaim the gospel wherever you are.

And if even that is not enough to convince you to bring the gospel to all people then finally consider yourself. If even you – the person who knows the depths of your sin more than anyone else, can be saved by the gospel – then who cannot be?

When we preach the gospel many will respond with scepticism. They may be astonished at the teaching of Jesus, but will reject his claims at divinity and the records of his miracles. To many the claims of the gospel will be regarded as foolishness – impractical or naive for today’s world. But Jesus wants his disciples, he wants us, to not be discouraged. Rather we see two encouragements for us in this passage.

We see verse 5 that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. Even in the offence and unbelief of Nazareth Jesus still provides healing for a few. Even as we may experience widespread rejection to the gospel, we may still reach one or two who respond favourably.

And we see verse 6 that he went about among the villages teaching. There are always more places to go, more people to hear the gospel. Both here in Dublin and across the world. If we experience rejection in one place, that shouldn’t prohibit us from continuing on elsewhere, rather we should know that just as it happened to Jesus, it will happen to us.

We have mentioned a couple of times already that this passage is a continuation from Jesus’ parables teaching on the Kingdom of God, and as disciples of Jesus we should remember the parable of the mustard seed – wherein the gospel of the Kingdom of God appears as the smallest of seeds but grows into a great tree. When we experience rejection in an unbelieving world we can have a sure hope that the gospel growth cannot be stopped.

And as a final encouragement to us we see in verse 4 Jesus says a prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown and among his relatives. Even Jesus’ own family who knew him best did not believe at this time. Jesus lived perfectly among them, and loved them perfectly.

We shouldn’t expect our own families, whether parents, siblings, or children, to believe by following some steps or how-to-guide as many people try to suggest nowadays. That is just another form of prosperity gospel. We should pray for our families. We should evangelise them. We should teach them. But servants are not greater than their master. We shouldn’t expect that if we do these things that they will believe. They will only believe by God giving them faith.

Some Christians will say things like you’ve failed as a parent if your children don’t believe, or that children will ordinarily believe unless you don’t do your duty as parents. Now to be sure God is often gracious to Christian parents and does often give faith to their children, but this is not as a result of their works. This is all God’s work. We have a responsibility, yes, but it is not guaranteed and there is no special expectation beyond that of the power of the word of God to change lives, and the blessing it is to be exposed to it regularly.

Conclusion

Who is Jesus?

Is he a carpenter? A brother? A son? A Prophet?

Mark chapter 1 verse 1 tells us that he is the Son of God.

Mark chapter 8 verse 29 tells us that he is the Christ.

The rejection that Jesus faces here in Nazareth foreshadows the rejection that he would face in Jerusalem. Barabbas the criminal is set free and the religious leaders and the people demand that Jesus is crucified instead. Jesus went to the cross for the sins of these people, the sins of people who were his enemies, who rejected him and rejected God. He willingly laid down his life so that they could be forgiven for their sins, dying in their place and reconciling all who believe in him to God.

We must guard ourselves against familiarity with this Jesus and this gospel.

We must guard ourselves against unbelief in this God who has loved us this much.

We must recognise that as we preach this gospel we will face responses of offence and opposition and unbelief.

And yet we must continue to respond to Jesus in faith and having been trained and matured by his word go out to the nations proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God, that all must repent and believe the gospel.

That we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.