The Gospel of Mark - Following the Master IX
Mark 6:1-21
John Ryan
03/04/2007

Mark 6:1-4 2 ... and many who heard him were astonished, ...
Jesus comes home to Nazareth and teaches as is His custom in the synagogue. He goes to where God's people should be and the people there are stunned out of their minds - flabbergasted at His teachings. They do not deny His wisdom or power. There question is WHERE is this stuff coming from? This is the main question. They explain by saying WHAT do his words mean and HOW is he doing these things. Why the questions? Jesus held no place in their heart. He was not their rabbi and they did not follow Him as Lord. So, when they looked at Him, all they saw was Joseph's son, the carpenter, the brother of these siblings. He was little Jesus, or carpenter Jesus - not The Messiah - Son of God - The LORD of All, King of Kings.

Questions:
WHAT place does Jesus have in your life? WHO do you see Jesus as? Is He really who He says He is? The answers to these questions will dramatically affect everything.

Why did He offend them? Why does He offend now? If He has the place of God, Savior, Lord, Rabbi in your life you will begin to see Him more and more in this way. And, you will begin to accept His deeds, His ways, His rule, and His love. If He does not have this place in your life, you will not see Him as God. His deeds and words, His ways, His rule, and even His love will eventually offend you. Jesus' love drove Him to warn you of your sin and die for your sin. Jesus' love requires that He be God, Lord, and Rabbi. This is why we are offended and why these people and even His family were offended.

Are you offended? Jesus offends on purpose. (Is. 8:14-15, Rom. 9:32-33) Why? To bring you to a place of desperate need for Him because you are in a desperate situation. Your sin can only be taken care of by Jesus and His work on the cross. He longs to bring you low, to trip your pride, and to make you stumble on the lie that you are god. Jesus said in John 1:12 - "To all who received Him, who would trust in His name, He gave the right to be children of God." Your only response is to surrender, to completely trust in Jesus as God, Savior, and Lord and allow Him to become your Master, your Rabbi.

Mark 6:5-6 5 And he could do no mighty work there, ...
Faith=God Works
Many think if they can conjure up enough faith God will do the works He desires in our lives. The companion thought is: If I do not have enough faith He will not work in my life?

1) Question, does scripture really teach that we can stop the hand of God.
"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26; Deut 32:39; I Chron. 29:11; II Chron. 20:6; Job 23:13, 42:2; Luke 1:37; ) There is no limitation to God's power.

The demoniac is healed and becomes Christ's follower in chapter 5 without any faith on His part. Jesus gave the faith. The synagogue ruler's daughter is raised in the middle of the man's fear and crumbling faith.

All this being said, God longs to work within the context of faith (Hebrews 11:6) - a faith that He provides. (Eph 2:8-9)

2) There are three aspects of faith. One - disbelief or rejection. Two - no faith. Three - faith. The truth here is that Jesus is confronted with disbelief or rejection. Jesus worked (works) in lives where there was no faith. He worked (works) in lives where there was faith. He chose not to work in the lives of people who disbelieved.

Mark 6:6-13 7 And he called the twelve and began to send them out ...
Jesus the rabbi intensifies the training for His talmidim or disciples. Remember, the point was to train them to know His ways and teaching, to train them to be like Him, and then ultimately to take His ways and character and impart it into other talmidim or disciples.

Our desire in this body is to glorify God with our lives and we believe we do this as a disciple who helps make disciples. Our example of what it looks like to be a disciple and make disciples is as follows.

To this end - He leads them out to their first practicum or field test. In modeling reaching and teaching, He gives these orders:

1) "two by two" - This was His constant model. One of the major components of Jesus method of making disciples was community. He taught it, lived it, and modeled it for them and us.
2) "authority" - They were to battle demons. Major question arises - is this for us or just the apostles. This seems to be for all followers as we see in scripture. (Mark 9:38-41, Luke 10:17-20)
3) "take no provision" - For this specific mission Jesus was teaching them to rely on God for all their needs. Staff represented authority (OT prophets) and sandals separated them from slaves and showed them to be men of respect. This is not the model every time. This seems to be a specific order.
4) "stay there until you depart" - They were to have one base on this trip and not be on the move for any reason. This seems to be a model consistently given and lived out by the apostles. Purpose: avoid signs of favoritism, build relationships, and focus on mission.
5) "preach repentance" - We see them carry this message of Jesus. It is the message of the gospel - turn from your self rule and submit to King and His rule and love.
6) "heal the sick" - Meet the needs of people as you find them. It marked the coming of the Kingdom of God according to OT prophecy. Meeting needs reveals the heart of God but this supports the message of repentance. It is not the message and never can be.

On Mission Together:
Will we go on mission together? It is one of the major purposes of our body. Will we be trained and equipped? Will we see this as a natural result of maturity in Christ? Will we follow our rabbi and go?