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Jesus wondered at their unbelief - Mark 6
Jesus wondered at their unbelief - Mark 6
In Mark 6 we find Jesus teaching in the synagogue at Nazareth. This is where he grew up. The people knew him, his family, his history, his childhood… and NOW He is teaching them.
They were ASTONISHED at both what they heard and what they saw. At the end of the sermon on the mount, “When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29).
1) His use of scripture
2) His application –
Add to this, His use of miracles to confirm Himself as a messenger from God (actually more than this – as the Son of God, the Messiah, cp. John 20:30-31) and his message as ‘from God’ (cp. John 3:1-3). Later Peter would make this same point:
"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Acts 2:22-23
YET, their prejudice overrode such astonishment, and they took offense at him (vs. 3). Truth is always filtered through our own perceptions and prejudices. This doesn’t change TRUTH, but it surely changes how we respond to it!
Here we see that some reject the ‘man’ (his background, his education, his ethnicity, etc.), and thus no matter what he teaches, it is assumed to be wrong and is rejected by them.
Some accept the man (holding him in such esteem that they do not critically appraise his teaching.
Some, having no real love for truth but rather at ‘learning’ something ‘new’, are ever learning but never coming to a knowledge of truth. They should examine all things and hold to that which is good.
Some, able to set aside their preconceived ideas concerning both the man and the message, will examine the teaching. Such are like the Bereans of Acts 17.
Which manner of person are you? As you read the stories about Jesus and hear again His teaching: think, examine, contemplate, and practice. Be astonished and not offended!
Hugh DeLong
