COMMENTARY ON MARK
LESSON NUMBER 60
“ Mark 6:4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. And He went round about the villages, teaching.”
(Mark 6:4-6; Matthew 13:57-58)
WHERE JESUS COULD NOT WORK
INTRODUCTION
Jesus has returned to his home town – Nazareth. He had been rejected there during His first visit, right after His temptation in the wilderness (Lk 4:16-29). Now, after His fame had been spread abroad, and reports of His mighty works were beginning to fill the land (Matt 4:24; 9:26,31; 14:1), the people were still “offended at Him” (Mk 6:3). They still could not think of Him outside of their own fleshly familiarity with Him – “the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judah, and Simon,” and whose “sisters” were also there with them. The marvelous words that Jesus had spoken, and the unparalleled works that He had wrought had not altered their small perception of Him. They could not think of Him outside of their familiarity of Him as their neighbor and fellow citizen. Even though they were “astonished” at His teachings, marveled at “wisdom” that was “given unto Him,” and were staggered by “such mighty works” as were “wrought by His hands” (6:2), we will find that unbelief prevailed, and their hearts remained calloused and hard against Christ. It is, therefore, possible to be remarkably impressed by Jesus, and yet remain in a position where He will not and cannot bless the individual. This reveals the absolute vanity of adopting an approach to religion that aims at impressing people, or capturing their attention. It is quite possible to do this, and leave the people still holding Jesus in contempt.
WHERE THE PROPHET IS NOT HONORED
“ Mk 6:4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.”
This is the response of Jesus to the reaction of the people. He does not ignore the fact that they were “offended at Him.” Those who imagine that Jesus, because of His omniscience and great love, can “handle” the uncomely responses of men to His words and works, need to think again, for they could not possibly me more wrong. In fact, both salvation and damnation are traced back to the human response to Jesus – and particularly to the Gospel that declared Him – the record God has given of His Son (Mark 16:16; 1 John 5:10-11).
NOT WITHOUT HONOR. The first time Jesus revisited Nazareth, and in response to their unbelief, He said to them, “No prophet is accepted in his own country” (Lk 4:24). Now He goes even further and refers to the lack of “honor” given to Him. After Jesus had spoken to the woman at the well, and additionally to a vast host of Samaritans, He said as He returned to Galilee, “that a prophet hath no honor in his own country” (John 4:44).
What does it mean to be “without honor?” Other versions read, “despised,” DARBY “not accepted,” IE “fails to be honored,” WILLIAMS and “without honor (deference, reverence).” AMPLIFIED The word “honor” means “to fix a value to, revere, venerate,” THAYER “respect,” FRIBERG “To attribute high status to someone,” LOUW-NIDA and “to hold in honor, value, prize.” LIDDELL-SCOTT Here, “honor” has to do with perceiving the Lord as valuable, to be desired and preferred above all else. He is perceived as occupying the highest status, and being worthy of the greatest admiration. He is valued more highly than anything else, and the individual is totally unwilling to forfeit the advantage of being in His presence.
How does Deity react to a lack of honor – a deficiency of respect, and the absence of preference? What is the response of the Lord when He is not preferred above all else, admired more than anything, and held in the highest regard? We do not need to speculate about this, for the Lord has spoken. During the time of Malachi the people had adopted a totally unacceptable view toward the Lord. Therefore God said, “A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a Father, where is Mine honor? and if I be a Master, where is My fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise My name” (Mal 1:6). Note that the lack of honor equated to “despising” the Lord. To “despise” the Lord is to fail to esteem Him, to disdain Him, and to hold Him in contempt.
And, precisely how was this lack of honor made known? It was by the offering of inferior things upon the altar: “polluted bread,” “the blind for sacrifice,” together with the “lame and sick.” and even animals that had been killed by predators (Mal 1:7-8,12-13). The priests “departed” from God’s law, caused many to stumble, and corrupted the covenant (Mal 2:8). They even “robbed God” by failing to bring “all the tithes into the storehouse” (Mal 3:8-10). One only needs to briefly consider these things to see that Christ is being deprived of honor in our day as well. This lack of honor, as in the times of Malachi, and during Christ’s ministry is not said to be among the Gentiles, or those who claim no identity with God. It is rather found among those who “profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him” (Tit 1:16).
The lack of veneration for Jesus is seen in the approach of the people to “the Lord’s day,” hearing the Gospel, engaging in an earnest pursuit of Jesus, and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. As we will see, none of this is innocent, nor will it be ignored by Jesus.
IN HIS OWN COUNTRY. This equates to his “home town,” NASB or where He was brought up – the vicinity in which He was raised, and where He was commonly known. This is where He did carpentry work, and became known as a member of Joseph and Mary’s family.
AMONG HIS OWN KIN. These are “his own relatives,”NKJV “his relations,” BBE “among his kinsmen,” DARBY and “his own kindred.” DOUAY These are His maternal-relations – those related to Him in the flesh. Well into his ministry, Jesus’ half-brothers said to Him, “Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world” (John 7:3-4). The Spirit provides an explanation for their words: “For neither did His brethren believe in Him” (John 7:5). He was “without honor” among His relatives. On another occasion, when His relatives heard of His exhaustive ministry, and how He and His disciples did not even have time to eat, “they went out to lay hold on Him: for they said, He is beside Himself” (Mark 3:21). He was “without honor among His own kin.”
IN HIS OWN HOUSE. On one occasion, upon finding Jesus in the Temple at twelve years of age, Mary said to Him, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” When Jesus responded that He must be about His Father’s business, “they understood not the saying which He spake to them” (Lk 2:48-50). On another occasion, Mary associated Jesus with the provision of wine, to which He responded, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” (John 2:3-4). Without honor in His own house! This is knowing Christ “after the flesh,” something that is forbidden (2 Cor 5:16).
HE COULD DO THERE NO MIGHTY WORK
“ 5 And He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.”
Does knowing Jesus “after the flesh” have any effect upon Him working among the people? Is it really of no consequence when demeaning views of Jesus are entertained? What of those who do not venerate Him, and give Him the precedence in their lives? What is His reaction to those who withdraw honor from Him in order to satisfy lower desires and devote themselves to lesser interests? How do you suppose He reacts to dismissing the assembly of the righteous because it is a holiday? – or does anyone imagine that this has nothing to do with honoring or not honoring the Lord Jesus? What may we expect Jesus to do among us when we view him with carnal familiarity? For those in Nazareth, such familiarity had to do with knowing the mother, brothers, and sisters of Jesus. It had to do with knowing His former occupation among them – when He did things that were not immediately and obviously related to His mission to save sinners (1 Tim 1:15), and bring the sons of God to glory (Heb 2:10).
In our time the circumstances have changed, but the principle remains the same. Some are familiar with Jesus as One who can help them with their problems. Others connect Him with Sunday School and its slanted literature, singing brief and shallow choruses, and certain holidays of the year. But they do not think of Him as the “Captain of our salvation”(Heb 2:10), or the One who “ever lives to make intercession” for us (Heb 7:25), or is going to appear to punish His enemies and reward His saints (2 Thess 1:9-10). They do think of themselves as having been “called into the fellowship” of Christ (1 Cor 1:9). Their lives cannot be described as an earnest quest to “win Christ, and be found in Him” with the righteousness that is from God by faith (Phil 3:8-9). They actually have a demeaning view of Jesus which does not require them to seek Him, listen to Him, obey Him, live for Him, and look for Him. The entire posture of their life is one of withholding honor from the Lord’s Christ. Will Jesus work mightily among such a people, hastening to answer their prayers, heal their sick, and deliver them from all manner of evil?
COULD DO NO MIGHTY WORK. Here is what is said of that miserable environment in which Jesus is “without honor.” “He could not do any miracles there!” NIV or, “He could do not deeds of power there,” NRSV or, “He was unable to do any work of power there,” BBE or “He was not able to do even one work of power there.”AMPLIFIED Matthew says, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matt 13:58).
Do you suppose if they had only read a book on miracles, or “The Prayer of Jabez,” that this situation would have been corrected? Perhaps a series of workshops on “Tapping into the power of God” would have done the job. Indeed, such suggestions are nothing more than nonsense. It was not their lack of knowledge that inhibited Jesus, but their lack of faith. They did not honor Jesus as the Son of God, and thus He could not work among them.
Some might doubt that unbelief has such an effect upon the Living God – and yet this verse remains. It is even in all of the translations! One of Asaph’s Psalms reads, “Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel” (Psa 78:41). Some versions reduce the strength of the phrase by reading, “pained,” NASB “vexed,” NIV “provoked,” NRSV and “incensing.” AMPLIFIED While these fanciful translations might appear to be technically correct, they are spiritually misleading. The fact of the matter is that a pained, vexed, provoked, and incensed God does not bless the people! He does not work for good among them! This Psalm is explaining WHY they were rejected by God. It culminates by saying, “When God heard this, He was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel” (Psa 78:59). He “forsook” the tabernacle, let the enemies take the sacred ark, gave the people to the sword, was angry with His inheritance, consumed their young men, did not allow their maidens to marry, and caused the priests to fall by the sword (vs 60-64). The mighty works of God, devoted to blessing the people, CEASED among them. He could do no mighty work.
HEALED A FEW SICK FOLK. This is why Matthew says, “He did not many mighty works” (Matt 13:58). Mark makes this a modifying expression: “except that He laid His hands on a few sick folk and healed them.” NKJV Healing, then, is not the mightiest work of all! Here a few folk were healed in a context in which it is said that Jesus “could do no mighty work.” Among other things, we see that miracles and mighty works cannot break the hold of unbelief – else He would have done them. It is once said of God’s response to Israel, “So the LORD could no longer bear it,” NKJV and thus their land became a desolation(Jer 44:22). It is possible to “provoke the Lord” (1 C or 10:22), but woe to the person who does so!
The eyes of the Lord are looking for a person “whose heart is perfect toward Him” (2 Chron 16:9). He looks to the person “that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at” His Word (Isa 66:2). The “few sick folk” that Jesus healed no doubt fell into this category – but there were precious few of them, and therefore Jesus was limited in what He could do. I do not believe the average churchman has any awareness of the limiting power of unbelief.
HE MARVELED BECAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF
“ 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.”
HE MARVELED. Other versions read, “He wondered,” NASB “He was amazed,” NIV “was greatly surprised,” BBE “He could hardly accept the fact,” LIVING and “He was utterly amazed.” ISV The word “marvel” means “astonished or surprised.” Ordinarily, such a response would not be attributed to the Lord Jesus who, it is written, “needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man” (John 2:25). This marveling, amazement, or astonishment, however was not because Jesus saw something He did not know was there, or because He learned something of which He was not aware. This marveling was the expression of an absolutely righteous Man, with an unflawed holy character. What He saw, in this case, was abrasive to His spirit. This was the reaction of His heart, not His mind.
There are two occasions during which it is said that Jesus “marveled.” The first occasion was the great faith of the Centurion: “When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Matt 8:10; Lk 7:9). The second is this text. Nowhere in all of God’s Word is Christ ever said to marvel, except in these two cases – nowhere. All of the other marveling was on the part of men toward Christ.
BECAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF. And what is it that caused the Lord Jesus to “marvel?” It was the remarkable degree and pervasiveness of their unbelief! There is a similar expression concerning God’s reaction to Israel. “And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him” (Isa 59:16). This reflected no deficiency of Divine knowledge, but makes known how staggering the effect of unbelief and ungodliness is upon the Lord.
What is “unbelief?” From the standpoint of language it is “want of faith, unbelief . . . “a failure to trust, lack of trust, lack of faith . . . ” Here, the people did not bring their sick from surrounding regions to lay them at Jesus feet, as they did in other places (Matt 4:24). They did not pack the house where He was teaching, so that no one could come close, as they once did in Capernaum (Mk 2:2). They did not come to him when they heard of the great things He did, as when He withdrew Himself to the sea (Mk 3:8). To them, He was only a hometown man who had gained some popularity – they really saw nothing extraordinary in Him.
Unbelief stops a person from doing great works against the hosts o f darkness (Matt 17:20). Wherever unbelief is perceived – even if it is in His disciples – Jesus “upbraids” and rebukes those in whom it is found (Mk 16:14). “Unbelief” makes a person “stagger” at the promises of God, so that they cannot be embraced (Rom 4:20). It caused certain Jews to be “broken off” the Jewish tree, and excluded from the promise to Abraham (Rom 11:20). A heart in which “unbelief” is found departs “from the living God” (Heb 3:12). It was because of “unbelief” that a whole generation of Israelites “could not enter” into the promised land (Heb 3:19; 4:6). “Unbelief” will cause a person to “fall” (Heb 4:11). The “unbelieving” – all of them – “shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev 21:8).
Now, in Jesus’ hometown, where they should have been able to associate His impeccably holy life with His message, there was such an alarming degree of unbelief, that it caused Jesus to marvel. And, if this can be said of the town where Jesus was raised, what will be said of a town where the marvelous Gospel of Christ has been preached, the truth made available to the people, and the Holy Spirit promised? How will heaven react to a generation that does seek Jesus, trust in Him, look to Him, and live for Him? I will tell what will result from such a circumstance. He will do “no mighty work” among them! If any are helped by Him, it will be a remnant of people who have dared to believe on the Lord Jesus when it was not fashionable to do so.
THE EFFECTS OF WORLDLY THINKING. Solemnly we are reminded that “the carnal mind is enmity against God,” and that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God” (Rom 8:7; 1 Cor 2:14). Wherever this mind-set is found, “unbelief” will dominate the people. And wherever unbelief prevails, Jesus will “do no mighty work!” In my judgment, this explains the presence of mundane and powerless religion, where form is exalted, and charlatans and religious opportunists prosper.
HE WENT ABOUT TEACHING. Jesus left Nazareth and began going through the villages, or small towns, “teaching.” This is what He began doing during the first of His ministry (Matt 4:23). It is what He did in the middle of His ministry (Matt 9:35). It is also what He did as He entered the latter phase of His ministry (Lk 13:22). He was acquainting people with the Living God (Lk 10:22), and the rule of God (Mk 1:14-15). He was shedding Divine light “in the region and shadow of death” (Matt 4:16). The “Dayspring from on high” (or heavenly “Sunrise” NASB) had visited the people, just as Zechariah had prophesied, and He was giving “light to those that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Lk 1:78-79). As the supreme Teacher, Jesus was a Distributor of spiritual light, illumination, and revelation.