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02/15/2009 - The One Thing That Amazes Jesus, Mark 6:1-13

This morning we continue our series in the gospel of Mark by looking at a passage where we discover that Jesus is amazed by something. There are only two times in the gospels where we read that Jesus is amazed by something and one of them is found in the passage we're going to look at today.

Now all through the gospel of Mark we've seen that people have been amazed by Jesus. They've been amazed at his teaching because he taught with such authority. They've been amazed by his ability to heal all kinds of diseases and cast out demons. Last week, we read that the disciples were completely astonished when Jesus raised a twelve year old girl from the dead. And we can understand that. Jesus did amazing things!

But what in the world could amaze Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the creator of the universe, the one who has seen it all? That whole concept of Jesus being amazed fascinated me this week. I imagine it would take something pretty special to amaze the Son of God.

There are a lot of things that can amaze us. This week I found a list of fifty amazing, but completely useless facts and I thought I'd share some of them with you. Let me just give you ten out of the fifty and you can ohhh and ahhh or groan all you want.

#1. A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off!

#2. The human thigh bone, the femur, is stronger than concrete.

#3. Most of the dust particles in your house actually come from dead skin!

#4. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

#5. Dolphins sleep with one eye open!

#6. One quarter of all the bones in your body are in your feet! (52 out of 206)

#7. Slugs have 4 noses.

#8. There are more plastic flamingos in the United States than real ones.

#9. Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil. Edible honey has been found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs and eaten by archeologists.

#10. During your lifetime you will eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants.

Those are some amazing, useless facts. But that's not what Jesus found amazing in the passage we're going to look at today. If you have a Bible turn with me to Mark 6:1-13.

Look at verse 1, (Map Slide) Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples.

Now Jesus had been doing most of his teaching and healing around the town of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. That's where Peter and his brother, Andrew, lived. But now Jesus goes back to his hometown of Nazareth. It's about 25 miles southwest of Capernaum or about a two day walk.

Remember Jesus was born in Bethlehem, just south of Jerusalem, but he grew up in Nazareth and lived there and worked there until he was about thirty years old. This was home for him and now he returns for the very first time as a full fledged Rabbi traveling with his twelve disciples which is what rabbis did.

And as was his custom he goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath Day and begins to teach. Now this is the same synagogue where Jesus grew up as a boy. They all know Jesus there. He went to that synagogue every Saturday morning with his mom and dad and the rest of his family.

He had even taught there before. In Luke 4, we read that after Jesus was baptized he went to this synagogue in Nazareth and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and after rolling up the scroll he said,"Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.

Things started off great for Jesus that day until he pointed out a few stories from the Scriptures where God favored Gentiles over the people of Israel because they had more faith and when he said that things got ugly. The people freaked out, they were furious, and they took Jesus to the top of a cliff to throw him off and kill him. But, it says in Luke 4:30,Jesus walked right through the crowd and went on his way. It wasn't his time to go yet and he wasn't going to die falling off a cliff.

So Jesus comes back home for the first time since that life threatening sermon to see if there's been any change in the people's hearts. It's been about two years now since that attempt on his life and he's done a lot of teaching and performed a lot of miracles since then. His fame had grown throughout the land. Maybe now they'll believe that this hometown kid really is the long awaited Messiah of Israel.

Look at verse 2, When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?"

The people can't deny the power that comes from Jesus, the power in his teaching, the power in his healing. And they're amazed by it, but they can't explain where it's coming from.

Look at verse 3,"Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.

This power, this wisdom, it's not coming from his training. Jesus didn't go to rabbinical school. He wasn't a Hebrew scholar. He was a tradesman. He was a carpenter. He built tables and chairs, plows and yoke for oxen.

"He did work at my house," they said. "Good work! I watched him. I talked with him. I joked with him, but I never heard him say anything like this before."

"And these miracles, where do they come from? His mother, Mary, and his brothers, James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, they're all normal like us. And his sisters are too! I don't get it." And they took offense at him. They got angry at him. And they didn't believe in Jesus because they couldn't figure everything out. There were too many unanswered questions.

And I wondered this week if I would have believed in Jesus living in Nazareth back then. Would I have believed if I had grown up with Jesus, or gone to school with him, or played catch with him in the backyard? What if he had done work on my house as a carpenter? Would I have believed that he was the Messiah? Could I have lived with the unanswered questions? His own brothers didn't believe in him until after he rose from the dead.

Two weeks ago we started the Alpha Course here and it's off to a flying start. The purpose of Alpha is to explore the meaning of life and answer some basic questions about the Christian faith. And it's great for that. I'd love to see everybody here go through Alpha. We hope to offer it again this fall.

But if we're looking to Jesus to answer all our questions before we believe in him, we won't believe in him because he's not going to answer all our questions. And he didn't answer all of theirs either, but he did give them enough evidence to believe. Our faith is grounded in reality.

Look at verse 4, Jesus said to them, "Only in their own towns, among their relatives and in their own homes are prophets without honor." ⁵He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. ⁶And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

That's one powerful statement. Jesus could not do any miracles there. It doesn't say that Jesus would not do any miracles there. It says that he could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. But can't Jesus do anything? I'm mean after all isn't he God? Yes, he's God. But he responds to faith. We've seen it all throughout the gospel of Mark. He responds to the faith of a demoniac. He responds to the faith of Jairus. He responds to the faith of a bleeding woman. He responds to the faith of thousands of people who come to him for healing.

But in his own hometown, in the neighborhood where he grew up, the unbelief was so strong and the darkness so thick that he was amazed at their lack of faith. What a sad thing to cause Jesus such amazement. "I can't believe that you can't believe with all the evidence I've brought that the King is here and the kingdom of God is near. What else can I do?"

Two times in the gospels we read that Jesus was amazed and both times it has to do with faith. I find that very interesting. Here he's amazed by their lack of faith. In Luke 7, Jesus is amazed because of the abundance of faith he found in a Roman centurion of all people. He was a Roman solider stationed in Capernaum in charge of 100 men, which is why he's called a centurion. And when his servant is sick he sends for Jesus, but he doesn't want Jesus to come to his house because he feels so unworthy. Yet he believes that Jesus can heal his servant even from a distance just by saying the word.

And when Jesus finds that kind of heart and hears that kind of faith we read in Luke 7:9-10, Jesus was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." ¹⁰Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Faith is what thrills Jesus. That's what he's looking for in you and that's what he is looking for in me. He wants us to believe him and when we do we enter into his family. We become his brother and his sister, his son and his daughter. We receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life and become members of his kingdom, all by faith.

He wants us to believe him everyday we get out of bed and arrange our life around his teaching and his kingdom values. He wants us to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. He wants us to trust him even when we have a whole bunch of unanswered questions about what's going on in our life and in our world. He wants us to believe that he loves us and cares about us and knows all about what's going on and is using all of it to mold us and make us into men and women more like himself. He wants us to believe that he will reward those who earnestly seek him.

Just like the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 11:6, And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Or like the apostle Paul says in Galatians 5:6, The only thing that counts, is faith expressing itself through love.

Jesus is looking for faith that's alive and energizes us to live for him and his kingdom. That's what he's always been looking for and that's what he's still looking for, but he didn't find it on the streets where he grew up. So sadly he leaves Nazareth.

Look at verse 6, (Map Slide) Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Jesus continues to spread his message that, "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" But now he has a faith lesson to teach his disciples. They need to learn what it means to trust Jesus day to day for their basic needs.

Look at verse 7, Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.

With about eighteen months left before his crucifixion, Jesus expands his kingdom ministry. He calls the Twelve and sends them out in twos giving them kingdom authority to cast out demons and to heal the sick and to do the same miracles that he's performed. But before they go he gives them some special instructions.

Look at verse 8, these were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. ⁹Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. ¹⁰Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. ¹¹And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them."

In the process of expanding the kingdom Jesus wants to teach these men to trust him to provide their daily needs. He tells them to travel light. They can take a walking stick, but he doesn't want them to take a back pack or pack a lunch or take a credit card. They can wear sandals, but he doesn't want them packing an extra shirt. He wants them to trust him and see how God will take care of their needs through the people that buy into the message.

And when they find a place where they're welcome they're to stay until it's time to move on to the next town. But when they come to a place where they're not welcome, like Jesus experienced in Nazareth, they're to move on and shake the dust off their feet as a symbol that they've been rejected. Not everybody is going to believe. Jesus has already told them that through the parable of the soils.

Hospitality in the Middle East is big. It was then and it still is today. The sun is so hot and the climate can be so harsh that it's expected that you'll take in a stranger. I can remember being in Israel and in Turkey too where I was invited into the homes of perfect strangers. And before I knew it they were serving me food and drinks and all the kids were just sitting there staring at me and I didn't know what to make of it. I got very uncomfortable wondering, "What do they want from me? Is it even safe to be here?" But later on I found out that that's just the way it is in those countries. You smile. You accept it. And you say, "Thank you!" Hospitality is just part of the culture.

So when a stranger entered a village in Jesus' day it was not his responsibility to search for hospitality. It was the duty of the village to offer it. "And if they don't offer it," Jesus says, "shake the dust off your feet and keep moving. They're hard soil." The Twelve knew what that meant because that's what the Jews did whenever they returned to Israel from Gentile territory. They would shake the dust off their feet.

So they went out, verse 12 says, and preached that people should repent. ¹³They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

They went out with kingdom authority and delivered the same kingdom message that Jesus delivered with the same power that Jesus had. And while they were doing it they were learning to walk by faith and not by sight, a lesson that Jesus is trying to teach all of us.

Faith is what gets Jesus excited. Faith is the one thing that amazes Jesus. I started out this teaching with some amazing, but useless facts. But I want to close this teaching with an amazing, but very useful fact. Listen to this description of Jesus that never ceases to amaze me and let it swell your faith in him today. It's a piece that's simply called "One Solitary Life."

"Here was a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another town, worked as a carpenter until he was thirty, then for 3 ½ years was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book, never owned a home, never had a family, never went to college, never held an office, never went more than 200 miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things we usually attribute to greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

And while he was still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial and was hung upon a cross between two thieves. While he was dying his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth while he was alive and that was his coat. And when he was dead, he was taken down from that cross and laid in a borrowed tomb through the pity of a friend.

Twenty wide centuries have come and gone and today he is the centerpiece of the human race, the leader of the column of progress. And I stand well within the mark when I say that all the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever been built and sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, and all the kings that have ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of humankind upon this earth as has that one solitary life." Amazing!

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.