At first, Jesus’ hometown folk spoke well of him. Then they remembered that he was merely a carpenter, a poor country boy with no formal training. They began wondering how one of them could learn to speak so graciously. So, they ended up seeing him from a human perspective. They started judging him not by what he said, but by his social status.
Mark reveals more of the thinking of Nazareth’s common folk’s response to Jesus. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 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. He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. (Mark 6:2b-3, 5)
This should leave a person thinking about their own response to Jesus. Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus to me? What do I base my decision on? When I read the Bible, do I think about it? Do I consider what it says, what it implies, and how will I respond? Do I believe in Jesus? Will my decisions enable Jesus to do miracles through and in me? Or will I be lacking in faith in Jesus, and thus the power of the Holy Spirit?
Jesus’ hometown fellows’ response to Jesus was perhaps the first rejection besides the Pharisees, according to Luke. Mark’s chapters 1 through 5 seem to record events throughout Galilee before Jesus returned to Nazareth (Mark 1:14, 21, 39, 44b, 2:1, 13, 23, 6:1, 13, 30, 4:1, 35, 5:1, 17, 20, 21). The only rejection in Mark was the Pharisees and the mixed decisions of the people on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus predicted his hometown words would be said at his crucifixion when the masses would reject him (Luke 23:35). How quickly we forget the good God does today, only to reject and doubt him tomorrow.
