Strange Unbelief: Daily Thoughts from Mark (Mark 6:1-6)

We seem to have a problem with accepting our heroes as normal people, with normal family lives and upbringings.  Like the Greeks, we prefer to think of our heroes as those who are the offspring of gods and livers of charmed lives.  We want them on the proverbial pedestal.  You can’t be a hero among your own family or hometown community.

He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.

And he went about among the villages teaching. (Mark 6:1-6, ESV)

The return of Jesus to the west side of the Sea of Galilee means a visit also to his hometown Nazareth.  He is able to visit his family, we presume, and is invited to speak in the synagogue.  But when he speaks and says things that are unusual, his fellow Nazarenes get offended.  Why, they wonder, does he think he’s so special or that he knows so much?  What is the real source of his mighty works?  He can’t be anyone special, they think, if we have known him previously as just a carpenter and if we know his family. This is a ridiculous and illogical viewpoint that is born out of unbelief and a false view of godliness.  Jesus acknowledges their failure to honor a “prophet” and performs very few miracles in Nazareth.  His hometown misses out on his blessings.

Two things stand out in this passage. 

One, Jesus’ parents, his mother Mary and adoptive father Joseph, had other children after he was born.  Jesus had four half-brothers, two of whom we see mentioned in other New Testament writings.  James, we are told, became a follower of Jesus after his resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7) and became a leader in the church at Jerusalem (Acts 15) and wrote an epistle (the letter we call “James”).  Judas or Jude also wrote an epistle contained in our New Testament.  Jesus had at least two half-sisters but we are not given their names.

The Catholic Church disputes that we are to take these individuals here as children of Mary because they hold that Mary remained a virgin the rest of her life.  They would argue that these were Joseph’s children by a previous marriage or that the word “brother” and “sisters” means cousins.  They base this on a presumption that Mary had to forever remain a virgin to be considered a holy enough vessel to bear the Lord.  But there is no basis for this theologically or Scripturally.  The normal meaning of brothers and sisters makes most sense here.

Secondly, it is said Jesus was unable to do mighty works in Nazareth because of their unbelief.  Read my article here for an explanation of this.  Obviously Jesus did do some miracles here with those who did believe, though Jesus, as we have seen, is not only able to do miracles when someone believes.  That, however, is his normal requirement.

If we want to see miracles we need to believe.  We need to believe Jesus.  Is what he says wisdom?  It is so wise!  Is there any reason not to accept his miracles as deriving from the power of God?  None, whatsoever!  Does it matter that he is fully human and came from an otherwise normal family?  It should not, if God is at work in him, and He is.  Strangely, Jesus is not the offspring of a god like the Greeks might have thought, but is rather the offspring of David and yet also the eternal Son of God, one person with two natures.  His origin is all the more unique and extraordinary (for more on this see here).  Believe him!