The CROSSroads: Personal Lessons from Mark's Gospel by Rev. Mitch Schultz

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:34:17utc

Lesson Twenty One: UNWELCOME HERO (Mark 6:1-6)

"And they took offense at him" (vs.3)

Most moviegoers are quite familiar with the actor Tom Cruise. Dashingly handsome, Cruise has been the heartthrob of several generations with his suave performance in movies such as TOP GUN, where he plays a daring and fearless fighter pilot. I am told though, that despite his widespread popularity, Tom Cruise refuses to visit his hometown and high school. Why? Because in high school, Cruise was unpopular. He was just an ordinary kid, one of those weird drama students who had little to do with sports or the persona he is now associated with. Perhaps Cruise knows that he will not receive the same adulation from those who know him well, as he does from the general public.

This must have been how Nazareth received the Lord Jesus. Jesus goes back to his hometown as an unwelcome hero. People certainly must have known about his miracles and growing popularity. But they also remember how he was just an ordinary carpenter, one of their own who did not stand out as any different than all the others in the community. The reaction to Jesus outside Nazareth was amazement, wonder, worship and excitement. Mark gives us a markedly contrasting of his reception at Nazareth. "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? (vs.3)

Luke in his record of this same scene reminds us that Jesus provoked this reaction when, in the Synagogue, he is handed the scriptures and uses the opportunity to announce that he is the very fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy about the Messiah:. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:18-19) So incensed are the people by this that Luke later tells us they take Jesus outside the Synagogue and drag him to a cliff with intentions of throwing him over. That is quite a strong reaction for simply standing up and reading the scripture in Church isn't it?

It is hard to believe Nazareth could be so foolish in rejecting the very one who came to offer hope and life, until we realize that Nazareth is really just a picture of our world. In fact, John in his gospel pointedly remarks that "he came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (John 1:1) The atmosphere that existed in Nazareth then lingers today not just in our world but often times with us. People have a hard time accepting that God himself came and took an ordinary place with us. Like Nazareth, many have a hard time believing that God can be so ordinary, so human. But it was what Jesus demanded of them that caused such a reaction. He wanted them to accept not only that he was the Messiah, but the Messiah who required their allegiance. There in lies the resistance. It was not what Jesus announced as much as what he required from that announcement that brought resistance to the surface. You see, to believe he is the Messiah demands submission on our part. The people of Nazareth were not ready for that and Christ was forced to go elsewhere to conduct his ministry. We should pity not only Nazareth for such foolishness but also those today who are not willing to receive into their lives the one who loves them. May God help you to not only acknowledge him as Lord, but submit fully to his Lordship so that he might dwell freely with you and call you one of his own.