Meditations on Mark 6:1-7
Posted: 20 Feb 2025, 10:50
A Prophet Without Honor: Meditations on Mark 6:1-7
Tuesday after Septuagesima
February 18, 2025
by Joseph D. Klotz
Jesus always taught openly in the synagogue. He came, after all, to proclaim the Kingdom of God; the year of the LORD's favor. It was in the synagogue in Nazareth, according to St. Luke, that Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and proclaimed that it was fulfilled in their hearing. No doubt that was a shocking thing for those people to hear. Jesus read Isaiah's prophecy and said it applied to Himself:
The people, as St. Mark writes, took offense at Jesus. They thought they knew Him. He was that kid whom they watched grow up. They were friends with His family. Imagine if some guy you knew for his entire life stood up one day in Bible class and said that the prophets were talking about him. You would think he was insane. You might even get angry because he was blaspheming the Word of God. If that happened to us today, you would be correct. Jesus, however, is God incarnate. He is Immanuel, God, with us. And we know that, not just because He says that it is so, but
because He says it, and the Holy Spirit, working through that Word, creates in our hearts, faith.
And, along with this Word that He is the one for whom Israel was waiting, the one whose day Abraham rejoiced to see, the one through whom the blessing of God would come to the Gentiles, He performed miraculous signs, signs that only God could do, to validate that what He taught was the truth. And, obviously, the biggest sign that tells us who Jesus is, is His resurrection from the dead.
But St. Mark writes that Jesus was amazed by their lack of faith. Why? And why did they not believe? And why did their lack of faith cause Jesus not to be able to perform miraculous signs? Is Jesus' power dependent on our faith?
His Own Did Not Receive Him
What Jesus claimed about Himself in the synagogue in Nazareth was that He was the Messiah; that He was the long awaited Savior who would save His people from their sins. St. John describes Jesus as the Word who was in the beginning; who was with God; and who was God.
And the Word, who made all things, entered into His creation. He took on man's nature. He became truly human, while at the same time remaining very God. He came into the world that He made, through a people, Israel, prepared by God's hand for that very purpose. And yet, St. John tells us in the first chapter of his Gospel, that He was rejected:
So, as surprising as Jesus' proclamation was to the people of His hometown, they should have recognized Him. They should have believed Him. They should have received Him, and been given the right to become children of God, born of God by His working. Yet, in spite of this corporate unbelief, there were, St. Mark records, some who did believe; some on whom Jesus did lay hands and heal, praise be to God.
Surely we wouldn't have acted like this. If we had been there to hear Jesus' proclamation of God's Word, and if we had seen his accompanying miracles, we would have believed in Him. What was wrong with those people?
Well, what was wrong with those people is the same thing that is wrong with us. And no, we would not have acted differently, unless God caused us to. In fact, we act the same way as those people who wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff for proclaiming the Kingdom of God had come, every time we don't want to go to church; every time we don't want to hear preaching; or when we don't want to bring our requests, and petitions, and anxieties to God in prayer; or when we don't want to read our Bibles. In short, we act like them whenever we despise preaching and God's Word; when we fail to hold it sacred, and to gladly hear and learn it.
We, like them, are all, by nature, sinful and unclean. We have the same inclination away from God and toward evil that Jesus' family, friends, and neighbors in Nazareth had. All human beings have it since our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God in the garden, not fearing, loving, and trusting in Him above all things, but wanting instead to be gods for themselves.
You see, we are all in the same situation, and we all come to faith in Jesus in the same way: through the means of God's external Word. St. Paul tells us this in Romans:
Luther cites as proof that God chooses only to deal with men through the Word, the entire record of Scripture. Even before the Scriptures were written down, God came to men through His spoken word, as He did to Moses in the burning bush. As it was recorded in writing, God the Holy Spirit worked, and continues to work, through His written word, as with the prophets and Apostles. Even those who believe before they are baptized (baptism being the promise of God's Word of the forgiveness of sin connected to water) believe through the external word preached to them. And, Paul explains that, though they had the Word, though they heard and understood, Israel was still disobedient and obstinate, rejecting the faith that comes by hearing the message of Christ.
We're not going to get into the why of it all here. The short answer is that God's Word tells us the "why" is above our pay grade. It is ours to speak where Scripture speaks, and to remain silent when Scripture is silent. Moreover, it is important that we do not try to make God's Word subject to our human reason. God's ways are not our way; His thoughts are not our thoughts. God tells us that it is the Holy Spirit who converts men and makes Christians through the Word. He does so when and where He chooses.
Scripture also tells us that God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth; that His Word is powerful and effective. At the same time it also teaches us that, when man is not converted, it is due to his own fault; it is due to him being stiff-necked and heard-hearted, always resisting the Holy Spirit, as St. Stephen told the Jews as they martyred him.
God is responsible for our salvation; we are responsible for our damnation. There is no reconciling these two teachings of Scripture with human reason. We simply confess what God says in His Word because it is true, knowing that, in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Instead of trying to penetrate into the hidden things which God does not reveal to us, we are to recognize this gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation that God has given us by virtue of the faith in Christ He has created in us through the Word. We can't even claim that our believing in Christ is our own doing. We must confess with Luther:
Faith isn't a work that we do to earn God's forgiveness. It is a work God does in us, through His means of grace. It isn't a decision that we make after having all the information and weighing it carefully. It is the gift of God. St. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians words which are quite familiar to us:
In the Word of God which we read, which hear preached, we receive in the Sacraments, God continually calls us to repentance for our sins; by this Word He also delivers to us the gift of his grace purchased for us by Christ on the cross. It is in this Word that we hear the Good News; that though our sins be scarlet, God, by Christ's shed blood, makes them white as snow.
In this Word God tells us how His Son, begotten of the Father from all eternity, submitting to the Father's will, came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man; that He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; the one who knew no sin became sin for us, cursed and hanging on a tree; that He did all this to pay for our sin. And, not for our sin only, but for the sin of the whole world.
In this Word we learn that Jesus the God-man did not stay dead after His crucifixion. Being also true God, He took up His life again. He conquered death and rose from the dead for our justification. In baptism, Jesus connects us with His death, and with His resurrection, so that those things become ours. In our baptism, we have died with Christ; we will, as Paul assures us, rise with Him too:
And, while we live here in this world, working in the places where God has put us, we serve our neighbors in love, doing those good works which God prepared in advance for us to do; Through His means of Word and Sacrament, God the Holy Spirit, makes willing men out of unwilling ones. He comes to us in this way, giving us His very body and blood to eat and to drink, delivering to us the forgiveness of sins.
So, we pray along with the man in Scripture who's son was demon-possessed: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.
God is faithful and His Word is true. He will do to us according to our faith. We can be sure of this, from His Word. ###
Tuesday after Septuagesima
February 18, 2025
by Joseph D. Klotz
Jesus said to them, "only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. (Mark 6:4-7)
Jesus always taught openly in the synagogue. He came, after all, to proclaim the Kingdom of God; the year of the LORD's favor. It was in the synagogue in Nazareth, according to St. Luke, that Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and proclaimed that it was fulfilled in their hearing. No doubt that was a shocking thing for those people to hear. Jesus read Isaiah's prophecy and said it applied to Himself:
"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 4:18-21)
The people, as St. Mark writes, took offense at Jesus. They thought they knew Him. He was that kid whom they watched grow up. They were friends with His family. Imagine if some guy you knew for his entire life stood up one day in Bible class and said that the prophets were talking about him. You would think he was insane. You might even get angry because he was blaspheming the Word of God. If that happened to us today, you would be correct. Jesus, however, is God incarnate. He is Immanuel, God, with us. And we know that, not just because He says that it is so, but
because He says it, and the Holy Spirit, working through that Word, creates in our hearts, faith.
And, along with this Word that He is the one for whom Israel was waiting, the one whose day Abraham rejoiced to see, the one through whom the blessing of God would come to the Gentiles, He performed miraculous signs, signs that only God could do, to validate that what He taught was the truth. And, obviously, the biggest sign that tells us who Jesus is, is His resurrection from the dead.
But St. Mark writes that Jesus was amazed by their lack of faith. Why? And why did they not believe? And why did their lack of faith cause Jesus not to be able to perform miraculous signs? Is Jesus' power dependent on our faith?
His Own Did Not Receive Him
What Jesus claimed about Himself in the synagogue in Nazareth was that He was the Messiah; that He was the long awaited Savior who would save His people from their sins. St. John describes Jesus as the Word who was in the beginning; who was with God; and who was God.
And the Word, who made all things, entered into His creation. He took on man's nature. He became truly human, while at the same time remaining very God. He came into the world that He made, through a people, Israel, prepared by God's hand for that very purpose. And yet, St. John tells us in the first chapter of his Gospel, that He was rejected:
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (John 1:10- 14)
So, as surprising as Jesus' proclamation was to the people of His hometown, they should have recognized Him. They should have believed Him. They should have received Him, and been given the right to become children of God, born of God by His working. Yet, in spite of this corporate unbelief, there were, St. Mark records, some who did believe; some on whom Jesus did lay hands and heal, praise be to God.
Surely we wouldn't have acted like this. If we had been there to hear Jesus' proclamation of God's Word, and if we had seen his accompanying miracles, we would have believed in Him. What was wrong with those people?
Well, what was wrong with those people is the same thing that is wrong with us. And no, we would not have acted differently, unless God caused us to. In fact, we act the same way as those people who wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff for proclaiming the Kingdom of God had come, every time we don't want to go to church; every time we don't want to hear preaching; or when we don't want to bring our requests, and petitions, and anxieties to God in prayer; or when we don't want to read our Bibles. In short, we act like them whenever we despise preaching and God's Word; when we fail to hold it sacred, and to gladly hear and learn it.
We, like them, are all, by nature, sinful and unclean. We have the same inclination away from God and toward evil that Jesus' family, friends, and neighbors in Nazareth had. All human beings have it since our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God in the garden, not fearing, loving, and trusting in Him above all things, but wanting instead to be gods for themselves.
You see, we are all in the same situation, and we all come to faith in Jesus in the same way: through the means of God's external Word. St. Paul tells us this in Romans:
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
Luther cites as proof that God chooses only to deal with men through the Word, the entire record of Scripture. Even before the Scriptures were written down, God came to men through His spoken word, as He did to Moses in the burning bush. As it was recorded in writing, God the Holy Spirit worked, and continues to work, through His written word, as with the prophets and Apostles. Even those who believe before they are baptized (baptism being the promise of God's Word of the forgiveness of sin connected to water) believe through the external word preached to them. And, Paul explains that, though they had the Word, though they heard and understood, Israel was still disobedient and obstinate, rejecting the faith that comes by hearing the message of Christ.
We're not going to get into the why of it all here. The short answer is that God's Word tells us the "why" is above our pay grade. It is ours to speak where Scripture speaks, and to remain silent when Scripture is silent. Moreover, it is important that we do not try to make God's Word subject to our human reason. God's ways are not our way; His thoughts are not our thoughts. God tells us that it is the Holy Spirit who converts men and makes Christians through the Word. He does so when and where He chooses.
Scripture also tells us that God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth; that His Word is powerful and effective. At the same time it also teaches us that, when man is not converted, it is due to his own fault; it is due to him being stiff-necked and heard-hearted, always resisting the Holy Spirit, as St. Stephen told the Jews as they martyred him.
God is responsible for our salvation; we are responsible for our damnation. There is no reconciling these two teachings of Scripture with human reason. We simply confess what God says in His Word because it is true, knowing that, in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Instead of trying to penetrate into the hidden things which God does not reveal to us, we are to recognize this gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation that God has given us by virtue of the faith in Christ He has created in us through the Word. We can't even claim that our believing in Christ is our own doing. We must confess with Luther:
"I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith."
Faith isn't a work that we do to earn God's forgiveness. It is a work God does in us, through His means of grace. It isn't a decision that we make after having all the information and weighing it carefully. It is the gift of God. St. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians words which are quite familiar to us:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
In the Word of God which we read, which hear preached, we receive in the Sacraments, God continually calls us to repentance for our sins; by this Word He also delivers to us the gift of his grace purchased for us by Christ on the cross. It is in this Word that we hear the Good News; that though our sins be scarlet, God, by Christ's shed blood, makes them white as snow.
In this Word God tells us how His Son, begotten of the Father from all eternity, submitting to the Father's will, came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man; that He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; the one who knew no sin became sin for us, cursed and hanging on a tree; that He did all this to pay for our sin. And, not for our sin only, but for the sin of the whole world.
In this Word we learn that Jesus the God-man did not stay dead after His crucifixion. Being also true God, He took up His life again. He conquered death and rose from the dead for our justification. In baptism, Jesus connects us with His death, and with His resurrection, so that those things become ours. In our baptism, we have died with Christ; we will, as Paul assures us, rise with Him too:
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. (Romans 6:3-5)
And, while we live here in this world, working in the places where God has put us, we serve our neighbors in love, doing those good works which God prepared in advance for us to do; Through His means of Word and Sacrament, God the Holy Spirit, makes willing men out of unwilling ones. He comes to us in this way, giving us His very body and blood to eat and to drink, delivering to us the forgiveness of sins.
So, we pray along with the man in Scripture who's son was demon-possessed: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.
God is faithful and His Word is true. He will do to us according to our faith. We can be sure of this, from His Word. ###