The Lord’s Day
Evening
June 20, 2004
Dr. Derek Thomas
Now turn with me once again in the Gospel of Mark to chapter six, and we come this evening to verses one through thirteen. Before we read the passage together, let’s come before God and ask His blessing.
Our Father in Heaven, this is Your word. You are the One that caused it to be brought forth. You spoke through the mouths of prophets and of apostles, that all Scripture is given by the out-breathing of God, and is profitable for doctrine and instruction and correction, and for instruction in the way of righteousness, that the man of God might be thoroughly furnished unto every good work. We ask now that we might read, mark, learn and inwardly digest all that it contains. We ask it for Jesus’ sake, Amen.
So far we have been in the region of Capernaum on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. This, of course, was an important area. It was the hometown of many of the disciples—Peter and John, James and Andrew no doubt lived in Capernaum. They had a thriving fishing business, industry, there in Capernaum. And more importantly, they had houses in which Jesus no doubt stayed during his ministry in Capernaum and around the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
Now we move back inland 25 miles or so, somewhat to the west, and a little to the south, to Nazareth, the hometown, the place where Jesus grew up, the place where perhaps He had spent 25 or more years of His life. Everybody knew Jesus in Nazareth. He was Joseph’s boy, He was Mary’s son. He was the brother of this list of names: James, and Joses, and Judas and Simon, not to mention sisters. He would have been known, then, for being a carpenter, for being one who worked in Joseph’s carpentry business. There’s no mention of Nazareth in the Old Testament. There is no mention of Nazareth in the Mishnah or the Talmud, the commentaries, if you like, on the Old Testament. Nazareth was a nowhere town. You remember the derogatory remark about Jesus elsewhere in the gospels: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” It was “in the boonies”, as we might say , or as you might say!—in the sticks. It was nowhere. It was out in the country. It had no significance at all. There was no church in Nazareth, as far as we can tell, until the fourth century, until the time of Constantine. Archaeological excavations in recent times reveals a small town of earthen dwellings out of the rocky hillside, of a population of no more than five hundred. I don’t think we have five hundred here tonight, but say roughly what’s in this building this evening. It’s a small place.
Now when I make a visit home, and I’m about to make one—I will probably drive through the village where I was born and where I grew up and where I went to school. I certainly, God willing, will visit my mother, and I’ll visit my elder brother, and I’ll visit, as my mother was telling me on the phone, because she’s planned it all—I’ll visit my sister. And there are other things on this itinerary that always happen when I go home. Sometimes, if I let them know in advance, I preach in the local evangelical church in the town where I grew up.
Now I wonder, did Jesus do all of that? And no doubt, He did. And it was certainly an opportunity for Him to spend time with His mother, with Mary. His brothers have already been to Capernaum. You remember they had tried to bring Him back, thinking that He was out of His mind. Jesus, just like the homeboy that’s come home again, will preach in the local synagogue in Nazareth. He comes home, this time with a band of disciples, looking to all intents and purposes like a Jewish rabbi with His band of disciples following Him. On the Sabbath day, He’ll be in the synagogue at Nazareth. We don’t know what the text was. I don’t think—some commentators think this is the same story as the one in Luke chapter four, where we know Jesus took Isaiah 61 and began to read it and then proclaimed that the prophecy was fulfilled in their hearing—probably that was an earlier occurrence than the one recorded here in Mark, chapter six. I want us to see three thing.
I. First
of all, that the folk of Nazareth were offended by Jesus.
They were offended by Him. Verse three, “…they took offense
at Him.” Remember now, these people knew Jesus
well. They had known Jesus since He was a young boy. They had watched Him grow.
They’d known Him as a teenager. They’d known Him as an adolescent. They knew
Him when He was 18. They knew Him when He was 21. They knew Him as a young
man. They’d listened to Him, they’d watched His responses to various situations
of life. They’d drawn their conclusions about Him. He was a nice boy. He was a
wonderful young man. Some of them, of course, who were believers, had drawn the
conclusion that He was indeed the Son of God, but many of the folk of Nazareth
had not drawn that conclusion. He was Mary’s son. He was the kind of man that
every father would want his daughter to marry, if I can delicately put it like
that. And He’s come home. They would have known especially His demeanor in the
synagogue. They would have been impressed by Him. His knowledge, His astounding
knowledge of the Old Testament. He’d never been to seminary, never been to
rabbinical school. He’d never learned at the feet of a great teacher, like Saul
of Tarsus had learned at the feet of Gamaliel. And they had watched Him and
listened to Him as He read from the scrolls in the synagogue on Sabbath days,
and now perhaps some of them are offended. Who is this layman, who now comes
home and teaches us, and instructs us, and yes, even rebukes us? And they’re
offended by Him. They find fault with Jesus. Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?
Now in Jewish circles, this wasn’t seen as an insult. Every Jewish family would teach their sons that it was a good thing to have a manual trade of some kind, but Mark is writing to a Gentile audience, and that was not a complimentary statement. It’s not so much what they call Him, it’s the fact that they refer to Him as “Mary’s son.” And perhaps they do that because as tradition has it, Joseph may well have died and disappeared from the scene. But still, in Jewish circles, regardless of whether the father had died, it was still the custom and the polite thing to do to refer to someone as this father’s boy. You understand that by calling Him ‘Mary’s son’, they’re casting doubt as to who the father perhaps really was, and they’re casting a slur on the legitimacy of His birth.
We’re not told the content of Jesus’ preaching on this Sabbath day, but we have plenty of materials in the gospels from which we could draw some kind of indication as to what it was that Jesus would preach, the kinds of emphases that Jesus always had in His preaching. He’d come back to Nazareth to proclaim the word of God in the local synagogue. Now, Jesus’ preaching had a certain method to it. He usually states the truth and then illustrates the truth, and then applies the truth. You can go through the gospels and you’ll find that, more or less, that’s always what Jesus did. He states the truth, and illustrates the truth, and applies the truth. He spoke about jots and tittles and gifts brought to the altar in Jerusalem, and murder and anger, and divorce, and oaths, and revenge, and loving your neighbor, and the errors of the Pharisees, and giving to charity, and praying on street corners, and fasting with disfigured faces; cities that are set upon a hill, right hands and left hands, the sky and the earth, and the birds of the air, and figs and thistles, and fruit trees and olive trees; and builders and houses on foundations of rock and sand, and storms and wolves and sheep, and figs, and on and on we could go.
You know, what emerges from an examination of the kind of thing that Jesus said when He preached was that Jesus’ preaching was essentially simple. It was very simple preaching. Jesus didn’t really use big words. He suddenly didn’t put on airs and graces. He didn’t have a “preacher’s voice” when He preached. We still find His style gripping two thousand years later. We sit down, we open the gospels, and still it thrills us. Still it speaks with such clarity and conviction and immediacy. He talked about calling someone else a fool. He talked about borrowing someone else’s coat. About being stopped by a Roman soldier who insists that you carry his bag. What you do when someone curses you. He talked about forgiveness, and always He would separate His audience into two groups: the saved, and the lost. Those who could entertain an assurance of salvation and their relationship with God, and those who could not. His preaching was gripping and memorable.
But the Nazarenes were offended by it. He hadn’t come to Nazareth with a display of miracles, like He had in Capernaum. Maybe that’s what they were expecting. Maybe they wanted to see that kind of spectacle in their own back yard. And they were offended by Him. I think they heard something plain, and I think they heard something simple, and I think they heard something unsophisticated, and something that called on them to repent of their sins and to turn to the living God. And when Jesus finished preaching, it would in all likelihood be His final sermon in Nazareth, because He was never invited to the synagogue in Nazareth ever again. This was it. This was the final time that He would preach in the synagogue at Nazareth. There were no shouts of joy; there were certainly no reports like Jim Moore gave of Ligon Duncan, in the synagogue at Nazareth, about Jesus, about their “boy done good” – if I can speak ungrammatically for a second. There were no shouts of acclamation, no signs of the sheer marvel of who Jesus was, and what Jesus could do, no prayers of thanksgiving to God. That this town, of all towns, this insignificant 500-member town, would be honored in such a way with the Son of God…there was only disappointment and resentment, and they were offended by Jesus. They took offense at Him. A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and among his own people, Mark records.
II. Secondly,
Jesus is amazed with them.
Jesus was amazed with them, amazed by their response. Amazed
by their unbelief. I put it that way because of what we read in verses five and
six. “He wondered…” (verse 6) … “at their unbelief.” And Mark
goes on to make the comment that Jesus is unable to perform any miracles in the
town, except for a few healings, because of their unbelief.
Now there are two things here. The first is that unbelief has the power to rob us of a great blessing. Unbelief has the power to rob us of a great blessing. The other is that the Son of God is surprised by its manifestation. In Capernaum He had raised a dead girl to life, and cast out one who had a legion of demons. But not here in Nazareth. He could do nothing except a few healings. He’s amazed by their lack of faith.
Can Jesus be amazed? Can Jesus be, as The New American has it, “He wondered at their unbelief.” – can the Son of God be amazed? He can see all the stars of the sky, even the ones we cannot see. He can see the depths of the ocean where no man has gone before. He can see what’s at the center of the earth, He can see what’s in the sub-atomic level. He can see it all, but He’s amazed by their lack of faith. They’re not at all impressed by Jesus. People are impressed today by all sorts of things. They’re impressed by tanned and perfectly toned bodies. People are impressed by health and vitalness, and low-carb diets. You can’t move for that impression! They want tech-toys, and fast cars, and they’re impressed by over-paid sports personalities, and the lives of the rich and famous, People magazine—I never read it, just the cover! People sit and watch TV — I can’t imagine doing that for one second – and they’re impressed by a trial in southern California, and they discuss the relative merits of tofu. But Jesus they find boring. Jesus they’re not impressed by. Jesus is just one big yawn. They switch between channels on the TV with the remote control, and if they hear the name “Jesus” they switch it, because it’s unimpressive. It has nothing to do with them. And Jesus is amazed by their lack of faith.
III. And the third thing I want us
to see is that Jesus goes elsewhere.
He goes elsewhere. And it’s a principle that Jesus taught His
own disciples, that where you are rejected you shake off the dust, from off your
feet, and you move on. You move elsewhere. There comes a moment when you move
away from something, and not just abide to it because it has always been this
way. And Jesus moves to the surrounding towns, and the surrounding villages.
Let’s take a closer look into this. Josephus, the great first century Jewish historian, tells us that there are 204 - not 205 - but 204 towns and villages in Galilee in Jesus’ time. We’re not given a whole lot of information here, but six pairs of disciples went to perhaps each of these towns and villages. If they were to have done that, it would have taken perhaps about six months or so. Later in the chapter, if you drop your eyes down to verses thirty and following, the wonderful story that you all remember of the feeding of the five thousand, you’ll see something of the response to what happens here as Jesus and the disciples go to the towns and villages of Galilee. Not just tens, not just hundreds, but thousands of people now are gathering, thronging Jesus. Coming with their questions, coming with sick folk that they want to be healed. The disciples are trying to have conversation with Jesus, and they can’t do so. There’s a moment in which there are five thousand—or perhaps it’s five thousand men, and therefore ten or twelve thousand people on the hillside in Galilee—who have come from these towns and villages. Something amazing, something astonishing happens during these weeks and months of itinerant preaching and ministry in the towns and villages of Galilee. You’ll remember at one point-- it’s recorded later in this chapter – that Jesus and the disciples try to get away from the crowd, and they get into a boat, and cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, but the crowd follows them on land all the way around to the other side. There’s this astonishing response to their preaching and teaching!
Now, there are some particularly interesting things to note. The first is that Jesus sent them out two by two. There is perhaps nothing odd or strange about that. It’s always safer in pairs. Now, our friends in the Church of the Latter Day Saints have learnt that. You’ll find Paul and Silas, Barnabas and John Mark, in the Acts of the Apostles, doing precisely the same thing. Those of us who have done door-to-door evangelism, and in Belfast as a church we did that every July and August. Two nights of the week we would go from door to door, and anyone who’s done that will know that it’s a whole lot easier in pairs than alone. If you get tongue-tied or if you get an abusive response, it’s always easier in pairs. And if you are invited in, it’s always better if there are two of you, lest gossip begins to spread. But there’s probably a very different reason why Jesus sends them in pairs, because of the precedent in the Old Testament that a thing is corroborated as true and verified as fact by the testimony of two people. And part of the ministry and testimony of these apostles of Jesus Christ would be to bear witness to the miracles of Jesus, what He had done in Capernaum, what they had seem. And these upright, upstanding men—two of them, then, would corroborate the veracity of what Jesus had done.
The second thing is that Christ gave them authority over evil spirits. He gave them authority. They had no authority in themselves. The kingdom of God was breaking through in the person and teaching and ministry of Jesus. The kingdom of God had arrived, and Satan had noticed it. And there is this rise in the activity of the demonic in Jesus’ time. And part of the testimony of the apostles is that they are given authority over the evil spirits.
Do you see what that says? That these men, these apostles, were representing Jesus wherever they went. He gave them His authority. They spoke in the name of Jesus. They cast out demons in the name of Jesus. Now, understand, they have no Bibles. They had no part of the New Testament. There were no Gideon Bibles for them to pass out amongst the people. The New Testament, at least as we know it, would be at least forty years later in the making. They hadn’t even heard all that Jesus would preach and teach. They certainly hadn’t witnessed Calvary or the resurrection or the ascension. Their preaching was about the kingdom of God. Their preaching and teaching was a witness to Jesus as the divine Messiah of the Old Testament. It was probably a Gospel that was much more constrained than the one that you and I are familiar with. And they’re given authority! Authority over these evil spirits. Our task—yours and mine—is a little different. But I tell you that there is a principle here that is true of every Christian: that when you go and speak the Gospel of the New Testament, the Gospel of the Old Testament, the Gospel of the Bible, you do so in Jesus’ name.
You remember what Jesus said: “Inasmuch as you have done this to one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me.” And Jesus was speaking of giving a cup of cold water. How much more so, when you give testimony to His word and His truth and His promises and His threats? We’re ambassadors for Christ. We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ. We are plenipotentiaries of the King! We represent King Jesus! It’s His Gospel, it’s His word that we take.
Now, note they were given very special instructions. Take nothing for the journey except a staff. No bread, no bag, no money. Wear sandals, but not a tunic—or perhaps, not an extra tunic. I say in Mark’s Gospel because Matthew’s Gospel is a little different. If you look at Matthew 10:10, you’ll see that Matthew has it a little different. There, He tells them not to take shoes or a staff. Now, there are websites by the truckload of folk out there in the world who use this particular passage to discredit the Bible. Here is an example of how Matthew and Mark seem to be in contradiction to each other. What are we to do with that? There is this problem—and it is a problem. It is an enormous problem. We mustn’t exaggerate it, but it certainly is a problem.
I’ve noticed an infuriating trend amongst evangelical commentaries that have appeared in recent days to ignore this entirely, as though this was not an issue at all, as if it didn’t matter whether there was an error in the Bible or not. I’m afraid I’m still with John Wesley, “If there is one error in the Bible, there might as well be a thousand. If there is one falsehood, it did not come from the God of truth.” And my heart’s conviction is that the Bible is from Genesis to Revelation is God’s infallible and inerrant word!
So what do we do when we come across two passages like this, that appear as though they’re in tension with one another? Well, they’re not that much in tension with one another. And it may be that what Matthew is prohibiting is not that they don’t take a staff, or they don’t wear shoes and go barefoot, but, rather, what Matthew is saying is that you don’t take an extra pair of shoes, or if you haven’t got a staff, don’t go out and purchase one. And there are explanations. They may not be explanations that turn on massive lights, but there are explanations to such passages.
But more important, and of greater interest, is why? Why would Jesus give this command in the first place? Why no extra tunic? Why no bag? And the bag, of course, may well have been a bag that people would use to beg and to ask money for. Why no bread? Imagine you’re going on a mission trip—some of you have been on mission trips, and some of you are about to go on mission trips, and I can imagine the scene. And you’ve got your suitcase and your things are all lined up on the bed, and your mother is screaming at you to make sure you’ve made a list. And don’t forget this, and don’t forget that, and a toothbrush! And then you lay it all out on the bed, all the little things that you’ll need: your CD player, and …oh!…don’t forget your Bible! And then you leave it all behind, and you take none of it.
Why would Jesus give that command? Well, for two reasons, I think. These were dangerous times. The next story in the Gospel of Mark is the beheading—yes, the beheading—of John the Baptist. What a somber thought that is. The ax is already laid to the root of the tree, and the time is now. The kingdom of God is breaking in. The time for decision is right now. There’s a sense of urgency about what it is they’re doing. And more than that, I think that Jesus is teaching these disciples a lesson of dependence, faith in Jesus Christ. And what faith it must have been, to go into a village and find someone who would put them up, and to have nothing to offer them by way of any kind of recompense. It was a little foretaste, I think, of what they would have to do when Jesus was gone, and make great journeys across the Mediterranean.
You notice how different this is from modern missionary techniques. Do you notice that? There’s no ‘million-man-march’ to Jerusalem here. “Come to Jesus, and you’ll drive a Mercedes.” Ask your African brethren who sometimes worship here at the church about what it is that evangelicals are preaching in Africa today. That’s what they’re preaching. You come to Jesus and you’ll drive a Mercedes. And do you know what the Islamic fundamentalist are doing? They’re coming down in ones and twos with nothing, and they sit in the marketplace with the Koran, and they wait for people to come and ask them questions, and one by one they make their converts.
Jesus is teaching us lessons here. And there’s one special instruction: if the villages were to reject them, they are to shake the dust from off their feet and go elsewhere. If you respond to Jesus by saying no, then Jesus will say no to you. Do you understand that, my friends? If you respond to Jesus by saying no, Jesus will say no to you.
And what did they preach? Look at verse twelve. They preached repentance. That was their message. From town to village, from town to village, they took a word of repentance. To turn away from their sins, and to turn and embrace the living God, who is Jesus of Nazareth.
My good friend, Geoff Thomas, sent me an e-mail the other day, and he was alluding to the Times, The London Times, the daily newspaper. And you understand that The London Times hates evangelicals. And the article was a story about President Bush. And it was a story with a sneering title: “Bush dropped the bottle and embraced the Bible.” It was meant, of course, as a sneer. It was better, in other words, to be an alcoholic than to be a follower of Jesus. That was the tone of this article. Better to be an alcoholic than to be a follower of Jesus. My friend, that’s the world in which we live. That’s the world that resents Jesus and everything to do with Him. As one who has lived with alcoholism in my own family, I find that remark particularly offensive. And oh, what joy there is in knowing Jesus!
Here is this wonderful message then, of families—men and women and children who turn from their sins and embrace Jesus Christ. And what Mark is calling upon you is, will you do the same? Will you do the same? Let’s pray together.
Our Father in Heaven, we bless You and thank You for Your word. We thank you for the Gospel, we thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the sweet and simple message that there is forgiveness in Him, that He may be feared. Now bless us, we pray, as we close out this Lord’s Day, and we ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Please stand and receive the Lord’s benediction. Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
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A Guide to the Evening Service
The Psalm, Hymns, and
Spiritual Songs
Let All Things Now Living
A hymn drawn from the “Creation” section of our hymnal and sung to a
wonderful Welsh tune! Hymns extolling the beauty of creation are an important
part of our hymnal. They reflect the way that the psalms give praise to God for
the material world in which we live. In an age when creation is worshipped,
recalling the Creator-creature distinction is essential to godliness.
From Depths of Woe I Raise
to Thee (RUF Tune, Psalm 130)
Another of Luther’s psalm paraphrases. This one gives us a window into his soul
and into the tremendous peace of heart he derived from God’s gracious
justification in Jesus Christ. Master this hymn and you’re on the way to
understanding justification by faith and its benefits. We sing it tonight to the
popular RUF tune.
Our God Is Mighty, Worthy
of All Praising
This modern hymn was composed for use at Inter-Varsity’s Urbana Conference.
There are a number of members of our congregation who were there when it was
first sung. We learned it for the Missions Conference several years ago, and its
powerful lyrics and majestic melody have won the hearts of our congregation. The
author of the text is Margaret Clarkson, a great and godly saint of the Lord
whose writings and life have been blessings to many.
The
Sermon
When the Lord Jesus returned to speak for the second time at His
home assembly in Nazareth, He and His ministry were comprehensively ostracized,
so much so that even He was amazed at the congregation's lack of faith. Did
Jesus enter into depression? No. “He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then
Jesus went around teaching from village to village” (v.6). Their opposition did
not prevent Him from continuing His ministry. The people of that village needed
a clear and precise window into the person of Christ, who He was, and why He
came into the world. Without that illumination they lacked understanding, and
without the word of God they wouldn't have discerning commitment. Faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. One day Christ called the twelve to
him. "What does He want to see us for?" they might have asked one another. The
time had come for them to be given new responsibilities. They were going to
become preachers: "He sent them out two by two" (v.7). The Lord had called them,
first four fishermen, then Levi the tax collector, then the other seven. He had
designated them to become “fishers of men”; He had been teaching them for
months, and now He judged them ready to be commissioned.
Evening Prayer
O blessed day, in which Thou didst reveal Thyself dressed in the silken
robes of love! When we saw that Jesus died that we might live, that the cross
was the best proof of divine affection, then we looked to Jesus suffering in our
stead. We trusted in the great atonement, and we found a peace. Oh, what shall
we say of it? Our very soul doth sing at the remembrance of the peace which has
never been taken from us. Many days have passed since first we knew it, and many
changes we have seen. But we have never lost our hold on Christ; nor has He ever
lost His hold of us; and here we are still, to weep to the praise of the mercy
that we have found, and to tell to others, as we have breath to speak, that the
Lord is a great sin-pardoning God. There is none like Him, passing by
transgression, iniquity, and sin, and, for Jesus’ sake, receiving the vilest of
the vile to His bosom, and casting out none that come unto Him; taking up even
the blasphemer and the drunkard, yea, the very worst, and washing even these
from their crimson sins and making them whiter than newly-fallen snow.
O Lord, we sometimes wish that we
could sing like cherubim and seraphim. Then would we praise Thee better. But as
it is, human voices are all we have; but they shall be used to the praise of
“free grace and dying love,” to which we owe all that we have, and all we ever
hope to have.
Now, Lord, tonight, bless this
people. O my Lord, bless these dear friends from whom I have been separated for
a while. Bless and prosper them. Let those that fear Thy name be happy in Thee
while we are preaching tonight. May those who are truly thine, have a joyous and
happy season. May they rejoice in the great love of God, and feel their souls
overflow with delight at their remembrance of it.
But, oh, we beseech Thee,
especially save souls tonight. Make up for our ten dumb Sabbaths. Give us
tonight ten times as much — nay, it must be eleven times as much: we cannot
afford to lose this one. Oh, give us eleven times as much blessing as we have
ever had before. May many, many, many be brought out of darkness into marvelous
light, and delivered from the prison-house into the liberty of Christ.
(Part of C. H. Spurgeon’s evening prayer for
January 30, 1887. A member of the congregation took the words down
as they were uttered. Spurgeon spoke extemporaneously and had no “notes”
from which to draw his words.)