Mark 6:1-13

5. THE GREAT TEACHER AND THE TWELVE. 6:1-13

TEXT 6:1-13

And he went out from thence; and he cometh into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, Whence hath this man these things? and, What is the wisdom that is given unto this man, and what mean such mighty works wrought 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 were offended in him. And Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages teaching. And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits; and he charged them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse; but to go shod with sandals: and, said he, put not on two coats. And he said unto them, Wheresoever ye enter into a house, there abide till ye depart thence. And whatsoever place shall not receive you, and they hear you not, as ye go forth thence, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony unto them. And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 6:1-13

256.

He went out from thence; from the house of Jairus or the city of Capernaum or the Lake of Galilee or what?

257.

How shall we designate or name His own country?

258.

Why enter the synagogue in Nazareth if He was once rejected? Cf. Luke 4:14-29.

259.

Specify just what caused the astonishment of those who heard Jesus.

260.

Was Jesus a carpenter or the son of a carpenter?

261.

How many children did the mother of Jesus bear?

262.

Show how unreasonable was the offence of those in Nazareth.

263.

Why did Jesus quote the familiar proverb?

264.

Why was Jesus unable to do any mighty works in Nazareth?

265.

What caused Jesus to marvel? Why?

266.

At what place did Jesus call His apostles and send them out?

267.

Why send them out two by two?

268.

Was the Holy Spirit involved in the authority exercised by the twelve? Prove your answer.

269.

Why the instructions concerning the physical needs of the journey?

270.

Why the instructions in Mark 6:10?

271.

What was the message of the twelve?

272.

Why anoint with oil?

COMMENT

TIME.Autumn of A.D. 28, and early winter of A.D. 29. This second rejection of Christ at Nazareth (Mark 6:1-5) was soon after the healing of Jairus-' daughter, autumn, A.D. 28. The sending out of the twelve followed very soon, and their labors extended through several weeks of the autumn of 28, and early winter of 29.

PLACES.From Capernaum the Savior went to his own country, to Nazareth, where he had been reared, not far from twenty miles to the southwest of Capernaum. Being there rejected a second time, he went into the villages round about in the vicinity of Nazareth, teaching. From one of these, what one is unknown, he sent the apostles out on their mission.

PARALLEL ACCOUNTS.Jesus at Nazareth (Mark 6:1-5) with Matthew 13:54-58, and Luke 4:16-30. Sending out of the disciples (Mark 6:6-13) with Matthew 9:35-38; Matthew 10:1-42; Matthew 11:1; Luke 9:1-6.

LESSON OUTLINE.1. Christ Rejected again at Nazareth. 2. The Apostles Sent Forth.

ANALYSIS

I.

CHRIST REJECTED AGAIN AT NAZARETH, Mark 6:1-6.

1.

Comes to Nazareth. Mark 6:1; Matthew 13:54; Luke 4:16.

2.

Teaches on the Sabbath. Mark 6:2; Matthew 13:54; Luke 4:17.

3.

The People Offended. Mark 6:3; Matthew 13:57; Luke 4:28.

4.

A Prophet Not Honored at Home, Mark 6:4; Matthew 13:57; Luke 4:24.

5.

Their Unbelief. Isaiah 53:1; Mark 6:5-6; Matthew 13:58.

II.

THE APOSTLES SENT FORTH, Mark 6:7-13.

1.

The Twelve Called. Mark 3:14-19; Matthew 10:1-4; Luke 6:13-16.

2.

The Twelve Sent Forth. Mark 6:7; Matthew 10:5-15; Luke 9:1-5.

3.

The Twelve Charged. Mark 6:8-11; Matthew 10:5-15; Luke 9:1-5.

4.

The Twelve on Their Mission. Mark 6:12-13; Luke 9:6.

INTRODUCTION

After the healing of the woman, the Lord raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus, the account of which is given in Mark 5:35-43. Immediately after this, on his return home (Capernaum) from the house of Jairus, Christ heals two blind men and a dumb possessed, giving the Pharisees new occasion to say that he cast out devils, through Satan. Matthew alone (Matthew 9:27-34) mentions these incidents. Jesus, then, accompanied by his disciples, goes into Lower Galilee, again visiting Nazareth, where he is the second time rejected, the account given in Luke 4:14-29, being held to describe an earlier incident of the Lord's ministry. If that be correct, the Savior gave them a second opportunity to accept the gospel after his fame as a great Teacher had been established, and when they rejected him a second time he returned no more.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

I. CHRIST REJECTED AGAIN AT NAZARETH. Mark 6:1. And he went out from thence. From Capernaum, where he made his home. Came to his own country. To Nazareth, the town where he had been reared from childhood and had lived until he was thirty years of age. Whether his mother still lived in Nazareth is a matter of conjecture. Cook says: The works wrought in the interval (since his first rejection, nine months before, April, A.D. 28), the effects of his personal influence, the progress made in spite of all opposition, might be expected to work upon the minds of the Nazarenes so far as to prepare them for listening to him, notwithstanding their former rejection. Natural sympathy would draw him thither. His sisters, probably married to Nazarenes still dwelt there. His disciples follow Him. The twelve apostles are meant. They now constantly attended his footsteps. The presence of the Lord and his companions at Nazareth would, no doubt, produce a strong effect. His fame had extended over all Israel.

Mark 6:2. When the sabbath day was come. The seventh day of the week, Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, always observed by the Savior as a part of the Jewish law which remained in force until he died upon the cross. The language implies that one day or more elapsed between his arrival and his public teaching. It had been the practice of Jesus, from early childhood, to attend all the synagogue services; and he was still suffered to do so, in spite of the opposition he had excited. When Sabbath came, therefore, he went to morning worship. He began to teach in the synagogue. The synagogues of the Jews were the town and village churches, where they worshipped in their various quarters for ordinary occasions when they need not go up to Jerusalem. Most probably there would be only one in so small a place. But in all the Jewish synagogues there was a freedom of speech allowed; and there would be no objection, therefore, to one like Jesus, who had already achieved for himself a name as a remarkable rabbi, addressing the assembled congregation. Many hearing, were astonished. The usual effect upon those who heard the wonderful Teacher was produced. The sentiments which follow were probably expressed while he was teaching. A Jewish audience was not as decorous as the modern congregation in the United States or Great Britain. Some uttered one thing and some another. From whence hath this man these things? The things, namely, that he was saying. The simple people marveled at his facility and power of utterance, and at the weighty character of the thoughts that were conveyed by the utterances. What wisdom is this? They admitted the existence of great intellectual and rhetorical superiority; but they stood in doubt in reference to the origin of such superiority; was it from above, or from beneath? Such mighty works, As the evangelist notes in Mark 6:5, that no mighty work had been done in Nazareth, these must refer to what had been reported there. They do not venture to deny his wisdom or his miracles, but, by wondering at them, really bear witness to them. This admission left them inexcusable, both intellectually and morally, for not receiving Jesus as the true Messiah.

Mark 6:3. Is not this the carpenter? This, and the Jewish custom which required every father to teach his son a trade, whatever pursuit in life he might eventually follow, indicate that Christ worked in his earlier years at the carpenter's trade with his father. St. Mark's is the only gospel which gives this name as applied to our Lord himself. In Matthew 13:55, it is said that they called him the carpenter's son. There is no contradiction; some called him one, some the other name. The word translated carpenter here is of wider meaning than our word carpenter. It includes all workers in wood, our cabinet-maker as well as carpenter. Son of Mary. Though neither of the evangelists speak of Joseph's death, yet it may be plainly inferred that Christ was now called the son of Mary (Mark 6:3), because of her being a widow. See Luke 8:19; John 2:12; John 19:25-27. Brother of James, etc.,. sisters here with us. These four were either (1) own brothers and sisters of Jesus, children of Joseph and Mary; or (2) children of Joseph by a former marriage; or, (3) cousins (brothers taken in the wider sense of near relatives), children of Clopas and Mary, sister of Mary the mother of Jesus (John 19:25, with Mark 15:40). The weight of Protestant authority, on the whole, favors the idea that they were own brothers of Jesus. For a discussion of this subject, see my Commentary on John, pp. 48, 49, Of the four brethren here named, James came to have authority hardly, if any, less than that of an apostle, as the leading figure in the church at Jerusalem. He was called by early writers James the Just, and wrote the Epistle of James. He must not be confounded with the apostle James, who was the brother of John. Of Joses and Simon nothing more is known. Judas was probably the author of the Epistle of Jude. They were offended. That is, they stumbled, and fell into error. That Jesus was a carpenter, had grown up in their midst, and that they knew all about his family, proved to them that he could not be the Messiah, whom they expected to be a temporal prince surrounded with earthly splendor. His pure life for thirty years in their midst, his surpassing wisdom and mighty works counted nothing with them.

Mark 6:4. A prophet is not without honor. This was a common proverb that Christ applied to his case, showing that he was rejected on these natural principles, not because they had not evidence in his works, but because they had prejudice against his lowly origin among men. The proverb is founded on human experience. There is a kind of natural jealousy among the companions and neighbors of a man who rises from their level until he is far above them.

Mark 6:5. And he could there do no mighty work. His power was not changed. His miracles were not feats of magic, but required two conditions to call them forthan opportunity, and a sufficient moral purpose. Unbelief prevented both. The unbelieving would not come for healing; to heal such would be contrary to his purpose in the miracles, the demonstration of his spiritual power. Hence he could not. When men do not believe, they do not give him the opportunity to save them, and to save the unbelieving is contrary to his purpose, and impossible.Schaff. He could not, not from a lack of power, but because the conditions that he always required before he would exercise his power were absent. Those who expect his blessing must come for it in faith.

Mark 6:6. He marvelled. Our Lord does not marvel at other human things generally; but he does marvel, on the one hand, at faith, when, as in the case of the centurion, it overcomes in its grandeur all human hindrances, and, on the other, all unbelief, when it can, in the face of numerous divine manifestations, harden itself into a willful rejection on himself. See Matthew 8:10. And he went. He now seems to have left Nazareth, never to return to it, or preach in its synagogue, or revisit the home where he had so long toiled as the village carpenter. Went round about the villages. On the evening of the day of his rejection at Nazareth, or more probably on the morrow, our Lord appears to have commenced a short circuit in Galilee, in the direction of Capernaum.

II. THE APOSTLES SENT FORTH.Mark 6:7. And he called unto him the twelve. The apostles. After long wanderings and continuous trials, the twelve were now, in their Master's opinion, in a measure prepared to work by themselves in spreading the new kingdom. Matthew gives a touching reason for the mission of the twelve. It was because he pitied the multitude, who were like harassed panting sheep without a shepherd, and like a harvest left unreaped for want of laborers (Matthew 9:36-38). Another reason was that the Master wished to train them for their great work under his direction. Two by two. They were sent out in pairs that they might counsel, help and encourage one another, an example that might still be followed with profit. Gave them power over unclean spirits. Their work was to cast out unclean spirits in the world and the divine authority was given to cast them out of the men who were possessed of demons. This power was needful that they might be able to demonstrate that they were the Lord's messengers.

Mark 6:8. Commanded them. There follows now the charge that he gave them, Matthew 10:5-42, gives this charge at much greater length, Nothing for their journey. Make no preparation, such as is ordinarily made on the eve of a journey; set out just as you are, God will provide for all your wants. The open hospitality of the East, so often used as the basis for dissemination of new thoughts, would be ample for their maintenance. A staff only, A walkingstick as used in journeys upon foot to support and ease the traveler. Matthew (Matthew 10:10) gives neither staves; i.e., they were to take one only. Scrip, A wallet or small bag (compare 1 Samuel 17:40), It was so called, perhaps, because it was designed to hold scraps, trifling articles, scraped off, as it were, from something larger, It was part of the pilgrim's or traveler's equipage. Money. Literally, brass, or rather copper, said to be the first ore that was wrought. Copper having been early used for money, the word has sometimes that meaning.

Mark 6:9. Be shod with sandals. Such as they had on at the time, without waiting for shoes especially adapted for the journey. In Matthew, they are directed not to wear shoes; here, to be shod with sandals. The shoe of the ancients resembled the modern shoe; the sandal was simply a sole of leather, felt, cloth, or wood, bound upon the feet by thongs. Not put on two coats. Literally, tunics. The tunic (Greek) was the inner garment, worn next the skin, usually with sleeves, and reaching to the knees. It answered rather to our shirt than to our coat. The entire outfit shows that they were plain men, to whom there was no extraordinary self-denial in the matter or the mode of their mission. They were going to their brethren (Matthew 10:5), and the best way was to throw themselves on their hospitality. They were accustomed to live in about this way.

Mark 6:10. In what place soever ye enter into a house. On their arrival at a city, they were to settle down in the first house to which they obtained access, which, however, was not to exclude prudence and well ascertained information (Matthew); and, once settled in a house, they were to keep to it, and try to make it the center of a divine work in that place. This injunction was meant to exclude fastidious and restless changes.

Mark 6:11. Shake off the dust. testimony against them. By this symbolical action they vividly shook themselves from all connection with such, and all responsibility for the guilt of rejecting them and their message. Such symbolical actions were common in ancient times, even among others than the Jews. More tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah. See Genesis 13:13; chaps. 18, 19. The cities that stood out in the history of the world, as most conspicuous for their infamy, were yet less guilty (as sinning less against light and knowledge) than those who rejected the messengers of the King.

Mark 6:12. They went out, and preached that men should repent. This is one-half of the brief, unambitious narrative of the first apostolic tour of the apostles. Going out from the Lord's presence, or the place where he delivered these instructions, they proceeded to fulfill them, not at random or confusedly, but on a systematic method, going about or through the country and among the villages, or from town to town. Men should repent. The same message which had been already brought by John the Baptist and by Christ himself. The time had come for preaching the cross of Christ.

Mark 6:13. They cast out many devils. In this verse we have the other half of the evangelist's report of the first apostolic tour. Anointed with oil. To suppose that the oil was used medicinally, is contrary to the whole tenor of the narratives. It was the vehicle of healing power committed to them an external sign such as our Lord sometimes used to connect himself and the person cured. It was probably also a symbol of anointing by the Holy Spirit.Schaff. The Jews were in the habit of anointing their faces and hair with oil every day when they went among their fellows. This was omitted when sick or fasting. The apostles anointed a sick man when about to heal him with a word and send him forth. It meant that the patient was able to go out among his fellow-men.

FACT QUESTIONS 6:1-13

286.

How far from Capernaum to Nazareth?

287.

What other incidents occur after the raising of the daughter of Jairas before he arrives at Nazareth? (Cf. Matthew 9:27-34)

288.

What of the mother of Jesuswhere was she living?where were his sisters? Were they married?

289.

Was Jesus keeping the law by worshipping in the synagogue?

290.

How did those of Nazareth express their astonishment?

291.

If Jesus did no mighty works in Nazareth which mighty works are meant in Mark 6:2?

292.

What Jewish custom was observed in the fact that Jesus was a carpenter?

293.

What is inferred in the expression Son of Mary?

294.

Give the three opinions as to who were the four of Mark 6:3.

295.

Why is a prophet without honor in his own country?Please do not give a superficial answerrelate this to our blessed Lord and answer accordingly.

296.

What were the two conditions upon which Jesus could perform His mighty works?

297.

What are the two things that cause our Lord to marvel?

298.

What was the reason for the mission of the twelve? Cf. Matthew 9:36-38.

299.

What was the purpose of the mission?

300.

Read Matthew 10:10 and Mark 6:8 and explain the apparent contradiction.

301.

What was a scrip? What kind of money? Why sandals? What is meant by two coats?

302.

In what way did Jesus prevent fastidiousness and restless change?

303.

Why shake the dust from their feet?

304.

Please explain the purpose in anointing with oil.