Jesus being rejected in his hometown

Jesus being rejected in his hometown

 

Mark 6:3-6 『Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judas, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honour, but 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.』

When people look with their fleshly eyes, they end up rejecting Jesus. However, if believers look with the eyes of the spirit, they can come to know the work of the kingdom of God through the signs and wonders of Jesus. A believer must be able to discern between the things of men and the things of God, and then he will receive the Son of God.

God's work is "to believe in Him (Christ) sent from God." Peter confessed to Jesus, “You are the Son of God,” but suddenly rebelled against what Jesus said. In other words, you should not die. From Matthew 16:21-23 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.』

The same case as Peter is in Acts 21:10-14. 『And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.』

Many of the disciples, who had heard through the Holy Spirit that “Paul will be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles,” advised Paul “not to go up to Jerusalem.” Paul already tried to fulfill his mission as a person who did God's work and as a person who spread God's will without thinking about his own life. The disciples who told him not to go to Jerusalem were worried about Paul's death. At that moment, they are thinking about human affairs. God's work is for believers to preach the death and resurrection of the cross no matter what the circumstances. Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection were to save all mankind, and the disciples must also convey this. This is God's work.

John 6:29-30 also talks about the work of God. 『Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?』

The one whom God sent is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God's work is to believe in Jesus Christ. What does the Bible tell us to believe? In chapter 6, verses 38-40, “For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.” And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.』

The last day means the end for all people, but for those who enter into the Son of God, it means physical death. That is, in Romans 6:4-5, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 』He who believes in the Son of God believes in the Son of God in Christ. This is the faith that unites one who died on the cross and was resurrected.

The Greek word for “rejecting Jesus” is “escandalizonto en auto,” which means stumbling upon an obstacle. It means that they stumbled over obstacles and were unable to enter Him (Jesus). The obstacle is the physical eyes, because they have seen the physical appearance of Jesus. They do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus was surprised that the people in his hometown did not believe in him. Here, the phrase “he marveled (edaumazen) because of their unbelief” is the word “edaumazen” in the Greek Bible. In Mark 5:20, the man who was possessed by a military demon was healed by Jesus and then went to Decapolis. When he went to the people and told them about the great things Jesus had done for them, everyone said, “were marveled,” which is the same word used back then. The Decapolis people experienced amazing works of power through Jesus.

However, they were amazed by the great things Jesus did, but they did not believe in Jesus as the Son of God. They asked Jesus to leave Decapolis. Just as the Decapolis people were amazed at the great things Jesus had done, but did not believe in him, Jesus was rejected in his hometown. Jesus was amazed at the stubborn unbelief of the people of his hometown, Nazareth.

This incident must have been an important lesson for the disciples. This is because they themselves will experience this kind of rejection when they carry out their own evangelism work in the future. Jesus left his hometown of Nazareth for the second time. Jesus left Nazareth and traveled through various villages teaching his gospel. He went around all the villages surrounding Nazareth, teaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. After Jesus was rejected from his hometown, he went around all the villages around his hometown of Nazareth, teaching the gospel of God. Then Jesus called his twelve disciples and sent them out two by two on a missionary journey. These contents contain “the meaning that in the future Israel will reject Jesus and Gentiles will accept the gospel of Jesus.”