Our passage this morning is found in Mark 6:1-6. I will be reading from the NIV.
Last week we looked at the question, “Who is this?” from Mark 4:41. A question that still we seek an answer to today. Who is this person, Jesus? We see, in reading the accounts of the 4 miracles found in chapters 4-5 that he is Lord over creation –even the wind and the waves obey him. He is the Lord over the spiritual realm, that the demons recognize who he is and even ask his permission for things. In the healing of the woman who had a bleeding problem for 12 years we see he is Lord over our physical world and in the raising of the little girl from the dead that Jesus is Lord over life and death. He is Lord!
And now in contrast to that power and authority and demonstration of who he is, that by his miracles and actions that he fulfills the prophecy of Daniel that he is the Son of Man who has authority and glory and sovereign power, stop at this word for a moment, sovereign.
This word means that he has absolute and final authority over all. Stop and think about this because it is a key part of understanding some of the tension we see in Mark 6. I’ll come back to this in a moment. Jesus is Lord, He has absolute authority over all peoples. He has dominion that is everlasting and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. He is sovereign. Listen to the words and the language used here –authority, glory, sovereign power, and he will be worshipped, dominion and kingdom. When Jesus declares he is the son of man he is declaring himself to be the Son of God, God come in flesh. Listen to the words of Paul later in Philippians 2:9-11. And then John, in Revelation 19:11-16. He is sovereign. He is the Son of Man and is Lord of all.
Jesus has healed the sick, calmed the storm, set the captive free, raised the dead, to show that he is the son of man and has the authority to forgive sin (2:10). And then Jesus goes home, to Nazareth and brings the same message –the good news, brings the same power in healing the sick. And as he speaks in the synagogue we read the people we amazed. Nothing new there. We see earlier when Jesus spoke and healed that people were amazed. But here the amazement is different. It is not one of Wow, look at that! Isn’t that incredible, are not the things he says and does wonderful and amazing! But it is one of almost incredulity. Really? Jesus? I know his parents, how could he do this? I went to school with him, really? I bought a chair from him, he did work for my father. Look, there is his family! And we read in verse 3, they took offense at him. Why? Well, Jesus answers the question in verse 4. (READ)
Many people who grow up in the church or in a Christian environment face a similar mindset –familiarity can breed contempt, as the saying goes. Like me, you grow up in a family that has been going to church forever. Sunday School, VBS, church 1-3 times a week. Familiarity with Jesus can, at times make the stories of Jesus humdrum. We lose our sense of awe.
Another aspect of this is that we often try to bring Jesus down to our level. What if God was one of us? We humanize Jesus to the point where we lose the godhood, the power and majesty and glory and yes, sovereignty. He went fishing with my boys, he sat in class with me, he is just one of us.
The third is, well, pride. The class system of the day was very set. Carpenters were carpenters. Potters were potters. Teachers were teachers. Upper class was upper class. You did not cross the line. Even into our own recent history and culture we see this in such movies as the Titanic where one did not go above ones station. In many cultures we still see this as in India with the caste system.
Here was Jesus, a carpenter, son of a carpenter, brother to carpenters. And now he comes in with these teachings and claims which set him above us? How dare he come and lecture us! They were offended!
And this pride lead into an area that I mentioned earlier about the tension that comes with Jesus as being sovereign, having authority, being the son of man. Because, if Jesus is who he said he is, Lord –if Jesus is indeed Lord of creation, Lord of the spiritual realm, lord of life and lord over death –if Jesus is who he claims and who he has demonstrated himself to be, then they faced a really tough choice –accept him or reject him –bow down or put down.
Because if he is who he claims to be, if he is who he demonstrates himself to be then they would have to bow down to him –He is Lord! But no! He is a carpenter, one of us, the son of Mary. I am not going to trust in this –this snot nosed kid who used to run around the village with my kids! I will not bow to this person who is no better than me!
If He is who he claims and shows himself to be then I must submit to him. Or I reject him. He is a liar, possessed by Beelzebub. He is crazy, delusional and we need to control him. Remember, the family that is mentioned here –Mary, James, Joseph, Simon, Judas, the sisters all not too long ago sought to take charge of him because they thought he was out of his mind. Do you think this was not known amoung the people of Nazareth, that even his own family did not believe?
The people of Nazareth were very much like so many people today –they thought they knew Jesus, but really did not. And would not, because if Jesus is who he said he was then we are held to a position of accountability.
Oh, we like a manageable god, we like a god who is our magic Jeanie who gives us what we want, and helps us when we need, but a sovereign God? A lord who is LORD, who has authority, glory, sovereign power, an everlasting dominion, a kingdom that will never be destroyed? We want the friend Jesus –and he is our friend. We want the provider Jesus and he is our provider, the account that followers soon after this is the one of the feeding of the 5000. We want the helper Jesus, the giving Jesus, the saving, healing and teaching Jesus. And he is all of those. But he is more, so much more. He is Lord! He is sovereign and has absolute and final authority over all. And to this Jesus, every knee will bow!
But this Jesus, we struggle with. This Jesus we have trouble accepting. Oh, people today will believe in Jesus –the healer, the teacher, the provider. But Lord? Because if he is Lord, then we are in a position of submission, surrender, trust, faith and obedience.
And I wonder if the words of Jesus and the comment of Mark in 6:4-6 are not very applicable to the church today. As I mentioned, many of us here today, and in many churches in our nation, are familiar with Jesus. We know about Jesus, are even familiar with Jesus, but do we lack the trust in Jesus –do we see him as he truly is –Lord of all. Oh, we sing about it and we even may pray with that in mind, but really do we take our familiarity with Jesus for granted? Is he, in a real sense, a prophet without honor?
And I look at several things that parallel the people of Nazareth in regards to Jesus with the church today. A prophet is someone who comes and brings the message of God. Do we listen to and follow the words he brings? What about obeying the directives he gives? Love, serve, repent, use your talents, care for the poor, love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength?
Do we recognize that He is Lord –and live according to His law, his teaching? Does his lordship penetrate every area and every aspect of our lives? Does he have lordship over our relationships, our sexual activities, our business, our tongue? Does he have lordship over our money, our time, our worship? Or are we so familiar with Jesus, the gentle Jesus, the kind Jesus, that when we hear the commands of Jesus that we say, “That is not the Jesus I know!” and fail to recognize that he has the right, he has the authority, he has the lordship over all.
Several years ago I gave a study on the passage I read earlier from Revelation 19. One man became very indignant with the statement “out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike done the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter.’ He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” That is not the Jesus I know, he said. I cannot accept that the Jesus who said, “Let the little children come to me” the Jesus who had compassion is the Jesus of wrath!”
And yet, what does this passage say? What does scripture say? He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is sovereign, he is judge. He has the authority.
If the church, if the church, were to recognize and live out 24/7 the Lordship of Jesus, the sovereignty of Jesus, the authority of Jesus, what a difference it would make. But sadly, so sadly, we live not much different from the world around us.
And this failure to recognize and live in true faith (I’ll come back to that in a moment), in Jesus results in the lack of evidence of His working in and through His church. Look at verse 5. Why was Jesus not able to do any miracles in his home town? Why do we see so few miracles in our churches today? Oh, there are some and we praise God for them. Perhaps, perhaps, it is because, like the hometown of Jesus, Jesus looks and sees our lack of faith.
This faith is the confidence, trust and surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord. He is the one, the only one who can save us, he is the one, the only one who can forgive sins, he is the one, the only one who is the perfect lamb of God and takes away our sins. He is the one, the only one who redeems us, saves us, is sacrificed for us, it is by His blood that we are saved.
Faith puts us in the position of submission –it is a trust in someone bigger than us, over us, superior to us. We trust in Him for our salvation, he is our hope! He and he alone is given authority to forgive sins, and he and he alone has died in our place to offer this forgiveness, to cleans us from our iniquity, it is by his wounds we are healed. He is Lord.
I wonder, I fear, that we who know Jesus so well, that we who sing of him, read of him, hear of him, have grown up with him, I wonder and I fear if Jesus is amazed at our lack of faith?
Who is this that the wind and the waves obey? Who is this that demons obey? Who is this that sickness is cast out and death conquered? Who is this that speaks with authority and acts in power? Who is this? He is Jesus, Lord of all, worthy of our praise and worship. He is Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth. He is Jesus, sovereign and his dominion is an everlasting dominion.
Friends I encourage, I seriously challenge you to look at this question for yourself, “who is this?” He is Lord. Knowing all you know about Him, would he be amazed at your lack of faith?
I encourage, you too seriously look at Jesus again. Rediscover Him as He is, Lord! And as you discover or rediscover who he really is, not the Sunday School Jesus, not the familiar Jesus, not the comfortable Jesus but the sovereign Jesus, then bring yourself under his leadership, his Lordship.
It was James, the very half brother of Jesus mentioned here, James who knew Jesus better than almost anyone in having grown up with him, it was James who later did come to faith in Jesus who challenged u, Faith without works is dead! That is to say, if you are not backing up your faith with your life, your deeds, you submission and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, then your faith is dead, but if you have faith and live it, then your faith is complete.
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