Mark 6:1-29

Bringing the sermon home:

Immediately following two examples of faith overcoming fear, Jesus then encounters an amazing lack of faith in His own hometown. In response to their unbelief, Jesus does not perform any of the same kind of miracles we just witnessed before He departs to go elsewhere, likely never to return again. As we have seen before in Mark’s Gospel, to reject Jesus’ Word is to cut yourself off from His blessing. Do you think you already know who Jesus is? What if your conception of Jesus is wrong?

It’s in this context of rejection and unbelief that Jesus, for the first time, sends out His twelve closest disciples to proclaim the same message that just fell on deaf ears. So long as they busy themselves with the words and works that they have received and seen in Jesus, they can expect similar results: some will receive them, while others will reject them. Either way, it isn’t about them. We are being called to adopt the same mindset.

Finally, we see that the context into which Jesus sends His disciples, us included, is not only one of unbelief, but also of danger. Calling King Herod to repentance had led to John the Baptist being beheaded, but this is the duty to which Christ calls His disciples. Though Herod fancied himself to be a king, he was actually a slave to his own pride. With respect to Christ’s message, hearing without heeding only leads to a hardening. Let us hear well.