In our study of Mark last time we left off in Mark 5:33-34; where we see that on His way to Jarius' house a woman in the crowd touched Jesus' clothes and was healed of an illness that she had suffered with for 12 years.
Jesus' explains to her that the issue in her healing was her faith not the touching his clothes. The reality of faith was the issue not the ritual of touching.
Mark 5:35-36; The delay created by the woman's healing was a severe test of Jairus' faith. His fears that his daughter would die before Jesus got there were confirmed by the report that she had died that was brought by some people from Jairus' house.
They assumed that her death ended any hope that Jesus could help so they suggested that it was a waste of time to bother (trouble) the Teacher about it any longer.
Jesus overheard the message but refused to accept its implications. The Greek verb "parakousas" means to "pay no attention" to ignore or "refuse to listen to"
The present imperatives in Jesus' reassuring words to Jairus could be rendered: "Stop fearing (in unbelief); just keep on believing in Me."
He had already exercised faith in coming to Jesus, he had seen the relationship between faith and Jesus' power when the woman who touched Jesus' clothes was healed; now he was told to believe (the present active imperative of the Greek word "pisteuo") that Jesus could restore his daughter to life.
Mark 5:37; From this point Jesus only allowed Peter, James, and John along with Jairus to go with Him to the house.
These disciples comprised the inner circle of the disciples who would function as witnesses (Deut. 17:6;). These three would serve as legal witnesses in anticipation of Jesus' resuscitation of Jarius' daughter, again at His transfiguration (Mark 9:2), and in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33;).
Mark 5:38; By the time they got to the house the elaborate ritual of Jewish mourning had already begun. The commotion literally, "an uproar") included the activity of professional mourners who were already there weeping, and wailing loudly. Net note 48
Mark 5:39; When Jesus entered the house and rebuked the mourners because; He told them that the child was not dead but asleep.
The only case where the word "sleep" is used for "death" is in the case of a believer. It indicates the fact that the body sleeps in anticipation of the resurrection. Waking up is a picture of the resurrection. This little girl is saved so He refers to her condition as sleeping. 1Cor 15:51;
Mark 5:40;The professional mourners kept on laughing at Him (Net note 49) so he threw them all out of the house (Net note 50) and took her parents and Peter, James and John with Him to her room.
Mark 5:41; In Aramaic He speaks the command " little girl I say to you get up"
Mark 5:42; The Greek word translated astonished literally means they were out of their minds with great amazement.
Mark 5:43; He commanded them not to tell anyone and He also told them to give her some food because she was resuscitated or returned to natural life so she was still subject to physical death so she needed to eat.
The miracles described in chapter 5; the calming of the sea, the casting out of the demons, the healing of the woman and the resuscitation of the little girl all reveal the power and authority of the undiminished deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
His miracles awed the crowds but the religious leaders and those who should have recognized Him as the Messiah rejected his claim of deity and opposed him even to the point of trying to kill him.
Mark 6;1; Net note 2 This was a public mission, and He was preparing His disciples by example for their own missions that would come later.
Mark 6:2;On the Sabbath He entered into the synagogue where He must often have met with His fellow townspeople in previous years. There He taught in a way that the people were astonished, knowing He was not a product of any of the rabbinical schools, but had lived among them as a carpenter. His family was well-known to them
Their question was how is it that this man this wisdom, and does these mighty works?" How is this possible He speaks like an educated man but He doesn't have a formal education?
Some asked disparaging questions about the origin of His wisdom, teaching and His power to do miracles . Only two answers were possible: His source was God, or Satan
What He actually taught is recorded in Luke 4:16-21; Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
v17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the scroll and found the place where it was written,
Luke 4:18; ( quoting Himself from Isaiah 61:1-2a; ) "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,
The Jubilee year that occurred every 50 years allowed all land to be returned to it's original owners; this a reference to the offer of the Kingdom and client nation status to Israel),
Freedom to the oppressed (refers to the fact that the Jubilee year also set all slaves free; a reference to freedom from the slave market of sin that was accomplished by the Lord's redemptive work on the cross )
v19 to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."
Luke 4:20; And He closed the scroll, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him.
v21; And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
"The year of the Lord's favor refers to Jesus' First Advent. By stopping in the middle of the verse He emphasizes that Isaiah draws a distinct line between the Incarnation and the Second Advent.
The omniscience of God knew that the Church Age would ultimately separate the dispensations of Israel and the Tribulation. But at this point from Israel's perspective it was hypothetical because they hadn't rejected Him yet.
They would be given a chance to respond to Him as Messiah during the Incarnation. When Isaiah was written there was no need to know about the Church Age since it was still a hypothetical dispensation, therefore the Lord remains silent about it.
Mark 6:3; In spite of His impressive words and deeds, they were too familiar with Him. The derogatory question, "Isn't this the carpenter?" implies, "He's just a common laborer like the rest of us."
All His immediate family; His mother, brothers, and sisters were well known to these people, and they were simply ordinary people. The phrase "Mary's Son" was also derogatory because of the Jewish custom that a man was not to be described as his mother's son in even if she was a widow, except as an insult.
Their words, also suggest they that they thought there was something suspect about Jesus' birth.
Since the townspeople could not explain Jesus, they took offense the Greek word is "skandalizomai" that means to be caused to stumble or to be repelled. They are completely amazed at His teaching but they miss out because rather than being humble and objective about what He is doing they function in arrogant subjectivity and as a result are judgmental.
They look at His background and His home life and they are all a bunch of arrogant snobs so they are offended and they reject Him on the basis of arrogant subjectivity and class distinction and they do not believe that He is the Messiah.
He offended them because they associated Him with a low background, and they thought they were superior. Jesus' family was considered to be working class by the "educated people" at the synagogue.
Jesus comes into the synagogue and gives them a fantastic message, but because they are arrogant so they reject Him. And because they were arrogant they miss out on the blessings that are associated with Jesus.
Mark 6:4;This idiom says that a prophet has honor where he is accepted. Jesus Christ had been accepted as the God-Man, the Messiah, the son of David in other places, but in His own back yard He is rejected; "and in his own house," which means at that time none of His brothers had believed either but later on they did.
This was just like many of the prophets to Israel in the OT who were often rejected and dishonored most by those who knew them best and who should have known better.
Again there is more detail about this in Luke 4:22-30; Luke tells us that the exchange results in the people concluding that He is a false prophet so they attempt to kill him by throwing him off a cliff.
Luke 4:22; All ( those gathered in the synagogue ) were speaking well of Him, and were amazed at the gracious words coming out of His mouth. They said, "Isn't this Joseph's son?"
v23 Jesus said to them, "No doubt you will quote to Me the proverb, "Physician, heal yourself!" and say, 'What we have heard that you did in Capernaum, do here in your hometown too.'" Net note 82
The proverb "Physician, heal yourself," is defined in the Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English, volume 2 page :454: "doctors sometimes cannot do for themselves what they profess to be able to do for others."
Jesus is reading the people's minds. In their thoughts they are making mocking request for visible evidence that Jesus is Messiah by demanding that he perform the same miracles that they had heard about in His own hometown.
Luke 4:24; And He added, "I am telling you the truth, no prophet (the Lord emphasizes that He is not only Messiah, He is also a prophet (Net note 87) is acceptable in his hometown.
v 25 "But in truth I tell you ( He recites evidence of Israel's rejection of truth throughout its history ) there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's days, when the sky was shut up for three and a half years and there was great famine over the land.
v 26 "Yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a woman who was a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. Net note 91
The reference to Elijah and the widow of Zarephath is the first of two examples that the Lord gives that infuriate the Jews attending the synagogue in Nazareth because they are examples of the prophets performing miracles with Gentiles rather than with Israelites.
The reign of Ahab and Jezebel over the Northern Kingdom established idolatry as part of the culture of Israel and included Jezebel's influence of Ahab to execute the prophets of the Lord that resulted in divine discipline for the nation.
The discipline came in the form of a drought that Elijah prophesied to King Ahab in 1Kings 17:1; followed by the Lord instructing Elijah to head east and camp in the Kereth Valley in Transjordan and later in the Phoenician village of Zarephath.
It was at Zarephath that Elijah found refuge in the home of a Phoenician widow and her young son. 1Kings 17:8;
The point the Lord is making is that prophets are often unwelcome in their own hometown. This incident also indicates that while the Jews have rejected Him as Messiah, the Gentiles will not.
Luke 4:27; And there were many lepers (those with a chronic skin disease) in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.
Naaman was commander of the Syrian army and was advised by his wife's Israelite servant girl that there was a prophet in Israel who could cure his illness.
Elisha was the prophet who instructed Naaman to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River. Reluctant initially, on the advice of his servant, Naaman reconsidered, and followed Elisha's directions, and was healed miraculously. The miracle was proof to Naaman that the God of Israel was superior to the false gods of Syria.
In his second example Jesus explains that even when a prophet heals it may not have an impact upon the people to whom he was assigned but does have impact on others.
Jesus had healed and performed miracles in the provinces of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee but those who responded were more interested in the temporal application of the Lord's power to them personally rather than the eternal implication of believing He was the Messiah.
He gives the crowd at Nazareth two examples of how the Jews' negative volition had rejected God's power and grace in the past while at the same time it was received with great benefit by those outside of Israel.
The implication was that Jesus of Nazareth had proclaimed Himself to be Messiah. He also stated that they would reject His claim since, "no prophet is welcome in his hometown" and just as Elijah and Elisha before Him, Jesus would not only take His message to the Gentiles (a veiled reference to the Church Age) and that they would accept Him as Savior.
All of this enraged the people and they attempted to kill him by throwing him off a cliff. Luke 4:28; And all in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things,
v29 and they rose up and cast Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.
v30 But passing through their midst, He went His way.
Mark 6:5-6a; Because of such persistent chronic unbelief Jesus could not do any miracles there except to heal a few sick people. There was no limitation on His power, but His purpose was to perform miracles in the presence of faith (doctrine). Only a few here had faith (doctrine) to come to Him for healing.
Even Jesus was amazed the Greek word "ethaumasen " that also means "astonished" at their unbelief, and their unwillingness to believe that His wisdom and power were from God. There is no evidence that He ever returned to Nazareth.
The people of Nazareth represent Israel's blindness. Their refusal to believe in Jesus demonstrated what Jesus' disciples would soon experience when they went out into Judea to evangelize.
This is not unlike the pervasive chronic unbelief that is present in the USA today that if isn't reversed will ultimately result in the destruction of the USA just as it did for Judea. It is also a perfect example of how God limits Himself because of unbelief. Mark 9:23-24;
The principle is that God makes war on the arrogant but he graces out the humble. James 4:6; those who are those who are oriented to absolute truth (Bible Doctrine) by means of faith. John 14:6;
Mark 6:6b; So he kept on going around the villages teaching.