TEXT [Commentary]

11. Jesus faces rejection at Nazareth (6:1-6a; cf. Matt 13:53-58)

1 Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. 2 The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” 3 Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary[*] and the brother of James, Joseph,[*] Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.

4 Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” 5 And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.

NOTES

6:2 amazed. Mark frequently uses this term to express the crowd’s reaction to Jesus (exeplēssonto [TG1605, ZG1742]). In 1:22 and 11:18, the amazement is over Jesus’ teaching in general. In 7:37, it is in reaction to his healing work. In 10:26, it is the reaction to his teaching about the difficulty of the wealthy entering the Kingdom. The term need not indicate belief, but simply astonishment.

6:3 He’s just a carpenter. This is actually a question in Gr. that expects a positive reply. The NLT captures the point of the objection, which is that no common person living in Nazareth could be a major figure used by God. He worked as a “craftsman,” a term often rendered “carpenter,” because woodworking is the most likely referent (supported by widespread tradition in the early church associating Joseph with carpentry, though in 1 Kgs 13:19, LXX, the term refers to a stone craftsman; BDAG 995; MM 628-629). The passage then lists members of Jesus’ family. These remarks about Jesus show how efforts by the apocryphal gospels to attribute miracles to a young Jesus are misguided and wrong. Nothing in these remarks indicates Jesus had done unusual acts earlier in his life. It was with the beginning of his public ministry that this kind of activity began.

the son of Mary. This reference is unusual because normally the son’s father would be named, in this case, Joseph. It may allude to Jesus’ unusual birth and show an awareness that Mary was Jesus’ mother in a way that Joseph was not his father (Hurtado 1989:92). It also might simply indicate that Joseph was then deceased.

were deeply offended. This term (eskandalizonto [TG4624A, ZG4997]) is important in the NT; it refers to someone “tripping over” or “stumbling over” an idea so as to fall in rejecting it (see 4:17). Figuratively, it means being offended at something. It connotes a lack of belief, so the NLT reference to their refusal to believe brings out that implication.

6:4 A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown. This proverb appears in all the synoptic versions of this scene (Matt 13:57; Luke 4:24). There is evidence of its wide use (Taylor 1966:301).

6:5 he couldn’t do any miracles. Jesus did not perform many miracles in Nazareth because the people were not in a frame of mind to appreciate their significance, and might attribute them to the wrong source, as 3:22 suggests.

6:6 he was amazed. Jesus was amazed by the Nazarenes’ unbelief (on unbelief, see EDNT 1:121-123).

COMMENTARY [Text]

The people were amazed at Jesus’ wisdom and miraculous power (see 5:30). Part of their amazement was that such power resided in this “hometown boy” (6:1, 3) whose family background was well known to them. Their familiar knowledge of him kept them from seeing Jesus’ identity. Jesus said that “a prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown.” Jesus affirmed himself as a prophet, but the people of Nazareth were hesitant to accept him at this revelatory level. If they rejected him even as a prophet, they would never entertain the thought that he was at the center of God’s work for the Kingdom.

The failure of Jesus’ hometown to accept even his prophetic status shows the difficulty Jesus faced in having his message received. His background was not what was expected for a major figure sent by God, so Jesus’ work was restricted in Nazareth. The rising tone of Jesus’ rejection took on a poignant note as it extended even into his home and family. Only the resurrection would reverse this for his brothers.