You Cannot Always Go Home - Mark 6:1-6

You Cannot Always Go Home - Mark 6:1-6
January 10, 2010 AM
Pastor Lee Hemen

Isn’t it funny how we often have fond memories of experiences that could have been quite awful, especially when it comes to our growing up years? I know I do. Here is what I mean: We could have had a very difficult time of growing up, say like being raised poor or facing some severe trials, but in retrospect we believe they were the best times of our lives! However, it can be a real shock when we try and “go home,” so-to-speak. We often find that going home can mean coming face-to-face with how people and places actually were and not how we fondly remember them to be. There have been numerous movies, plays, and books written, telling the tale of someone going home only to face the reality of their emotional, psychological, and spiritual past.

One would think that the Son of God would be exempt from such self-examination, scrutiny, or emotional or personal confrontation that can come from going back home. However, we find, here in the Gospel of Mark, that Jesus discovered this was not true for himself. Jesus learns that you cannot always go home…

READ: Mark 6:1-6

What was Jesus thinking when he turned to head home? Perhaps he thought he would find love, acceptance, and understanding from those who had watched him grow up in their midst. Maybe some personal peace and quiet in the arms of those he considered friends. What therefore did Jesus find? Let’s discover together that sometimes you cannot always go home. We first discover that…

I. Jesus found that familiarity breeds contempt!

1. Going home often means facing your personally appointed pundits! Jesus did. We wonder at the hardly hidden hostility directed toward Jesus from his hometown folks. Luke kind of gives a fuller explanation as to why they seem so antagonistic towards Jesus. He relates that when Jesus visited the synagogue he stood up to read from Isaiah the Prophet, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19 NIV) Which was great because everyone loved this piece of Scripture, especially the part about “good news to the poor” and “proclaim freedom for the prisoners” and them being “oppressed.” I mean who in that day and age of Roman occupation would not love this, right. Then Jesus does one thing more. He tells them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” They were not open-minded folk. Who did he think he was the Messiah or something? Jesus responds by telling them that their hearts were not in the correct frame of mind to hear this prophecy from the Lord. God only sent the prophets to people like widows and gentile lepers! Luke says that, “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff!” Wow! Mark only relates that the hometown crowd becomes derogatory. They question Jesus’ heritage and remind him of whom he really is by bringing him down to their spiritual and economic level. They angrily state, “Where did this man get these things?” “What's this wisdom that has been given him that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son?” It is the old argument of “Who do you think you are? Do you think you are better than us?” What happens to Jesus in Nazareth reminds us that you always cannot go home. Why? Familiarity breeds contempt. Far too often people think they know whom you are because of where you grew up.

EXAMPLE: Do not use this incident to excuse your lackluster willingness to witness to your own “homies.” We often think we can excuse our own rejection by our friends, neighbors, and co-workers by citing, “Well, Jesus was rejected by his own hometown!” What we forget is that the rejection of Jesus was not because he was witnessing, but because he openly proclaimed himself as the Messiah to those who were not spiritually ready. Your witness is not that you are the Messiah, but rather that Jesus is. Jesus was not being rejected for the same reason you are. Few folks truly reject people because of their sincere faith, unless your neighborhood is full of radical Islamofascists or something. This should give you a sense of freedom in sharing your faith! Here is what I mean: If you are not being rejected for what you are, then you are being rejected for another reason: Are you presenting the gospel in an in-your-face way; has your jaded past caught up to you; is your personal testimony clear; or are you are simply making folks feel uncomfortable because they are in sin? None of these is truly a rejection of you, but rather of what has occurred in your life. It is a rejection of the gospel message. Remember, familiarity breeds contempt and that may be the one thing you have to overcome. Jesus did when he went home and he discovered that you couldn’t always go home!

Family is always forgiving right. They are the ones who will accept their loved ones back into their arms with love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Not true! We have all learned life’s lesson that family can be the toughest audience we may ever face in our lives. We find that some of Jesus’ toughest critics were his own family. When Jesus gets home, after being threatened by the synagogue crowd, he desires understanding from home and hearth but he does not find it in the arms of his own family! In fact, in going home, we find that…

II. Jesus discovered that family could be relative!

1. If a man's character is to be abused, there's nobody like a relative to do the business! (Alexander Pope) Mark relates that Jesus’ mother Mary was there as well as his brothers James, Joseph, Judas and Simon as well as his sisters! We often do not think about it, but Jesus had siblings! There is no other way to interpret this passage except that Mary had other children after Jesus was born. The Greek used here is the masculine adelphos (brothers) and the feminine adelphe (sisters). Contrary to what some would have you believe, Mary did not remain a perpetual virgin all her life. In fact, the early church understood quite well it was Jesus’ brothers, James and Jude, who wrote their perspective letters. Besides this would have also been kind of an anathema for a Hebrew family to have only one child, and finally, Scripture makes it very plain Jesus had brothers and sisters. Numerous passages back this up (Matthew 12:46-50 & 13:55; Mark 3:31-32 & 6:3; Luke 8:19-21; John 2:12 & 7:3-5; Acts 1:14 and Galatians 1:19)! Note that the wording and name usage here of the crowd using Jesus’ mother’s name “Mary” was derogatory, as I mentioned before. It was a backhanded reference to local gossip that Jesus’ mother may have had him out of wedlock and later bore his brothers and sisters. That Jesus was a… well; you get the idea. However, this is not the first time Jesus’ family has shown they had problems with his ministry. If you remember back in Mark 3:31 his family shows up all of sudden and wanted to see him. The idea is that they were worried about him. In fact, we learn that in John 7:3-5 Jesus’ “own brothers did not believe in him.” We find that his family had a hard time at first accepting Jesus’ ministry and feared for his health in Mark 3:21. Jesus’ family heard that he was not eating properly and that there were huge crowds following him, “they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’” Literally, that Jesus was not thinking clearly and they wanted to make sure he was resting and eating regularly. At this point during his ministry Jesus may have well thought, “I wish I could relate to the people I am related to!”

EXAMPLE: Ministering to family can be tough. I know I have found this out to be true as well. Jacques Delille stated that, “Fate chooses our relatives, we choose our friends.” Yet, Ethel Watts Mumford remarked, “God gives us our relatives, thank God we can choose our friends!” As humorous as these quotes are, they also contain some truth for our lives that we would do well to remember as we study this portion of Mark’s Gospel. Not all of Jesus family fully understood his ministry or his mission. Even though Mary often “pondered these things in her heart,” she also did not fully understand who Jesus was. It was not until after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection that his family finally fully comprehended Jesus. In fact, I would venture to guess that they still struggled with Jesus being the Messiah because we find both James and Jude marveling at the atonement of Jesus for us. Is it any wonder Jesus found that his family could be so relative? Never fear, what your family may not understand now, some day they will. Be patient, be in prayer, and remember Jesus and his own family and take heart from his example. Never forget that on the cross Jesus looks down on his beloved mother and in his death throws provides for her to be taken care of by John.

Conclusion:
We learned that you cannot always go home because familiarity breeds contempt and family can often be so relative - spiritually speaking of course!
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Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2009 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission. You now have my permission...

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