Read Mark 6:1–6. Why did Jesus’ hometown people reject Him?
Usually when a small-town person becomes popular, people back home bask in the attention. Not Nazareth. They were offended and surprised at Jesus’ success as a teacher and healer. His shift from being a builder to a teacher seemed hard for them to accept. There also may have been some animosity that He did most of His miracles in Capernaum (see Luke 4:23). And He had already had a disagreement with His family (Mark 3:31–35).
Read Mark 6:7–30. How does the mission of the Twelve Apostles contrast with the beheading of John the Baptist?
This is the third sandwich story in Mark (see lesson 3). The mission of the Twelve Apostles in taking the message of Jesus everywhere stands in sharp contrast with the imprisonment and silencing of the Baptist. The disciples are told to travel light and depend on others for support. This strategy actually makes missionaries dependent on the people they serve, which helps bond them to those who need their message.
But the Baptist had no such bond with Herod and his family. John’s death is told in shocking detail as the plotting Herodias takes advantage of Herod’s ambivalence and lust. Herodias’s daughter seems to add to the scandalous plan by the grotesque request that the Baptist’s head be delivered on a platter.
The silencing of the clarion voice of the Baptist occurs at the same time as the Twelve Apostles proclaim repentance, just as the Baptist did. John’s death foreshadows Jesus’. John is put to death, buried, and reported as risen from the dead (Mark 6:14–16, 29), as Jesus would be (Mark 15 and 16). These parallel stories point toward a coming crisis for Jesus and His followers.
Have you ever been rejected like Jesus was or experienced some hard-to-understand crisis? What did you learn from those experiences that could perhaps help you the next time something like that happens?
Supplemental EGW Notes
The words of Jesus to His hearers in the synagogue [at Nazareth] struck at the root of their self-righteousness, pressing home upon them the bitter truth that they had departed from God and forfeited their claim to be His people. Every word cut like a knife as their real condition was set before them. They now scorned the faith with which Jesus had at first inspired them. They would not admit that He who had sprung from poverty and lowliness was other than a common man.
Their unbelief bred malice. Satan controlled them, and in wrath they cried out against the Saviour. They had turned from Him whose mission it was to heal and restore; now they manifested the attributes of the destroyer.—The Desire of Ages, p. 239.
The disciples’ message was the same as that of John the Baptist and of Christ Himself: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” They were to enter into no controversy with the people as to whether Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah; but in His name they were to do the same works of mercy as He had done. . . .
The disciples on their first missionary tour were to go only to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” If they had now preached the gospel to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, they would have lost their influence with the Jews. By exciting the prejudice of the Pharisees they would have involved themselves in controversy which would have discouraged them at the outset of their labors. Even the apostles were slow to understand that the gospel was to be carried to all nations. Until they themselves could grasp this truth they were not prepared to labor for the Gentiles. If the Jews would receive the gospel, God purposed to make them His messengers to the Gentiles. Therefore they were first to hear the message.—The Desire of Ages, pp. 350 351.
Because the rulers did not believe on Him, the people were not willing to accept Jesus. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. They could not endure to be governed by His sober, self-denying life. They wished to enjoy the honor which the world bestows. Yet many followed the Son of God and listened to His instructions, feasting upon the words which fell so graciously from His lips. His words were full of meaning, yet so plain that the weakest could understand them.
Satan and his angels blinded the eyes and darkened the understanding of the Jews, and stirred up the chief of the people and the rulers to take the Saviour’s life. . . . I saw that many of the magistrates and elders did believe on Jesus; but Satan kept them from acknowledging it; they feared the reproach of the people more than they feared God.
Thus far the cunning and hatred of Satan had not broken up the plan of salvation. The time for the accomplishment of the object for which Jesus came into the world was drawing near.—Early Writings, pp. 160, 161.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.