Recognize How Unique Jesus Is!

7th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/12/15
Mark 6:1-6


Recognize How Unique Jesus Is!
I. His word has saving authority.
II. His works display almighty power.


If Jesus walked up the middle aisle of our sanctuary in a minute or two, would you recognize him? Would you be impressed? Would you be in awe? Would it be the greatest thing you have ever seen? The answer to each one of those questions is, “Absolutely yes!” How do I know that? Because of what Jesus himself said in his word. The next time Jesus comes to this earth, it will be the most glorious event in history. He will come with all his holy angels and every eye will see him. He will not simply blend in with the crowd; he will be the glorious focus of every human eye.

So, what was the problem with his appearance on this Saturday in the synagogue of Nazareth as Mark describes it for us this morning? Why didn’t his fellow Jews drop to their knees before him and worship him as the shepherds did in Bethlehem on the night of his birth? Why didn’t they stand and shout at the top of their voices with hands raised in the air, “We believe that you are our Savior from sin and we believe that everything you say is God’s truth”? Why didn’t they commit their lives right then and there to service in his kingdom?

Those are good questions and we’ll touch on them later.

The better question is, “Why don’t we?”

In asking that question, I’m not labeling myself or you as a hard-hearted unbeliever. I’m not saying that we fail to recognize who Jesus is—our Lord and Savior. But all too frequently we are not all that impressed by Jesus. And here’s the evidence of it in our daily lives: we struggle with following his word and even fail countless times to do so. We fail to trust him. And in those moments, we share the attitude of these people in the synagogue of Nazareth who were not impressed with Jesus.

Here’s the solution to our problem: recognize how unique Jesus is! Don’t miss what these people had standing before them! May our Savior impress on our hearts once again this morning how truly unique he is!

Part I.

Living in our modern world has conditioned us to question the authority of words. If you have an email address, you have come to beware of bogus messages. Countless people have been scammed, some out of their life’s savings, simply because they trusted that the person who created that message had the authority to do what they were claiming.

Or how about this one? Last week a medical doctor was convicted in a federal court in Detroit of falsely treating more than 500 people for cancer. They figured he was telling them the truth when he told them they had cancer.

So, we’ve learned to be skeptical. We listen to people whom we know we can trust. When the issue before us is extremely important—such as a cancer diagnosis—we’re inclined to get a second opinion. When the robo-caller leaves a message on our answering machine telling us that we can lower our credit card interest rate, we don’t give it a second thought before we delete the message. We’re skeptical to say the least.

Skepticism caused a good deal of confusion in the hearts and minds of these Nazareth synagogue worshippers. Listen once again to their initial reaction to Jesus. “When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.” It was customary in Jewish synagogues for visiting rabbis to be asked to read one of the appointed lessons for the day and to expound briefly on it. Even though this event took place early in Jesus’ earthly ministry, he was already recognized by the people and the religious leaders as a rabbi. But he didn’t talk or teach like the other rabbis the people knew. His teachings amazed them. His hearers were impressed with his authority. He explained and applied ancient biblical truths with freshness, vitality and clarity. They were amazed with him.

So, why didn’t they believe him? Why didn’t they follow him? Why didn’t they proclaim him to be the promised Messiah? Because their familiarity with him bred contempt. Listen to their reaction. “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 and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” They had grown up with him. Perhaps Jesus had attended this very synagogue nearly his entire life. Only recently had he made his home in nearby Capernaum. They knew he had not gone away to study under some great rabbi. In fact, he had spent his time in their town as a carpenter. It’s likely they owned some of the furniture he made. You can’t go from being a carpenter to being a rabbi overnight. They knew his family—his mother, brothers and sisters. They were right there with them in Nazareth. And their familiarity with him led them to think, “Who does this guy think he is?”

He’s the Son of God come in human flesh and blood and he was speaking the word of God to them; that’s who. Even though they were amazed at his teaching and couldn’t refute a single thing he said, they refused to believe him. That doesn’t make sense. Then again, unbelief never does. You see, it’s not faith that is irrational; it’s unbelief that’s irrational. Being presented with the truth but refusing to believe it doesn’t make sense.

Don’t allow that to occur in your heart! Recognize how unique Jesus is! His word has saving authority.

Do you believe in Jesus as your Savior from sin? Since you’re here this morning to worship him as your Savior, I’m sure you do. And why do you believe that? Because that’s what he tells you in his word. He is true God and true man, your Savior from sin. There’s no one else in all of history like him. He is truly unique. That truth should strongly influence our reaction and attitude toward all of his word. But that’s not easy, is it? Too often we want to negotiate with Jesus, rather than simply place ourselves under his word. Even worse, too often we place ourselves above his word and ignore it, at least while we enjoy for a moment doing what he forbids. We believe he is our eternal life, but we have trouble placing our temporal lives or the lives of our loved ones into his loving care. We have to be in control because we know better than he does. This is getting personally ugly, isn’t it? I have trouble taking Jesus at his word. I could have been sitting in that synagogue in Nazareth that day. You too? But that’s not where Jesus leaves us. His goal is not to pound us into hell with his word; his goal is to lift us into heaven. It’s his saving word and by God’s grace you believe it. By faith in him he has brought you into his kingdom where you have full forgiveness and where he empowers you with the authority of his saving word to live to his glory, to imitate him in your life, to lead others to follow Christ. There’s no one else like this Jesus. Recognize how unique he is!

Part II.

Have you ever witnessed a miracle? Some of you have told me that you have. But let me get a little more specific. Imagine witnessing Jesus perform a miracle. Imagine bringing your sick daughter to Jesus and watching as he heals her. What would your reaction be? No doubt you’d be delirious with joy. Your heart would be filled with gratitude. You’d certainly have a deeper faith in him as your Savior.

But notice the reaction of the people in the synagogue of Nazareth. Mark informs us, “And they took offense at him.” That sentence sounds more harmless than it really is. The word translated “offense” actually means that they got caught in a death trap. They were killed spiritually by their refusal to believe, even though they had heard about his miracles and may have even witnessed some.

The result was that “he could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.” He couldn’t do any miracles there. How are we to understand those words?

They could refer to the climate of unbelief in Nazareth. Jesus performed miracles before people who were looking to trust in him, not before people who were rejecting him. Because of their unbelief, he didn’t perform many miracles there.

It could also mean that he only performed a few miracles there because so few people came to him for help. Their unbelief kept them from seeking him out.

There’s one more possible explanation. If this is the same event as Luke records, and there’s some question about that possibility, Luke informs us that the people led Jesus out of town intending to push him off a cliff and kill him. That prevented Jesus from doing any more miracles here.

Whatever the case, Jesus was present that day in Nazareth with his saving word and his almighty power to call these people to trust in him as their Savior from sin. His miracles, performed here in Nazareth and elsewhere, were irrefutable proof that Jesus was who he said he was—the Son of God, the promised Savior from sin. Everyone who came into contact with Jesus had to admit there had never been anyone quite like Jesus. And there still hasn’t.

Recognize how unique Jesus is! His works display almighty power.

The final words of our text are depressing. “He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Has Jesus ever had reason to be amazed in the same way with you? The honest answer is, “Yes, more times than we care to admit.” Our daily worries, our constant frustration with what’s happening or not happening in our lives, our attempts to find our contentment in the stuff of life instead of in him—all of these are reasons for Jesus to be amazed at our lack of faith. And then there are the times when we’re filled with discouragement because we want to see a miracle happen in our lives, but it doesn’t occur.

Instead, look to the miracle that has already occurred in your life—the miracle of saving faith in Jesus. With that miracle comes your daily forgiveness and the gift of eternal life. Do you really need anything else?

What a Savior! Recognize how unique Jesus is! Worship him with your life! Amen.