MARK 6:1-13 Lesson 11
DEALING WITH REJECTION
I. Greetings:
II. Introduction:
Q Was Jesus very popular when He was preaching in Galilee?
Q How big were the crowds?
Q Was He popular with everyone?
An = All of us face rejection in one form or another in our lives. It seems to be a part of life. We need one another and become dependent on one another, yet not everyone accepts us. Some of you today have even been rejected by the very people you would have least expected it from.
Q Who are the people who can hurt us the most if they reject us?
An = It is often those most close to us.
Note: We often feel horrible when we are rejected. We usually become angry or we begin to blame ourselves. We often think, if we were just somehow better, we would not be rejected.
Q Do you think Jesus, the perfect man, ever felt what we feel?
An = Remember, Jesus was fully human as well as fully God, and so like all humans, He too faced such things. He too experienced and faced rejection. The Book of Hebrews says He was tempted in all ways like we are.
III. Jesus is Rejected: Mark 6:1-6.
A. The Stigma of Being Ordinary: An Excuse for Unbelief.
>>> Have someone read Mark 6:1-3.
Q Why did they reject Jesus?
An = See Mark 6:3 and >> re-read Mark 6:3 for them. They did not recognize Jesus for who He was. What seemed to throw them off was Jesus’ ordinariness. They failed to penetrate the “veil of ordinariness”. Jesus was a blue-collar worker.
Funny, some things never change. People still look down on blue-collar workers, as simple ordinary folks. Many use the excuse that only those with college degrees or money are important.
Q Do you ever feel ordinary? Is it wrong to feel so?
Note: In Jesus’ time manual labor in the Greco-Roman world invited scorn.
In addition, “son of Mary” could possibly refer to charges of being born out of wedlock.
Whether the phrase referred to Jesus being an illegitimate child was implied or not, it is certain His parents were not special. Everyone knew His family. He could make no claim to fame from His humble, blue-collar home.
Note: It appears that part of the reason this story is here is that we are not to be ashamed of humble beginnings. When God came to earth He had ordinary, blue-collar, parents. It seems to me that God could have given His Son any parents in the world, but He chose Mary and Joseph and they were poor.
Notice how Jesus will respond.
B. Jesus’ Response: Mark 6:4
>>> Have someone read Mark 6:4
Q What was Jesus saying here? What did He mean?
An = The prophet is not heard at times because he is too familiar. Jesus said the problem was not Him, but the hearers. Some people will attack the person when they cannot dispute the message. It is an old cheap trick human beings have used throughout the ages.
Q Is this done today? Have you seen examples of this? Do we miss the voice of God because it comes through a person or method too familiar to us?
Q Do you know people who fail to listen to what God really wants of them because the mouthpiece is their parents, a relative, a person they know well, or even their children?
An = It is essential to be able to see the truth because it is the truth, not because the messenger is someone special, mysterious, educated, fashionable, or politically correct.
Truth is truth whether on the lips of Moses or Balaam’s donkey.
Some of us will be ignored even though we have God’s will for them. Many will invalidate the message because they can charge the messenger with ordinariness.
C. The Results of Their Rejection: Ministry Hindered. Mark 6:5-6
>>> Have someone read Mark 6:5-6.
Q What does Mark 6:5 mean? Why were there few miracles? What do you think was the cause?
An = After they give their thoughts you might add, I admit I am shocked when the Gospel says Jesus was hindered from doing good. Here are a couple of thoughts.
1) Miracles without faith would reduce Jesus to a “pagan” miracle worker, not a redeemer. He would be like a Santa Claus. He would not be the One who was there to bring them to a whole new conception of life, and to a higher value system.
2) There were no limits to His ability to perform miracles, but the privation was due to their unbelief, it excluded them from the full dynamic disclosure of God’s grace. Even today miracles are not here to impress us but lead us to faith in, and submission to, the Son of God.
Q Is there blessing from God that others can receive but not us?
Q Is our church or nation rejecting Jesus? How?
An = Again, see Mark 6:3.
D. Jesus’ Rejection Is Forewarning of Our Own.
Note: Even Jesus was rejected; we must expect the same where the gospel advances.
Q Did Jesus stop?
An = No, and the proof is in 6:6b and 6:7.
1) He kept preaching, Jesus did not quit His ministry at this point. He kept on preaching, kept on teaching. He did not give up on those who rejected Him.
2) He sent out the twelve. He starts a whole new strategy.
IV. Sending. Others: A Response to Rejection. Mark 6:7-13.
A. The Sender Gives Authority.
Note: It appears that Jesus’ reaction to the rejection was to expand the ministry. He kept preaching, and He began a new tactic: He sent others besides Himself to preach.
>>> Have someone read Mark 6:7.
Q In Mark 6:7 what did Jesus give the disciples?
An = He gave them authority over demonic powers.
Q Did it really happen?
An = It did and the proof of their received authority is at 6:12-13. They preached repentance, cast out demons, and healed the sick.
>>>> Read Mark 6:12-13.
Q Do we do this today? Do we see miracles and even want to preach repentance?
Note: I find it convicting that He gave them power. He who sends has power. If it is truly Him that sent me, then I need to remember that He can give such authority.
B. The Manner of the Sending: Mark 6:8-11
>>> Have someone read Mark 6:8-9.
Q What does this mean? List the things He said to do.
An = take nothing for the journey except a staff: no bread, bag, money, or extra clothes. In other words, travel light. Go expecting God to provide for you.
Note: They were to have light resources. Perhaps our willingness to be vulnerable leads to power.
Q Are all modern missions today to be like this one?
Note: According to verse 7, they were sent out in twos.
Q Why do you suppose He did this?
An = I would think it would be easier to have someone with you on such a risky adventure. It is easier to handle tough times with a good friend or a good spouse. Perhaps another part of the answer is found in Deuteronomy 17:6.
Note: You read to them Deuteronomy 17:6. There were two of them witnessing to them. Maybe they would be heard or listened to better because there were two of them. In Jewish culture that was important.
>>>> Have someone read Mark 6:10-11
Q What does 6:10 mean?
An = Perhaps it referred to stability? The disciples too were going to experience rejection, see 6:11. However, they were to be: 1) above suspicion and therefore not out for money, 2) free of all care, 3) to understand they needed His power, not resources. Mark records that all they needed was Jesus’ commissioning, and they had lacked nothing. What this also could imply is that we error when we commission ourselves or think the commissioning of man can be more important than the true commissioning and authority from Jesus Himself.
Q How are we not vulnerable today?
An = It is tempting to want all the resources lined up and under our control before we do what God has called us to do. I know I am very often like this. I want some measure of control over the future of my efforts at ministry.
Q What is the Lord saying to us today?
Q Do we want His authority?
Note: If we do we must also accept His vulnerability.[:]