Chapter # 6 Paragraph # 1 Study # 6
July 13, 2021
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(242)
1901 ASV
6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended in him.
6:4 And Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
6:5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
6:6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages teaching.
- I. The Reaction Of The "Many" In The Synagogue To The Teaching Of Jesus.
- A. The immediate impact of Jesus' teaching was a form of mental panic brought on by His teaching which was contrary to the teachings of the scribes.
- B. Then they, in reaction to their panic, made a silly excuse for not believing the words which He taught.
- 1. Their questions had some legitimacy and they had legitimate answers.
- 2. But they dismissed both the questions and their answers in foolishness.
- a. They claimed that because He was a carpenter in their midst, He could not be "The Mighty One To Come". It is possible that they could not conceive of a "carpenter" being the rightful heir to the Davidic throne (speculation on my part). The only two uses of the word translated "carpenter" are Matthew 13:55 where they reject Jesus because he is a "son of a carpenter" and Mark 6:3 where there is a textual issue, but that issue is not significant in that the textual editors give "the carpenter" an "A" rating. That the Davidic heir had been reduced to being "a carpenter in Nazareth" was inconceivable to the mindset of the flesh which always focuses upon false "greatness" (David was a mere shepherd and it was inconceivable even to him that God would install him as King over Judah and Israel and promise him a throne forever: 1 Chronicles 17:16-17). This was a slur against Joseph and was not at all unlike "The Joseph's" brothers and father who had a great difficulty in seeing him as second to Pharaoh.
- b. They claimed that because He was "the son of the Mary", He could not be Him that was called "My Son" by God at His baptism. There is some indication (John 8:41) that there were slanderous insinuations regarding Mary even all of these years later.
- c. They claimed that because He was "brother" to James, Joses, Judas, Simon, and sisters, that He could not be "The Son Of The Promise". What was it about these men and their sisters that disqualified Jesus to be One by whom God would completely alter the theology of Israel by teaching and wisdom and miraculous powers?
- d. They "were being scandalized" (a transliteration) by Him.
- 1) This term is used in 27 texts of the New Testament with Matthew being the majority user (13) and Mark being the next greatest user (8).
- a) Matthew's uses are as follows.
- i. Matthew's first and second uses are found in 5:29-30 where Jesus taught that one's "eye", or "hand" could have the effect to which this term is addressed and that the outcome could be being cast into Gehenna.
- ii. Matthew 11:6 is the third use by Jesus who said that a person was "blessed" if he/she did not have the impact of this term determine Who they thought He was [the occasion was John the Baptizer's in-prison-question, "Are You the Expected One?"].
- iii. Matthew 13:21 is Matthew's fourth use and in that text/context Jesus says of the "seed sown upon rock" that "afflictions and persecutions" cause the impact of this term (with the assumed consequence of Matthew 5:29-30).
- iv. Matthew's fifth use (13:57) is a parallel text to the one we are studying in Mark 6.
- v. Matthew 15:12 is the sixth use and it records that the disciples asked Jesus if He knew that His rejection of their legalism had "offended" the Pharisees (the meaning being that they refused to accept Him or believe His words).
- vi. Matthew 17:27 is the seventh and it is a record of Jesus yielding to the expectations of the tax collectors so that they would not reject Him on a false basis.
- vii. Matthew 18:6 pronounces a terrifying death for anyone who generates the impact of this term in "one of these little ones who believe in me".
- viii. Matthew 18:8-9 contains the ninth and tenth uses and they are a repetition of 5:29-30.
- ix. Matthew 24:10 is a prophecy of "many" who will "fall away" because of the pressures of intense persecution.
- x. Matthew 26:31 is a prophecy that "in this night" all of the disciples will "fall away" as sheep scattered after the death of the shepherd and in 26:33 Peter denies Jesus' prophecy.
- b) Mark's uses are these.
- i. 4:17 is a repetition of Jesus' interpretation of the seed sown on rock.
- ii. 6:3 is the focus of this study.
- iii. 9:42 is a repetition of Matthew 18:6 regarding anyone who "stumbles" a "little one who believes".
- iv. 9:43, 45, and 47 are repetitions of Matthew 5:29-30 and 18:8-9.
- v. 14:27-29 is the same as Matthew 26:31-33.
- c) Luke's uses are only two (7:23; a parallel to Matthew 11:6, and 17:2; a parallel to Mark 9:42 and Matthew 18:6).
- d) John's uses are only two (6:61, which is in regard to Jesus' "cannibalistic" declaration; and 16:1, which in regard to Jesus' preparation of His disciples for the tribulations and persecutions that were to befall them so that they would not be like the seed sown upon rock in the parable of the soils).
- e) Paul's uses are only two (1 Corinthians 8:13 which concerns "destroying (a Romans 14 term) a brother by eating meat against his conscience"; and 2 Corinthians 11:29 which focuses upon a brother being "scandalized"). Additionally he uses the noun form six times and, by it, identifies the essence of the concept: a deceit put forth as "truth" that causes those who believe it to reject the actual truth in favor of the deceit and to, afterwards, engage in wickedness as Jesus taught in Matthew 13:41 and 16:23.
- 2) There is no indication that any of the users of this term did not understand Jesus' clear warning that "being scandalized" would lead to being cast into Gehenna, but neither is there any indication that such a condition could not be reversed before it was too late.