Whose Son do you know?

Mark 6:1-16 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. ² When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? ³ Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. ⁴ Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.”⁵ And He could do no ^[e]miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He wondered at their unbelief.

And He was going around the villages teaching.

⁷ And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; ⁸ and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt— ⁹ but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two tunics.” ¹⁰ And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town.¹¹ Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” ¹² They went out and preached that men should repent.¹³ And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

¹⁴ And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.” ¹⁵ But others were saying, “He is Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” ¹⁶ But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

There are many people today who seek to know Jesus. They focus on His life of peace and compassion. They try to live as He lived. Their mantra is WWJD, what would Jesus do?  Today’s text begins saying:  Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.”  And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.  And He wondered at their unbelief.     If we, like they, know only Jesus the man, the carpenter, the son of Mary; the brother of James, Joses, Judas and Simon, we too will lack the faith to believe in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. If we know Jesus only as a man, then we too might question His teaching and His wisdom; we might question the miracles done by His hands. We, like they may even be offended at Him, if we believe or know Him only as a man.  The text says: And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.  And He wondered at their unbelief.   If our focus in knowing Jesus is to know Him as a man, the son of Mary rather than as the Son of God, is it any wonder why we see so few miracles today?

In Matthew 16:13-19 we see the difference between knowing Jesus as the world does and knowing Him as a disciple:  Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”    The people said Jesus was a prophet or a man. Peter recognized Him as the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus said that revelation came from the Father, the same God who spoke when Jesus was baptized saying: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." (Matthew 3:17) God loves to reveal His Son to those who will listen.  Look at the power and authority Jesus says we will have if we know Jesus, through the revelation of the Father, as the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of God rather than only as a man. We will receive the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth shall beloosed in heaven.  The very gates of Hell will not stand against us.

In today’s text we see the power and the authority Jesus gave to His disciples; to those who knew Him. It says:  He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt—  but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two tunics.” And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” They went out and preached that men should repent.  And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.   Many people who know or regard Jesus only as a man, many who are offended at Jesus, criticize His disciples for being unloving and intolerant. Look though at what Jesus, the Son of God, said to the disciples. What were His instructions if a place did not receive or listen to them? They were to: shake the dust off the soles of their feet for a testimony against them.  Look at the result in today’s text:  They went out and preached that men should repent.  And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.   In Mark 16:15-20, after the resurrection, after Jesus time as a man was over, we see that He again sends out His disciples. It says:  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.  Jesus says: He who believes will be saved and he who disbelieves will be condemned.   Proverbs 18:21 says:  The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.   That’s how important our testimony of Christ is. It is a matter of life and death; salvation and condemnation. If we, like the disciples, will know Jesus as the Christ, as the Risen Savior, if we will know Him as the Son of God and as One with God, then we too will have authority and everywhere we go, everywhere we testify of the Risen Savior, the Christ, He will work with us and confirm the words by the signs that follow. We will be those who answer the prayer Jesus taught:

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus name, the name above every name; the only name by which people can be saved I testify and pray.  Amen.