Mark 6:1-29 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 And when the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man learn these things, and what is this wisdom that has been given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? ³ Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are His sisters not here with us?” And they took offense at Him. ⁴ Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not dishonored except in his hometown and among his own relatives, and in his own household.” ⁵ And He could not do any miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He was amazed 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 were to 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 wear 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 as a testimony against them.” ¹² And they went out and preached that people are to 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 about 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 about it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent men and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ And Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, and could not do so; ²⁰ for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he had been protecting him. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; and yet he used to enjoy listening to him. ²¹ An opportune day came when Herod, on his birthday, held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders, and the leading people of Galilee; ²² and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” ²³ And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you, up to half of my kingdom.” ²⁴ And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵ Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ²⁶ And although the king was very sorry, because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and beheaded him in the prison, ²⁸ and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When his disciples heard about this, they came and carried away his body, and laid it in a tomb.

There are many books, movies and shows that try to capture and familiarize us with Jesus. Often, they focus how Jesus lived; on the man that He was, on His humanity. If we want to follow Jesus, it is vital that we know how He related and responded to other people. We must take care though. In today’s text it says: Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man learn these things, and what is this wisdom that has been given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are His sisters not here with us?” And they took offense at Him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not dishonored except in his hometown and among his own relatives, and in his own household.” And He could not do any miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He was amazed at their unbelief.  We need to guard against knowing Jesus only as a man. Our familiarity with His humanity could lead us to question who Jesus is, as those from His hometown did. It could cause us to have unbelief so that Jesus will not be able to do many miracles among us. We should remain amazed at Jesus, rather than Him being amazed at our unbelief.

Today’s text says: And 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 were to 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 wear 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 as a testimony against them.” And they went out and preached that people are to repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. We need to know Jesus as one who has given His disciples authority and sent them out. In Mark 16:15:18 Jesus says: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will 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 harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”  

In Matthew 16:13-19 He says: Now when Jesus came into the region 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; and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you yourselves 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.  And 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.”  We need to know Jesus, not as a man, not as a teacher, but as the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One.  It is upon that revelation that we are built up by Jesus and in Jesus. It is in knowing Him as Christ that He can perform miracles for us and in us and through us. He has given us the keys to the kingdom of heaven with authority to bind and loose on earth and in heaven.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, surely the gates of Hell are standing wide open wide in our day, but You said that they cannot stand against us. May we stand in the power of the revelation that You are the Christ. In Your name may we bind up evil and loose righteousness on earth. May we bind up hatred and division and loose love and compassion on earth. May Your kingdom come and Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.