Mark 6: 1-13
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As Jesus traveled from Capernaum, he was heading home. As we read last week, he had just made big impacts down at the lakeshore, healing a woman who approached him quietly in a crowd, and bringing a dead girl to life. On the road, he was surrounded by a thousand. Now it was time to head back home, I don’t know what he might expect to happen at home or in his hometown but he might expect to see how the Kingdom of God might be received in the most familiar area.

Hear today’s text.

First of all, what do you think Jesus might feel as he came back to his home town? Not quite welcomed. Right? There is some signs of shame instead of honor. They ask, “Isn’t this Mary’s son?” instead of, “Isn’t this Mary and Joseph’s boy? I read that in that time and place it was a kind of an insult not naming the father as head of the household. So it was possibly meant to give him shame rather than honor. So he might be frustrated with the people in his community but he was trying to lead with compassion in his ministry. He had both frustration and compassion and it reminds us that we often face similar situations in our ministry as well.

This story in Mark is likely near the beginning. Jesus has been baptized. He has been doing some preaching and healing. He has got some disciples. He has

been traveling around the area and decided to return to his hometown. We are not exactly sure why he came back, but he might want to begin something and maybe he thought his hometown is a good place to start…?