Rejection at Nazareth (Mark 6:1-6)

He departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.  2 When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!  3 Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And 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 native place and among his own kin and in his own house.”  5 So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.  6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.  He went around to the villages in the vicinity teaching. '

On the West shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus exorcised a demon, healed a woman who had a hemorrhage for 12 years, and raised Jairus’ 12-year-old daughter from the dead.  Now he went inland with his disciples to Nazareth where he was born.  His teaching in the Synagogue on the Sabbath astonished all who heard him, and they asked who his teacher was and what was the source of his wisdom and his power to heal.  Jews were customarily known by their fathers’ name, but they referred to him as “the son of Mary (v. 3),” which was demeaning.  The attitude of the people of Nazareth turned from positive to negative and Jesus said, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house (v. 4).”  Both the people of Nazareth and his family rejected hm.  They were incapable of believing in him because they thought they knew who he was (v. 3).  But neither the townspeople nor Jesus’ family had any idea who Jesus really was (vv. 2-3).  Jesus’ power was not diminished in Nazareth, but he could not heal many people in Nazareth because of their lack of faith.  

Almighty God, bestow your grace abundantly upon us and increase our faith so that we may believe in you the way you want us to believe in you.  This we ask through Christ our Lord.  Amen!

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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.