The passage
      v1. Leaving Capernaum, Jesus went South into the hill country, to Nazareth ("his own country"). During the previous year, Jesus had focused on training his disciples. The team now took a break before the Galilean mission, 6:7-13.
      v2. On the Sabbath day Jesus and his team visited the local synagogue and Jesus, as a visiting rabbi (accompanied by his disciples), was invited to expound the readings from the Law and the Prophets. The reaction to his teachings was anything but positive ("amazed"). The congregation knew Jesus' family well, and many would still remember the young Jesus. They knew he was trained as a carpenter/builder, and certainly not a rabbi. So where did his teachings, wisdom and power, come from? There were two possibilities, either God or the Devil. Given his background, God seemed a rather remote possibility.
      v3. Jesus' neighbors know well his origins, and they were anything but impressed. The question, "Isn't this the carpenter?" draws out the implication that Jesus is nothing more than a common laborer. Such a person would not possess divine knowledge. Also, "Isn't this Mary's son?" infers that Jesus is illegitimate (otherwise they would say "Joseph's son", even though he is now dead). Note Matthew where Jesus is called the son of the Carpenter. Origen claimed that the Bible does not identify Jesus' trade. There are alternate readings to this verse, but they most likely follow Matthew.
      v4. Jesus' replay is probably a contemporary proverb. It was generally accepted that the prophets faced rejection and martyrdom.
      v5. This verse gives rise to two untruths: that Jesus' power was limited ("He could not do any miracles there"), and this because of "their lack of faith", v6. Jesus' miracles are not dependent on the faith of the recipient, although it is true to say that a person's faith places them in the centre of God's will and therefore enables them to experience His work of grace. As for the work itself, "Jesus' power as saviour knows no bounds, but the use of it does", (Ridderbos). Jesus has the power to perform the messianic signs of healing, but chooses not to, due to the confusion such signs would produce in a people unprepared for such a revelation.
      v6. Mark constantly uses the word "amazed" to describe the common response of Israel to Jesus. This is the one and only time he describes Jesus as "amazed". Our Lord was obviously quite taken aback by the unbelief of his long-time neighbors. Mark's stress falls on the consequence of "their lack of faith", namely the loss of God's blessing.

Play the ball, not the man
      Mark's positioning of this passage, next to the mission of the twelve in Galilee, serves to place the mission in the context of unbelief and rejection. It serves to remind us that the mission of the church faces the same response as that faced by the disciples and Jesus. The church will always face a pattern of rejection, will always be hard-pressed, from within and from without.
      Many of Jesus' sayings are now part of our common psyche. Well we know that "a prophet is not without honour, save among his own people." Put another way, "familiarity breeds contempt."
      God's word comes to us through human intermediaries, and so it is very easy to allow our judgement of the person to cloud our judgement of God's revelation. Certainly that's what happened to Jesus' own neighbors and friends, and as we know, even his family. They knew the boy, and so they knew the man. They even knew his supposed illegitimate background, as well as his rather menial profession as a carpenter/builder. So why bother listening to his words?
      I know that my own judgement has often been clouded by a predetermined analysis of a person's character. I well remember that my move toward Evangelical Anglicanism resulted in the assumption that my old High Church Rector had nothing more to say to me. The only value in his sermons lay in the opportunity they provided for a careful critique of sacramental theology. Such is the pain of youthful pietism!
      Of course, I have similarly found myself squeezed into a tight little box. I once complained, as if "amazed", now I smile, as many have smiled at me. In the face of someone who is aware of the superiority of their own intelligence, what else can we do?
      Take care to assess the worth of the word. Assess its truth, believe its truth, for then we will find ourselves in the centre of God's will, rather than outside where Jesus' power is restrained.