When the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things?” and, “What is the wisdom that is given to this man, that such mighty works come about by his hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judah, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” They were offended at him.
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own relatives, and in his own house.” He could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people, and healed them. He marveled because of their unbelief. He went around the villages teaching.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2–5 The word signifieth powers, or virtues, whereby are meant…
The word signifieth powers, or virtues, whereby are meant those wonderful works that Christ did, which showed and set forth the virtue and power of his Godhead to all the world, Matt. 7:22.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2 And when the sabbath day was come, he…
2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
Ver. 2. {See Trapp on "Mat 13:54"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v4 Experience tells us that familiarity breeds a contempt. Our…
Experience tells us that familiarity breeds a contempt. Our Saviour (though there was a deeper cause) assigns this the cause why those of Nazareth paid him no greater respect. Unbelief in us bindeth the hands of God.
He could there do no mighty works, he could not, not from a defect of power, but the exercise of Divine power is always regulated by wisdom, and in consistency with his wisdom he could do no mighty works there: for the end of our Saviour’s miracles being either to convert unbelievers to the faith of the gospel, or to confirm weak believers in it, he foresaw that the performing of miracles there would be without any saving effect, and suspended his miraculous power. Besides, he was highly provoked by their obstinate infidelity, and would not work great wonders amongst them; only be cures a few sick persons.
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And he marvelled because of their unbelief: his Divine doctrine was so convincing, and the fame of his glorious works done in places near them was so universal and credible, that there was just cause of his rational wonder that they did not believe. Though our Saviour left them in their infidelity, he did not leave his blessed work, going
round about the villages, teaching. Still preaching appeareth to have been our Saviour’s great work, how light a thing soever some make of it. I cannot but observe how little reason men have to glory in or to trust to any external privileges: how little other aids and assistances, without the special influences of Divine grace, signify to the begetting of faith in unbelieving souls, and removing their prejudices against the doctrine of the gospel! Christ’s own country is as bad as any other.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–6 And when the sabbath day was come,.... For it…
And when the sabbath day was come,.... For it seems that it was on a weekday, or on one of the common days of the week, that he entered into the city, where he remained without making himself known, till the sabbath day came: and then
he began to teach in the synagogue; that is, at Nazareth; where he expounded the law and the prophets, and preached the Gospel:
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and many hearing him were astonished. The Vulgate Latin adds, "at his doctrine"; and so it is read in Beza's most ancient copy:
saying, from whence hath this man these things? This skill of explaining Scripture, this doctrine which he teaches, and these miracles he is said to work? This question they the rather put, because they had known him from the beginning: he had lived long among them, and they knew he had not learnt of men, and therefore wondered how he came by such things as these:
and what wisdom is this which is given to him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? which were but the other day employed in servile work, and mechanical operations.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 6 Is not this the carpenter? - There can be…
Is not this the carpenter? - There can be no doubt, but in his youth he wrought with his supposed father Joseph.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2–6 Verse 2. Were astonished] επι τῃ διδαχῃ αυτου, at…
Verse 2. Were astonished] επι τῃ διδαχῃ αυτου, at his doctrine, or teaching. This is added by the Codex Bezae and eight others, later Syriac, Armenian, Vulgate, and all the Itala.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 St. Matthew relates that they asked: Is not this…
St. Matthew relates that they asked: Is not this the son of the carpenter? It is not improbable that both questions were asked; it was certainly very natural to take him for a carpenter, who was the son of one. (St. Augustine) --- They were scandalized at his lowly birth and humble parentage. Hence Jesus Christ take occasion to expose the malice and envy of the Jews, in refusing him, and to shew that the Gentiles would more esteem him. See Luke iv. 25, and John i.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2. he began to teach in the synagogue] For…
2. he began to teach in the synagogue] For his former visit here see Luk_4:6 sq. The conduct of His hearers on this occasion did not betray the frantic violence exhibited at His first visit.
mighty works] Rather, powers. This is one of the four names given by the Evangelists to the miracles which the Lord was pleased to work while incarnate here on earth. They are called:
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(α) “Wonders,” a term never used alone, but always in conjunction with other names. They are continually styled “signs and wonders,” or “signs” or “powers” alone, but never “wonders” alone. By this word the effect of astonishment, which the work produces on the beholder, is transferred to the work itself. The word only occurs once in St Mark, in Mar_13:22, and there it is in conjunction with “signs.”
(β) “Signs,” as being tokens and indications of something beyond themselves, of the near presence and working of God, the seals and credentials of a higher power. The word is an especial favourite with St John, though in our Version “sign” too often gives place to the vaguer “miracle,” to the great detriment of the true meaning and force of the word. It occurs three times in St John, twice in St Mar_16:17; Mar_16:20 alone, and once in conjunction with “wonders,” Mar_13:22.
(γ) “Powers,” that is of God, coming into and working in this world of ours. As in the “wonder” the effect is transferred and gives a name to the cause, so here the cause gives its name to the effect. The word occurs four times in St Mark: Mar_5:30 (A. V. virtue), Mar_6:2; Mar_6:14; Mar_9:39. In our Version it is rendered sometimes “wonderful works” (Mat_7:22), sometimes “mighty works” (Mat_11:20; Mar_6:14; Luk_10:13), and still more frequently “miracles” (Act_2:22; Act_19:11; Gal_3:5), thus doing away with a portion of its force.
(δ) “Works.” This is a significant term very frequently used by St John. With him miracles are the natural form of working for Him, whose Name is Wonderful (Isa_9:6), and Who therefore doeth “works of wonder.” Comp. Joh_6:28; Joh_7:21; Joh_10:25; Joh_10:32; Joh_10:38; Joh_14:11, &c. See Abp. Trench on the Parables, Introd.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 6 (2) Many hearing him.—The better MSS. give, “the many,”…
(2) Many hearing him.—The better MSS. give, “the many,” i.e., the majority of those who were present.
Such mighty works.—As the Evangelist notes in Mar_6:5 that no mighty work had been done in Nazareth, these must refer to what had been reported there.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–6 As usual, he made the sabbath the special time…
As usual, he made the sabbath the special time for his teaching. And many hearing him were astonished. They were astonished at the ability, the sublimity, the holiness of his teaching, as well as at the signs and wonders by which he confirmed it. "Many" hearing him; not all. Some listened with faith; but "the many" (there is some authority for oi polloi) were envious of him. Whence hath this man these things? The expression, "this man," is repeated, according to the best authorities, in the next clause, What is the wisdom that is given (not "unto him," but) unto this man? There is a contemptuous tone about the expression.
Vers. 2, 6. The twofold wonder awakened by the gospel.
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I IN MEN.
1. Because of contrast between the apparent origin and the Divine pretensions of Christ.
2. Because of the seeming disproportion between the results actually produced and the instruments. A curious phase this of human incredulity, as if the works did not speak for themselves! Failing the discovery of an evidently great cause, the results themselves are not credited with being what they seem to be. This is characteristic of human nature in all ages.
II IN CHRIST. The unbelief itself, of which the human astonishment at his words and works was but the sign, was a still greater marvel to our Saviour. The believing, ingenuous soul cannot understand unbelief. And truly there is something unnatural and not to be looked for in the incredulity exhibited by men towards truth and goodness, and the proffered mercy of God. M.
Vers. 2, 3. Detracting from the Divine greatness of Christ.
I How THIS IS DONE.
1. By attributing to secondary causes Divine effects.
2. Absence of faith and spiritual sympathy.
3. By being offended at the mystery of his humiliation, either in himself or his followers.
II WHAT IT PRODUCES.
1. Unsatisfied indecision. Perpetual questioning.
2. Hardening of heart.
3. The doubters own loss. Not only the works of mercy he might have wrought, but the Merciful One himself, are thus forfeited. M.
HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND Vers. 2, 3. Jesus, the rejected Teacher.
When the evangelist states, in the preceding verse, that Jesus "went out from thence," he is referring not so much to the house of Jairus as to the town of Capernaum. Thence he went forth to the village of Nazareth, in whose fields he had often played as a child, and in whose houses and streets he had laboured as a man. In the world, yet not of it. On a certain sabbath day he preached in the synagogue (for Nazareth possessed but one), where he had worshipped in his childhood with Mary, and which he had afterwards attended as a village artisan. St. Luke records the address he delivered, in which he proclaimed himself to be the Messenger of comfort of whom Isaiah had spoken. This only led to his rejection and to a brutal attempt upon his life, so that the Nazarenes unconsciously justified Nathanael"s question, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" In a true and lofty sense, the Lord was the Representative of his brethren, the Ideal to which they are to be conformed. From what he was and from what he experienced, we may constantly learn something respecting ourselves. We are reminded by this scene of the following truths:
I THAT WE DO NOT ALWAYS FIND ENCOURAGEMENT WHERE WE MOST NATURALLY LOOK FOR IT, If there was a place in Palestine where the Lord might have fairly anticipated a welcome, it was Nazareth. Other cities might suspect him, when he came to them as a stranger, but in Nazareth he had been known for years. There had never been an act of unkindness done by him, or a word of evil uttered by his stainless lips. With gentleness greater than a woman"s, with bravery loftier than a hero"s, he had walked uprightly and lovingly amongst this people. Cast out elsewhere, he ought to find shelter and be surrounded by love and loyalty here. He came as King Alfred came among his Saxons: when overwhelmed by superior forces, he yet refused to bate one jot of heart and hope. He came, as we come sometimes from places where we have been suspected or wronged, to the home where we believe the best will be made of us. But even Nazareth cast him out. Truly, he was "despised and rejected of men." It is enough for the servant that he be as his Master. Sometimes. like him, we may suffer from want of sympathy where we confidently expected it. Possibly, for example, you are brought to serious thought; you feel that the world passes away, and the lust thereof; you are conscious that there is around you a spiritual world, for which you are utterly unprepared. Filled with anxiety and distress, you venture to open your heart to those at home; but, although it is nominally a Christian home, you are laughed at for your pains, or are recommended change and cheerful society. But you feel that it is not this you want, when your "heart and flesh cry out for the living God." Whenever, under such circumstances, you are tempted to anger or discouragement, lift up your thoughts to him who was tempted even as you are, and yet was without sin.
II THAT MAN IS NOT THE MERE CREATURE OF CIRCUMSTANCES. The Son of God was in one sense infinitely removed from us, yet in his human relations he was "made like unto his brethren." And he, in all his purity and devoutness, came forth from a town notorious for its ignorance and degradation. He grew up there as a sweet flower does upon a heap of refuse, drawing nourishment to itself from the reeking soil, and transmuting it into beauty and fragrance by the power of its own life. So has it been with many of his followers. No man is absolutely dependent upon the place in which he is born or educated for what he is. He has a God-given individuality. Besides the external training, there is also an inward education, which is more productive of result. Examples of this are seen in social life. There are some who are envied now for their circumstances of abundance, who were not born in them. They have had many an effort and many a failure, but have been faithful and hopeful throughout. They started with few advantages, were sent early to business, had but slight education; yet, with a sense of independence of man, linked with a consciousness of dependence upon God, they have risen above their former mean surroundings. Thus is it in the moral and religious sphere. You must not suppose that, because you have not a Christian home, you are committed to do" some abominations; or that, because you live out of sight of the worse forms of degradation and irreligion, you are discharged of all responsibility in regard to these. Circumstances are not to mould you, but you are to rule and triumph over them; and, by the grace of God, may come forth from a despised and degraded condition as one of the kingly sons of God.
III THAT NO MAN IS DEGRADED BY COMMON WORK. "Is not this the carpenter?" What right has he to assume the position of a teacher? Yet these Jews were for the most part more sensible in their views of manual work than many Englishmen. It was the custom amongst them even for rabbis to learn some handicraft. But then, as now, it was one thing to be a learned man with power to turn to manual occupations for amusement, and quite another thing to earn bread by it, and in the intervals of labour to teach others. This is what Jesus did." Whether, as Justin Martyr reports, he made ploughs for the husbandmen or not, at least it is certain that the Builder of the heavens and the earth humbled himself to so lowly a condition that his neighbors could say of him. "Is not this the carpenter?" or, as Matthew puts it, "Is not this the carpenterson?" He had fallen in with Joseph"s condition, and had recognized his own as being marked out for him by his reputed father"s choice. Often our work is so settled for us, and our plans and preferences are thus altered by others, or rather through them by him who appoints for every man the bounds of his habitation. Sometimes, for example, a young fellow has entered on the study of the law; but his father dies, and leaves a business on the continuance of which the livelihood of the widow and younger children depends. All the cherished prospects of life are then rightly sacrificed upon the altar of love and duty, It would not be right to dissipate the work of another"s life, especially if it were that of one"s own father; and if the business be one in which you could serve others and serve God, let it be undertaken heartily and gladly. let there be no department of life-work in which you would be unwilling to bend your back fro" the heaviest burden. All such occupations Christ has touched and sanctified and honored, so that in them "whatsoever you do, you may do it heartily, as unto the Lord. A.R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 Is not this the carpenter?
Mar_6:3-4
Is not this the carpenter?
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Jesus Christ, the carpenter
I. How the fact that Jesus was a carpenter was a hindrance to the faith of His fellow countrymen.
1. The objection was natural. He had grown up among them. They had become familiar with His ways.
2. Yet it was wrong and unreasonable. Their intimacy with Him ought to have opened their eyes to His unique character.
3. The objection they raise against His claims tells really in His favour. They find no fault in His character; they can only complain of His trade. High, unconscious tribute to His excellence.
II. How this fact should be a help to our faith.
1. It is a sign of Christs humility.
2. It is a proof that He went through the experience of practical life. Christ knows good work, for He looks at it with a workmans eye.
3. He found the school for His spiritual training in His practical work.
4. This sheds a glory over the life of manual industry.
5. This should attract working men to Christ. (W. F. Adeney, M. A.)
The dignity of honest labour
If labour was first imposed as a curse, it is turned truly into a blessing by this example of Him who thus wrought. The occupancy of a sphere of lowly industry by Christ, henceforth consecrates it as-
I. A suitable occupation of time.
1. Profitable
2. Healthful.
3. Saves from bad effects of indolence.
4. A source of pure and useful enjoyment.
II. An honourable means of maintenance.
1. Nothing degrading in it.
2. Deserves and commands fair remuneration.
3. Preserves a mans independence.
III. A worthy service to others. The products of industrial toil, especially of handicraft, are serviceable in the highest degree. Without them the comfort of large communities must be greatly impaired. He, therefore, who works with his hands the thing that is good, is a useful and honourable servant of his race.
1. In the lowliest spheres, the loftiest powers are not necessarily degraded.
2. In those spheres the holiest sentiments may be cherished, and the holiest character remain untarnished.
3. Whilst in them the humblest labourer may know that his toil is honoured, for it was shared by his Lord. (R. Green.)
Value of industrial employments
The word carpenter was given as an alternative translation by Wycliffe, and has descended into all the succeeding English versions; Wycliffes primary translation was smith, the word that was used in the Anglo-Saxon version. It had in Anglo-Saxon a generic meaning, equivalent to artificer. A worker in iron was called in Anglo-Saxon iren-smith. A smith is one who smites: a carpenter is one who makes cars. The word carpenter, therefore, must be a much later coinage than the word smith. The original Greek term (τέκτων) means primarily a producer; the word wright very nearly corresponds to it, as being closely connected with wrought or worked. It just means worker, and occurs in Anglo-Saxon in the two forms wryhta and wyrhta. This is the only passage in which it is stated that our Lord worked at a handicraft. It is a different expression that is found in Mat_13:53, Is not this the carpenters son? There is no contradiction, however, between the two representations; both might be coincidently employed, and no doubt were, when the Nazarenes were freely and frettingly canvassing the merits of their wonderful townsman. Our Lord would not be trained to idleness; it was contrary to Jewish habits, and to the teaching of the best Jewish rabbis. It would have been inconsistent moreover with the principles of true civilization, and with the ideal of normal human development. It is no evidence of high civilization, either to lay an arrest on full physical development on the one hand, or on the other to encourage only those modes of muscular and nervous activity which are dissociated from useful working and manufacturing skill. Society will never be right until all classes be industrious and industrial: the higher orders must return to take part in the employments of the lower; the lower must rise up to take part in the enjoyments of the higher. (J. Morison, D. D.)
The village carpenter in our Lords time held the position of the modern village blacksmith
Almost all agricultural instruments-ploughs, harrows, yokes, etc.
were made of wood. His workshop was the centre of the village life. (T. M. Lindsay, D. D.)
Jesus came from amongst the labouring classes
That Jesus did in fact spring from the labouring class of the population, is confirmed by the language of His discourses and parables, which everywhere refer to the antecedents and relations of the ordinary workmans life, and betray a knowledge of it which no one could have gained merely by observation, He was at home in those poor, windowless, Syrian hovels in which the housewife had to light a candle in the daytime to seek for her lost piece of silver. He was acquainted with the secrets of the bake house, of the gardener, and the builder, and with things which the upper classes never see-as the good measure pressed down and shaken together running over of the corn chandler; the rotten, leaking wine skin of the wine dealer; the patchwork of the peasant woman; the brutal manners of the upper servants to the lower,-these and a hundred other features of a similar kind are interwoven by Him into His parables. Reminiscences even of His more special handicraft have been found, it is believed, in His sayings. The parable of the splinter and the beam is said to recall the carpenters shop, the uneven foundations of the houses, the building yard, the cubit which is added, the workshop, and the distinction in the appearance of the green and dry wood, the drying shed. (Hausrath.)
Self-respect vital to religion
They could not believe in any Divine inspiration reaching such as themselves, and therefore resented it in Christ as an unjustifiable pretension of superiority. They had no proper faith in themselves, so had no proper faith in God. Self-respect is vital to religion. They believed in a God in a kind of way, but not in a God who touched their neighbourhood or entered into close dealings with Nazarenes. They were not on the outlook for the beautiful and the divine in the lives of men. No Nazarene Wordsworth had shown them the glory of common life, the beauty and divinity that exist wherever human life will welcome it. (R. Glover.)
The model artisan
These words reveal to us-
I. Christs social position.
1. That he sympathised with the humblest sons of men.
2. That social rank is no criterion of personal worth.
3. That moral and spiritual excellence should be honoured in whomsoever found.
II. Christs manual labour.
1. That honourable industry and holy living may co-exist.
2. That mental development and physical toil may be associated.
Conclusion: Observe-
(a) That labour is essential, not only to existence, but to happiness.
(b) That the greater our industry the fewer our temptations.
(c) That Christ waits to sanctify the duties of life to our spiritual interest. (A. G. Churchill.)
The Divine Carpenter
The Divine Carpenter applies the language of His earthly trade to the spiritual things He has created.
1. He has built a Church.
2. He has founded the resurrection-Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
3. He has established His divinity-The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
4. He has prepared our eternal home-In My Fathers house, etc.
5. He has urged earnest heed to our building. (C. M. Jones.)
Jesus in the workshop
I. We see Him here bearing the curse of the fall.-In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, etc.
II. We see Him here bringing Himself near to all men.
III. He enters the workshop that He may unite men as brethren. IV He enters the workshop that He may sanctify all secular life. (J. Johnston.)
Work the law of life
From that tiny fly thus at work all day over your head, to the huge hippopotamus of the Nile, that seems to spend its lifetime half asleep, all have to work. But emphatically is this true of man. The wild Indian huntsman, as he plunges over the prairie armed with tomahawk or rifle, in pursuit of the thundering buffalo; the Bosjesman, in the impenetrable thickets of Africa, as he digs with hardened, horny fingers for the roots on which he lives; the amphibious South Sea Islander, as he wages perilous warfare with the monsters of the ocean; the fur-clad Esquimaux, as he tracks the bear or seal of the icy north; as well as the semi-civilized myriads of Asia, or the more advanced peoples of Europe-all find this world is a workshop, and they must toil to live. And the exceptions to this rule are fewer than at first sight we are apt to suppose. It is not only the artisan who has to work, but also the merchant amongst his wares, the author amongst his books, the statesman with the affairs of the nation, and the sovereign upon his throne. Whether impelled by the necessities of mere existence, or by the necessities of position and spirit, it may be said of all-Men must work. Our Lord, therefore, came near unto us when He entered the workshop. But as the great majority must gain their daily bread by manual labour, He entered even into that condition as the village carpenter of Nazareth. Had He been born in a palace and to a throne, or even into the estate of a wealthy merchant, He would have been separated, not in His feeling, but in theirs, by a great gulf from the great majority of men. (J. Johnston.)
Manual work redeemed
See how our whole life is redeemed, so that it may all be lived unto God and for eternity, and none of it be lost. He entered the kingdom of toil and subdued it to Himself for our salvation, so that toil is no more a curse to the Christian workman. The builder, as he lays brick on brick, may be building a heavenly temple; the carpenter, as he planes the wood, may thereby be refining his own character and that of others around him; the merchant, as he buys and sells, may be buying the pearl of great price; the statesman may be directing the affairs of an eternal kingdom; the householder may be setting her house in order for the coming of her Lord. As the blood of the sacrifice was put not only upon the ear, but upon the toe, of Aaron and his sons, so our Lord when, by entering it, He sanctified human life, sanctified its meanest and most secular things, spending His holy and Divine life mostly in the workshop. Brethren, whatever our station, we may live a holy, god-like, useful life. (J. Johnston.)
The royal shipwright
A strange workman took his place one day amongst the shipwrights in a building yard in Amsterdam. Fit only for the rudest work, he was content at first to occupy himself with the caulking mallet, hewing of wood, or the twisting of ropes, yet displayed the keenest desire to understand and master every part of the handicraft. But what was the astonishment of his fellow workmen to see persons of the highest rank come to pay their respects to him, approaching him with every mark of regard, amid the dust and confusion of the workshop, or clambering up the rigging to have an audience with him on the maintop. For he was no less a personage than Peter the Great, founder of the Russian Empire. He came afterwards to England, and lodged amongst the workshops in Deptford. Bishop Burnet, when he visited him, said he had gone to see a mighty prince, but found a common shipwright. But the king who had invited him to visit this country understood him better. He was the ruler of an empire vaster in extent than any other in Europe, but as far behind the poorest financially as it was before it territorially. It was, in fact, in a state of absolute barbarism. Its largest ship was a fishing boat, and it was as yet destitute of almost all, even the rudest arts of civilization. The Czar, determined to elevate his people, ordered the youth of the nobility to travel in lands distinguished by wealth and power, and become qualified to take part in the regeneration of their own country, he himself showing them the example. It was thus that wonderful spectacle was seen by the astonished workmen, ambassadors waiting in state on a man in the dress and at the work of a common shipwright. (J. Johnston.)
Useful reflections on Christs working as a carpenter
I. To illustrate this observable circumstance of our Lords life. It was a maxim among the Jews, that every man should bring up his son to some mechanic trade.
II. To suggest some useful remarks from this observable circumstance of our Lords life.
1. A persons original, his business and circumstances in life, often occasion prejudices against him: against his most wise, useful, and instructive observations.
2. Such prejudices are very absurd, unreasonable, and mischievous.
3. The condescension of the Son of God in submitting to such humiliation, demands our admiration and praise.
4. The conduct of our Lord reflects an honour upon trade, and upon those who are employed in useful arts.
5. This circumstance in Christs life furnisheth all, especially young persons, with an example of diligence and activity.
6. Persons may serve God and follow their trades at the same time. (J. Orton.)
Jesus an offence
The word rendered offended is scandalized in the original. It is a very graphic word, but incapable of adequate translation. It presents to view a complex picture. Christ was to His kinsmen and townsmen like a scandal, or catch stick, in a trap. They did not see what He was. They hence heedlessly ran up against Him and struck on Him, to their own utter ensnarement; they were spiritually caught; they became fixed in a position in which it was most undesirable to be fixed; they were spiritually hurt, and in great danger of being spiritually destroyed. Such are the chief elements of the picture. The actual outcome of the whole complex representation may be given thus: They spiritually stumbled on Jesus. To their loss they did not accept Him for what He really was: They rejected Him as the Lord High Commissioner of heaven. They came into collision with Him, and were ensnared, by suspecting that His indisputable superiority to ordinary men in word and work was owing to some other kind of influence than what was right and from above. (J. Morison, D. D.)
Offended at the carpenters son
People in high station or of high birth are very often displeased if one of humbler position excels them in anything. The nobles of Scotland did not work hand in hand with Wallace, because he had not such good blood as they gloried in.
Jealousy of greatness in neighbours
Our Lord specifies three concentric circles of persons to whom every prophet is nearly related. There is
(1) the circle of his little fatherland, or district of country, or township;
(2) the circle of his relatives or kin;
(3) the circle of his nearest relatives, the family to which he belongs.
In each of these circles there is in general but little readiness to recognize native or nascent superiority. The principles of self-satisfaction, self-confidence, self-complacency, come in to lay a presumptive interdict upon any adjoining self rising up in eminence above the myself. The temporary advantage of age, and thus of more protracted experience, asserts to itself for a season a sort of counter-superiority; and the mere fact of proximity makes it easy to open the door for the influence of envy, an ignoble vice that takes effect chiefly in reference to those on whom one can actually look (invidia, invides). In the long run, indeed, real superiority, if time be granted it, will vindicate for itself its own proper place in the midst of all its concentric circles. But, in general, this will be only after victories achieved abroad have made it impossible for the people at home to remain in doubt. (J. Morison, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 6 2. When the sabbath day was come. For notes…
2. When the sabbath day was come. For notes on his reception at Nazareth, see Matt. 13:53–58. This was the second time he was rejected here (Luke 4:14–29).
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v6 Mat 9:35-36; Mar 6:6. Matthew “And Jesus was a…
THIRD EVANGELISTIC TOUR
Mat 9:35-36; Mar 6:6. Matthew “And Jesus was a going round all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every ailment among the people.” Our Savior, now the third time, accompanied by the twelve apostles whom He had chosen, and the holy women who cooperated with their ministry, and not a few voluntary disciples, radiates out from Capernaum, traversing the whole country of Galilee, which included the tribes of Dan, Naphtali, Zebulun, and Issachar, preaching the gospel of the kingdom in all their villages and cities. Hence we see that Jesus was an evangelist of the most aggressive character, not only peregrinating the whole country, and preaching the gospel of spiritual salvation full and free, but indiscriminately healing the sick. “And seeing the multitudes, He was moved with compassion in their behalf, because they were fleeced and abandoned, as sheep having no shepherd.” N.B. These people were all members of the Jewish Church, gathering Sabbatically in their synagogues, which everywhere abounded, and enjoying the ministry of the scribes, their pastors, and the expositions of their cultured theologians (called “lawyers,” because they expounded the laws of Moses and the prophets). Now why does Jesus thus speak of those people, describing them as poor sheep having been sheared closely, and turned out of the fold to weather the storm and take chances with the wild beasts and robbers? The case is very plain. The word here, which I translate “fleeced,” is eskulmenoi, which also means “harassed, vexed, abused,” signifying the treatment which those people received at the hands of the ministry who had charge of them. And the other, errimmenoi, means “forsaken, abandoned, cast away.” Now, of course, these strong affirmations of our Lord have a spiritual signification, revealing the sad fact that these people were utterly destitute of competent spiritual guides.
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Now do not forget that these were Jews, holding regular membership in the Church which God established, and enjoying all the privileges of the synagogue worship, with the living ministry faithfully serving them. What was the matter? Those preachers, with all their learning, were spiritually dead, — ”the blind leading the blind,” laying heavy financial burdens on the people, and neglecting their souls, thus practically abandoning them for the devil. O how history repeats itself! We do not have to go back to the Judaic ages in order to find the Lord’s sheep “fleeced” and abandoned for the wolves to devour.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v5
Mark
THE MASTER REJECTED: THE SERVANTS SENT FORTH
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CHRIST THWARTED
Mar 6:5 - Mar 6:6.
It is possible to live too near a man to see him. Familiarity with the small details blinds most people to the essential greatness of any life. So these fellow-villagers of Jesus in Nazareth knew Him too well to know Him rightly as they talked Him over; they recognised His wisdom and His mighty works; but all the impression that these would have made was neutralised by their acquaintance with His former life, and they said, ‘Why, we have known Him ever since He was a boy. We used to take our ploughs and yokes to Him to mend in the carpenter’s shop. His brothers and sisters are here with us. Where did He get His wisdom?’ So they said; and so it has been ever since. ‘A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country.’
Surrounded thus by unsympathetic carpers, Jesus Christ did not exercise His full miraculous power. Other Evangelists tell us of these limitations, but Mark is alone in the strength of his expression. The others say ‘did no mighty works’; Mark says ‘could do no mighty works.’ Startling as the expression is, it is not to be weakened down because it is startling, and if it does not fit in with your conceptions of Christ’s nature, so much the worse for the conceptions. Matthew states the reason for this limitation more directly than Mark does, for he says, ‘He did no mighty works because of their unbelief.’ But Mark suggests the reason clearly enough in his next clause, when he says: ‘He marvelled because of their unbelief.’ There is another limitation of Christ’s nature, He wondered as at an astonishing and unexpected thing, We read that He ‘marvelled’ twice: once at great faith, once at great unbelief. The centurion’s faith was marvellous; the Nazarenes’ unbelief was as marvellous. The ‘wild grapes’ bore clusters more precious than the tended ‘vines’ in the ‘vineyard.’ Faith and unbelief do not depend upon opportunity, but upon the bent of the will and the sense of need.
But I have chosen these words now because they put in its strongest shape a truth of large importance, and of manifold applications-viz., that man’s unbelief hampers and hinders Christ’s power. Now let me apply that principle in two or three directions.
I. Let us look at this principle in connection with the case before us in the text.
You will find that, as a rule and in the general, our Lord’s miracles require faith, either on the part of the persons helped, or on the part of those who interceded for them. But whilst that is the rule there are distinct exceptions, as for instance, in the case of the feeding of the thousands, and in the case of the raising of the widow’s son of Nain, as well as in other examples. And here we find that, though the prevalent unbelief hindered the flow of our Lord’s miraculous power, it did not so hinder it as to stop some little trickle of the stream. ‘He laid His hands on a few sick folk, and healed them.’ The brook was shrunken as compared with the abundance of the flood recorded in the previous chapter.
Now, why was that? There is no such natural connection between faith and the working of a miracle as that the latter is only possible in conjunction with the former. And the exceptions show us that Jesus Christ was not so limited as that men’s unbelief could wholly prevent the flow of His love and His power. But still there was a restriction. And what sort of a ‘could not’ was it that thus hampered Him in His work? We know far too little about the conditions of miracle-working to entitle us to dogmatise on such a matter, but I suppose that we may venture to say this, that the working of the miracles was ‘impossible’ in the absence of faith and the presence of its opposite, regard being had to the purposes of the miracle and of Christ’s whole work. It was not congruous, it was not morally possible, that He should force His benefits upon unwilling recipients.
Now, I need not do more than just in a sentence call attention to the bearing of this fact upon the true notion of the purpose of Christ’s miraculous works. A superficial, and, as I think, very vulgar, estimate, says that Christ’s miracles were chiefly designed to produce faith in Him and in His mission. If that had been their purpose, the very place for the most abundant exhibition of them would have been the place where unbelief was most pronounced. The atmosphere of non-receptiveness and non-sympathy would have been the very one that ought to have evoked them most. Where the darkness was the deepest, there should the torch have flared. Where the stupor was most complete, there should the rousing shock have been administered. But the very opposite is the case. Where faith is present already, the miracle comes. Where faith is absent, miracles fail. Therefore, though a subsidiary purpose of our Lord’s miracles was, no doubt, to evoke faith in His mission, their chief purpose is not to be found in that direction. It was a condescension to men’s weakness and obstinacy when He said, ‘If ye believe not Me, believe the works.’ But the works were signs, symbols, manifestations on the lower material platform of what lie would be and do for men in the higher, and they were the outcome of His own loving heart and ever-flowing compassion, and only secondarily were they taken, and have they ever been taken, when Christian faith has been robust and intelligent, as being evidences of His Messiahship and Divinity.
But there is another consideration that I would like to suggest in reference to this limitation of our Lord’s power, by reason of the prevalence of an atmosphere of unbelief, and that is that it is a pathetic proof of His manhood’s being influenced by all the emotions and circumstances that influence us. We all know how hearts expand in the warm atmosphere of affection and sympathy, and shut themselves up like tender flowerets when the cold east wind blows. And just as a great orator subtly feels the sympathy of his audience, and is buoyed up by it to higher flights, while in the presence of cold and indifferent and critical hearers his tongue stammers, and he falls beneath himself, so we may reverently say Jesus Christ could not put forth His mightiest and most abundant miraculous powers when the cold wind of unbelieving criticism blew in His face.
If that is true, what a glimpse it gives us of the conditions of His earthly life, and how wonderful it makes that love which, though it was hampered, was never stifled by the presence of scorn and malice and of hatred. He is our Brother, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh; and even when the divinity within was in possession of the power of working the miracle, the humanity in which it dwelt felt the presence of the cold frost and closed its petals. ‘He could do no mighty works,’ and it was ‘because of their unbelief.’
II. But now, secondly, let us apply this principle in regard to Christ’s working on ourselves.
I have said that there was no such natural connection between faith and miracle as that miracle was absolutely impossible in the absence of faith. But when we lift the thought into the higher region of our religious and spiritual life, we do come across an absolute impossibility. There, in regard to all that appertains to the inward life of a soul, Christ can do no mighty works, in the absence of our faith. By faith, I mean, of course, not the mere intellectual reception of the Christian narratives or of the Christian doctrines as true, but I mean what the Bible means by it always, a process subsequent to that intellectual reception-viz., the motion of the will and of the heart towards Christ. Faith is belief, but belief is not faith. Faith is belief plus trust. And it is that which is the condition of all Christ’s gifts being received by any of us.
Now, a great many people seem to think that what Jesus Christ brings to the world, and offers to each of us, is simply the escape from the penal consequences of our past transgressions. If you conceive salvation to be nothing else than shutting the doors of an outward hell, and opening the doors of an outward Heaven, I can quite understand why you should boggle at the thought that faith is a condition of these. For if salvation is such a material, external, and forensic matter as that, then I do not see why God should not have given it to everybody, without any conditions at all. But if you will understand rightly what Christ’s gifts are, you will see that they cannot be bestowed upon men irrespective of the condition of their wills, desires, and hearts.
For what is salvation? What are the blessings that Jesus Christ bestows? A new life, a new love, new desires, a new direction of the whole being, a new spirit within us. These are the gifts; and how can these be given to a man if he has not trust in the Giver? Salvation is at bottom that a man’s will shall be harmonised with the will of God. But if a man has not faith, his will is discordant with the will of God, and how can it be harmonised and discordant at the same time? What are the powers by which Christ works upon men’s hearts? His truth, His love, His Spirit. How can a truth operate if it is not believed? How can love bless and cherish if it is not trusted? How can the Spirit hallow and cleanse if it is not yielded to? The condition is inherent in the nature of God the Giver, of man the receiver, and of the gifts bestowed.
And so we understand the metaphors that put that inevitable connection in various forms. Faith is ‘a door.’ How can you enter if the door be fast closed? He knocks; if any man opens He comes in. If a man does not open,
‘He can but listen at the gate,
And hear the household jar within.’
Faith is the connection between the fountain and the reservoir. If there be no such connection, how can the reservoir be filled? Faith is the hand with stretched-out empty palms, and widespread fingers for the reception of the gifts. How can the gifts be put into it if it hangs listless by the side, or in obstinately closed and pushed behind the back? He ‘can do no mighty works’ on an unbelieving soul.
Now, brethren, let me insist, in one sentence, on this solemn truth; God would save every man if He could, faith or no faith. But the condition which brings faith into connection with salvation as its necessary prerequisite is no arbitrary condition. The love of God cannot alter it. In the nature of things it must be so. ‘He that believeth shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be condemned.’ That is no result of an artificial scheme, but of the necessities of the case.
Again, let me remind you that the measure of our faith is the measure of our possession of these gifts. Our Lord more than once put the whole doctrine of this matter, in regard, however, to the lower plane of miracle, when He said, ‘According to your faith be it unto you,’ ‘Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.’ We have an inheritance like that of men who get a piece of land in some mining district: so much as we peg out and claim is ours, and no more.
Let me narrate a parable of my own making. There was once a king who told all his people that on a given day the fountain in the market-place in the centre of the city would flow with wine and other precious liquors, and that every man was free to bring his vessel and carry away as much as he would. The man that brought a tiny wineglass got a glassful; the man that brought a gallon pitcher got that full. The measure of your desires is the measure of your possessions of Christ’s power. Our faith determines the amount of His cleansing, healing, vivifying energy which will reside in us. The width of the bore of the water-pipe that is laid down settles the amount of water that will come into your cistern. The water may be high outside the lock. If the lock-gate be kept fast closed, the height of the water outside produces no raising of the low level of that within, If you open a chink of the gate a trickle will pass through, and if you fling the gates wide the levels will be the same on both sides. The only limit of our possession of God is our faith and desire. The true limit is His own boundlessness. It is possible that a man may be ‘filled with all the fulness of God; but the real working limit for each of us is our own faith. So, brethren, endless progress is possible for us, on condition of continual trust.
III. Lastly, let us apply this principle in regard to Christ’s working through His people.
Jesus Christ cannot work mightily through a feebly believing Church. And here is the reason why Christianity has taken so long to do so little in this world of ours; and why nineteen centuries after the Cross and Pentecost there remaineth yet so much land to be possessed. ‘Ye are not straitened in Me, ye are straitened in your own selves.’ We hinder Christ from doing His work through us by reason of our own unbelief. The men that have done most for the Lord Jesus, and for their fellows in this world, have been of all sorts, of all conditions, of all grades of intellectual ability and acquirement; some of them scholars, some of them tinkers, some of them philosophers, some of them next door to fools. They have belonged to different communions and have held different ecclesiastical and theological dogmas, and sometimes, alas! they have not been able to discern each other’s Christlike lineaments. But there is one thing in which they have all been alike, and that is that they have been men of faith, intense, operative, perpetual. And that is why they have succeeded. If we were what we might be, ‘full of faith.’ we should, as the Acts of the Apostles teaches us, by its collocation in the description of one of its characters, be ‘full of the Holy Spirit and of power.’
Brethren, you hear a great deal to-day about new ways of Christian working, about the necessity of adapting the forms of setting forth Christ’s truth to the spirit of the age, and new ideas. Adopt new methods if you like; methods are not sacred. Fashion new forms of presenting Christian truths if you please; our forms are only forms. But you may alter your methods and you may modify your dogmas as you like, and you will do nothing to move the world unless the Church is again baptized with the Divine Spirit, which will only be the case if the Church again puts forth a far mightier faith than it exercises to-day. If only we will trust Jesus Christ absolutely, and live near Him by our faith, His power will flow into us, and of us, too, it will be said, ‘through faith they wrought righteousness . . . subdued kingdoms . . . waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.’ But if the low level of average Christian faith in all the churches is not elevated, then the attempts to conquer the world by half-believing Christians will meet with the old fate, and the man in whom the evil spirit was will leap upon them and overcome them, and say, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?’ ‘Why could we not cast him out?’ And He answered and said unto them, ‘Because of your unbelief.’
Brethren, we may starve in the midst of plenty, if we lock our lips. We can be like some obstinate black rock, washed over for ever by the Atlantic surges, and yet so close-grained that only the surface is moistened, and, an inch within, it is dry. ‘Neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, is able to separate you from the love and power of God which are in Christ Jesus our Lord,’ But you can separate yourselves, and you do separate yourselves, by your unbelief. The all-sufficiency of Christ’s redemption, and the yearning of His love to bless each of us individually, will be nothing to us if we lift up between Him and us the black barrier of unbelief, and so dam back the stream that was meant to give life to all the world and life to us. Christ infinitely desires to bless us, but He cannot unless we trust Him. I beseech you, do not let this be the epitaph on your tombstone:-’Christ could there do no mighty work because of his unbelief.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v6 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LXI. Third Circuit…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LXI. Third Circuit of Galilee].
LXI. THIRD CIRCUIT OF GALILEE. THE TWELVE INSTRUCTED AND SENT FORTH. aMATT. IX. 35-38; X. 1, 5-42; XI. 1; bMARK VI. 6-13; cLUKE IX. 1-6.
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b6 And he aJesus bwent about aall the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner sickness and all manner of sickness. [In the first circuit of Galilee some of the twelve accompanied Jesus as disciples (see Mar_16:15). As Jesus himself was sent only to the Jews, so during his days on earth he sent his disciples only to them.] 7 As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. [It was set up about a year later, on the day of Pentecost, under the direction of the Holy Spirit-- Act_2:1-4.] 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give. [Here is the true rule of giving. Paul repeats it at 1Co_16:2. If we would obey this rule, we would make this a happy world.] c3 And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, a9 Get you no gold, nor silver, cnor money; anor brass in your purses; cneither staff, nor wallet, afor your journey, cnor bread, neither have two coats. anor shoes, nor staff: for the workman is worthy of his food. [The prohibition is against securing these things before starting, and at their own expense. It is not that they would have no need for the articles mentioned, but that "the laborer is worthy of his food," and they were to depend on the people for whose benefit they labored, to furnish what they might need. This passage is alluded to by Paul ( 1Co_9:14). To rightly understand this prohibition we must remember that the apostles were to make but a brief tour of a few weeks, and that it was among their own countrymen, among a people habitually given to hospitality; moreover, that the apostles were imbued with powers which would win for them the respect of the religious and the gratitude of the well-to-do. The special and temporary commission was, therefore, never intended as a rule under which we are to act in preaching the gospel in other ages and in other lands.] b10 And he said unto them a11 And into whatsoever city or village ye shall enter, search out who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go forth. [The customs of the East gave rise to this rule. The ceremonies and forms with which a guest was received were tedious and time-consuming vanities, while the mission of the apostles required haste.] 12 And as ye enter [364] come into an house, salute it. 13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. [The form of salutation on entering a house was, "Peace to this house." The apostles are told to salute each house, and are assured that the peace prayed for shall return to them if the house is not worthy; that is, they shall receive, in this case, the blessing pronounced on the house.] bWheresoever ye enter into a house, there abide till ye depart thence. c4 And into whatsoever house ye enter, there abide, and thence depart. b11 And whatsoever place shall not receive you, and they hear you not [Jesus here warns them that their experiences would not always be pleasant], a14 And whosoever cas many as ashall creceive you not, anor hear your words, bas ye go forth thence, aout of that house or that city [The word "house" indicates a partial and the word "city" a complete rejection], { cwhen you depart from that city, bshake off the dust that is under your feet aof your feet. cfrom your feet bfor a testimony unto them. cagainst them. [The dust of heathen lands as compared with the land of Israel was regarded as polluted and unholy ( Amo_2:7, Eze_27:30). The Jew, therefore, considered himself defiled by such dust. For the apostles, therefore, to shake off the dust of any city of Israel from their clothes or feet was to place that city on a level with the cities of the heathen, and to renounce all further intercourse with it.] a15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city. [For comment on similar remarks, see 2Sa_12:20, Mat_6:16, Mat_6:17). When an apostle stood over a sick man to heal him by a touch or a word, he was about to send him out of his sick chamber, and just before the word was spoken, the oil was applied. It was, therefore, no more than a token or symbol that the man was restored to his liberty, and was from that moment to be confined to his chamber no longer. Comp. Jam_5:14. This practice bears about the same relation to the Romish practice of extreme unction as the Lord's Supper does to the mass, or as a true baptism does to the sprinkling of an infant.]
[FFG 362-369]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v5 The result of the opposition:
The result of the opposition:
v. 5. And He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk and healed them.
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v. 6a. And He marveled because of their unbelief.
Jesus had come with an open hand to distribute from His own bounty and that of His Father. The reception accorded Him shut off the people from the gifts of His mercy. Unbelief hindered the exhibition of the Lord’s miraculous power. Unbelief always stops the hand of God when He extends it to shower His benefits upon mankind. Unbelief is, therefore, the sin of sins, since it rejects what God is so willing to give in and through Christ. Jesus indeed, in a quiet way, performed a few miracles in laying His hands upon a few sick persons, but these were exceptions. The community as such received no benefit from the visit of Jesus. Their unbelief was such that it caused even Jesus to wonder. To us, of course, it is an even greater mystery that men should reject Jesus and the Word of their salvation. But that should not cause us to become disheartened in our work for Him; the result of our labors is in His hands.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v4 to them
to them
"to the crowd"
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A prophet is not without honor, except
This sentence uses a double negative to create emphasis of the positive equivalent. AT: "A prophet is always honored, except" or "The only place a prophet is not honored is" (See: Double Negatives)
to lay his hands on a few sick people
Prophets and teachers would put their hands on people in order to heal them or bless them. In this case, Jesus was healing people.
translationWords
Jesus
prophet
honor
household
might
works
hand
cure
believe
amazed
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 5, 6 6:3-4 The residents of Nazareth thought of Jesus only…
6:3-4 The residents of Nazareth thought of Jesus only as a carpenter (literally craftsman). • He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary: One expects “son of Joseph”; this phrasing probably indicates that Joseph had died by this time. • brother . . . his sisters: See study note on 3:31-35. • They were deeply offended: They thought Jesus was claiming to be someone he could not possibly be.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.