Transformer - 08/23/2020

Jesus Wondered at Their Unbelief

Jesus was amazed at His own relatives and town’s people. They placed no trust in what He had done in their presence, to say nothing of what He taught. “He wondered at their unbelief.”

Mark, in his gospel, records an event in the life of Jesus while He is in His home town of Nazareth. On one Sabbath day in the local synagogue, the listeners to the teachings of Jesus took offense to what Jesus had said. They wanted to know where He got the ability to do the miracles, they saw Him do, as well as where He got the “wisdom” He was teaching. They knew His brothers and sisters. They concluded that He was acting very differently from His upbringing. Jesus responded, “A prophet is not without honor except in his home town and among his own relatives and in his own household” (6:4). Then Mark comments that Jesus “wondered at their unbelief” (6:5, 6).

Here is an action by the Son of God that really shows His human side. The use of the word “wonder” by Mark tells us that Jesus “was filled with amazement or awe” at their unbelief. We might say that Jesus was “scratching His head” as to why the very people with whom He grew up had no trust or confidence in the things which He was doing and teaching.

The thing which Jesus wonders about is “their unbelief.” He is full of amazement that they do not “trust” Him. Jesus is in awe that those in His “home town and among His own relatives and in His own household” are skeptical of His knowledge or His ability to perform acts of healing.

This event in Nazareth is a good example of one of the themes in the book of Mark, namely, that Jesus went into a town, city or village and preached to the people; performed miracles such as healing people of their diseases, casting out demons and even raising the dead, with some believing and others disbelieving.

As we meditate upon this story there are several things which should impress us about the preaching of the gospel. The first thing is that belief was not always produced when Jesus preached. The ego of the modern preacher is highly hurt when belief is not produced in people after they have listened to his sermon. If Jesus had people reject His message, we should expect people to reject our message as well.

A second thing we should be impressed with is that Jesus did not “force” the people in His home town to have “belief.” Here is an example of Jesus allowing people to have belief or to have “unbelief” in what He taught. Just because He gave them the freedom to have belief does not change the fact that He “wondered at their unbelief.” We might ask, “How could they reject what Jesus said?” The answer: It is their choice and even the Son of God had to live with it.

A third thing is that even though someone might have the ability to perform miracles, it will not produce “belief” in a person. People can reject the miracles. They can reject the message preached. The message will produce belief only if the hearer is willing to allow it.

If Jesus did not “force” people to have belief in Him, should we? If people rejected the preaching of Jesus in His day, should we not expect the same thing today? Is it hard to understand why Jesus wondered at their unbelief? - cgm

Thinking on the Word…

Commands for Workman for God

The King James Version (KJV) begins 2 Timothy 2:15, with the word, “study;” the NASB uses “be diligent;” the English Standard Version (ESV) translates the Greek words as “do your best.” The same commands Paul gave to Timothy concerning being a workman for God, the evangelist was to give to “faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).

A workman for God should “be diligent” in his efforts “to present himself approved to God.” He needs to “do his best” by putting forth a lot of diligence in studying God’s Word. He wants to make sure that everything he does and teaches is accurate. Anything less than his best will result in falling short of the purpose for which God wants him to be working.

This diligent student of God’s word, wants to be so prepared for his work that he (and God) will not be ashamed of his performance. He wants his work to be excellent so that God will be proud of him.

Because this worker will be doing his best, he will handle “accurately the word of truth.” This command implies that one can mishandle the word of truth; he can use the word of truth inaccurately. He can so handle the word of truth that God will be ashamed of him.

In order to handle the word of truth accurately, one must remove themselves from the text. By this I mean that before he can begin to make applications to himself and his generation, he needs to understand what the original writer meant to his listening/reading audience. He needs to understand the word of truth in its original context. When he mishandles the text, he comes to conclusions the original writers, under the guidance of God and the Holy Spirit, never intended. He needs to understand what was first meant. Then apply the textual principles to his life.

Let’s accurately handle the word of truth so that God will not be ashamed of us or our work. Having His approval is very important. Our eternal destiny as well as others depends upon it. - cgm

Words of Wisdom

“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.” - Proverbs 10:12

In the original language we can see the parallelism in the words of this verse better than in our English language. The opposites are hatred and love, stirs up and covers. The similarities are “strife” and the phrase “all transgressions.”

Strife carries the meaning of having a bitter conflict with someone. The lack of harmony between two people or parties. A struggle between two individuals.

Transgressions are violations of the law or going beyond the limits—to step out of the boundaries. Literally to “step over the grade.” The law is not limited to God’s law nor are the boundaries confined to those set by God. They can be man’s law and they can be boundaries set by people or a society.

When we consider the opposites, “stirs up” and “covers,” we see that one is trying to cause problems with the person they have a conflict with, while the other is trying to overlook the things by which they have been violated.

The other opposite in our verse, “hatred” and “love,” shows us our feelings toward the person with whom we have a conflict. When we have hatred toward someone, then our feelings for that person have gone so far that we have a “strong dislike” for them and maybe even an “extreme hostility” toward them. If we have a love for the person with whom we are having a conflict then we have a tender affection for them, we have a warm attachment toward them, we have a strong liking for them.

Hatred keeps the conflict going. Loving a person tries to resolve the conflict. Hatred holds onto the conflict while love lets go of the conflict.

Our goal should be to resolve conflict. Practice love not hatred. - cgm