Scandal in Nazareth
Mark 6:1-13
July 8, 2018 – Redeemer
Last week they laughed at Jesus. This week they take offense at Him. How dare they? Laughing and taking offense at Jesus. Don’t be too upset with them, because they are us. In unbelief we often laugh at the resurrection of Christ. We don’t act as people who are living forever. We run around as if we’re dying, trying to squeeze the last little pleasure or grab the last little good in our short, sinful lives. It is we who take offense at Jesus, offense at His common ways, His peculiar person, His embarrassing cross.
Jesus comes to His hometown Nazareth. This is where He grew up. This is where He learned to be a carpenter in the workshop of Joseph. Nazareth wasn’t a big town so everyone knew Jesus, even before He started becoming famous. So, when He came home and taught in the synagogue “they” the Nazarenes took offense, “Where did this man get these things? What is this wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?”
The Greek Word for offense is scandalon. You can hear the English Word “scandal” in it. A scandal is when a school superintendent exposes himself 20 times in a convenience store. A scandal is when a Lutheran pastor divorces his wife to run off with some woman he was counseling.
This word scandal means part of a trap, in particular the trigger that releases the trap. This connection is even reflected in modern language. If I were a college professor about to say something that would offend you, I am supposed to give you a “trigger warning.” So if I was going to teach that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a factual event or that Christianity has done more good for the world than any other religion – I would have to preface it by saying, “Trigger warning” I am about to say something offensive. If I followed the culture guidelines I would need to begin every sermon with such a warning because God’s Word is offensive to everyone, for He is holy and we are sinners. He is God and we are not and that offends us.
A scandal is an event or action that triggers people to be offended. The Devil loves scandals. He uses that offense to cause despair, unbelief, cynicism, and chaos.
The Devil triggers a scandal in Nazareth, not with sin, but with the facts. God has taken on human flesh. God is incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The Nazarenes all knew Jesus. The mothers of Nazareth had fed Jesus at their tables. They had heard his cries when he got an ear infection or needed his mommy. The men of Nazareth had watched Jesus – sure He was weird a man who never swore, a carpenter who never had to measure twice and cut once and whose right angles were always right. But at the same time He was an ordinary man. He grew and talked and worked and had brothers and sisters like the rest of them.
The trigger the Devil pulled was this – could God really be a man? Could ordinary Jesus, born of a human mother really be God in the flesh? Of course not. There’s no way little Jesus from down the street is going to tell me what to believe or expect me to treat Him like God. Sure He never made a mistake in wood shop. Yes He speaks as if He Himself wrote the Old Testament and was personally there. I know, a whole bunch of fisherman swear that He calmed a storm simply by speaking, and many witnesses saw a little dead girl alive again after Jesus went into her room – but really, God in the flesh of a boy I saw grow up.
This scandal, by the way, is still among us. For when Jesus ascended on High He continued used ordinary, common, and physical means to spread His reign / Kingdom on earth. We see a preview of that in the text.
Jesus sent twelve ordinary men out to do what He did. Cast out demons. Preach the Word. Call people to repentance. Former fishermen, probably some farmers in there, a tax collector, a thief named Judas — they all went out and did this work. His men preached His Word, cast out demons, anointed the sick with oil for healing.
This morning we’re still doing the same ordinary thing Jesus’ apostles did. We invoke God’s name to let the devil know he has no place here. We confess our sins as repentant Christians. We hear God’s Word – the same old Word which ranges from 5000 to 2000 years old. It hasn’t changed. We are baptized with ordinary water and the same name of God. We drink common wine and eat simple bread. None of this is fancy or extravagant. We don’t have light shows at Redeemer (we barely have light) nor is our music rocking (and we’re thankful for that.) You’ve had young preachers and old preachers – you had me so long you’ve seen me go from young to middle age. What is here for you? Ordinary and common Jesus, the truth that God resides in the flesh of a man, that’s all you’re going to hear. You could be triggered, scandalized by that fact alone, but that is not the greatest scandal to faith.
The greatest scandal is the cross. There too the Devil doesn’t lie. He uses the facts to trap you. If Jesus of Nazareth is God in the flesh (and He is) then on that cross outside of Jerusalem God Himself dies for your sins.
The cross offends us in two ways. First it offends the sinner in each of us who is fiercely independent. To be a sinner is to declare independence from God, to do things my own way, to justify my actions, to rely totally on me. A sinner doesn’t want to admit failure or ask for anyone’s help because above all he wants independence. This reveals itself all the time in our lives. If I lose my keys I don’t want to ask my wife where they are – that means I’ve failed once again. If I’m lost I don’t want to ask for directions – I want to find my way. If I have sinned I either try to justify it or I want to make up for it by being a better husband, father, pastor. But God says, NO. Salvation comes by complete dependence on God, by faith, trust, hanging your life on Jesus. Salvation is found in no other name than the name Jesus of Nazareth. He died on that cross and only in that death is your sin forgiven. You can’t earn forgiveness or manufacture it. He gives it to you as a gift, through faith – it has nothing to do with you. The cross preaches your complete dependence on Jesus.
The second scandal of the cross is God dies. God dying is downright embarrassing. Our God is no super hero, muscle bound, caped crusader. He is a selfless, sacrificial man who in love dies for you.
God dying also does away with our lies about sin. My sin isn’t that bad. What about the men who create children, but never father them? What about the drunken husbands who abuse their wives? What about the pastors who preach false doctrine and don’t believe the Scriptures? I’m not so bad. The cross will not let me or you get away with lying about our sin. Our sin is so bad that only the blood of God could atone for it. God is so good that He willing shed His blood in death to forgive us.
Jesus could not do any miracles in Nazareth, except He did heal a few people. Why couldn’t He do any miracles? Because people were offended by Him. They could not and would not believe in the God who became man, just as you might find it hard to believe that your sins are forgiven, or that God died for you, or that this ordinary Divine Service is the greatest and grandest event of your week, even if our bell doesn’t ring or the pastor’s sermon is boring, or the organist misses a note or two. The truth is scandalous. Jesus of Nazareth is God in the flesh. He dies on the cross and rises three days later. You are forgiven your sins and that forgiveness is yours through water, word, bread and wine. Don’t be offended, rather believe in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
July 7, 2018 anno Domini