Taken Aback – Sermon 5 July, 2015

Taken Aback
Mark 6:1-6
The word used in verse 6 in Greek is ethaumazen from thaumazo meaning amazed, marvelled, astonished.
It means to be shocked or surprised, especially by something that someone says or does to you.
But I prefer the “taken aback” translation of New English Bible meaning, backward.
Backward is the literal meaning of aback which is not used in modern English. It originally had a nautical or naval expression in reference to a vessel’s square sails when a sudden change of wind flattens them back against the masts and stops the forward motion of the ship.
Jesus was “taken back” or rejected in His hometown.
And He could hardly accept the fact that they wouldn’t believe in Him – the Living Bible.
Those who knew Jesus from His early years before He began His ministry with great powers, could not respond in faith as others did. The powers that work through Him are dependent on people’s positive response with faith.
We might say that is not possible, but in our passage for today we see that a whole town failed to experience the power of God among them because they knew where Jesus was from and knew his family.
In the previous chapter of Mark we see a women with the issue of blood receive healing by touching the clothes of Jesus while many in the crowd touched Jesus and received nothing. After casting out demons, calming the storm, healing many diseases and raising the dead Jesus went back to his hometown, with the intention of doing great things, as He wants to do with His church today.
There are three things that we should consider here.
1. The presence of God
Jesus was present with them. He went to his hometown.
2. The power of God
He had already done mighty works in other places.
2. The plan of God
He wanted to do some mighty works among them.
Unless the presence, power, and plan of God are with us nothing great can happen.
1. His presence is vital
Without Him nothing happens. Here we see that everything necessary for great things to happen was there, yet not much happened.
It is impossible to have revival or see any great things happen if the Lord is not present and willing. Yet, it is possible for Him to be present and willing and no mighty works be done.
They had everything required for great things to happen in their hometown, but sadly very little happened. Jesus was present with them He wanted to do great things; the one who spoke to the wind and it obeyed, the one who raised the dead was in their midst, yet the Bible tells us that “He could do no mighty works among them, except to lay hands on a few sick people and heal them”.
He did a lot of physical healing, but that was not his main mission. However, we often make that the main thing we seek Jesus for. Have you noticed our prayer list? Most if not all those on our list are there because they have a physical illness. Don’t get me wrong. We should pray for the sick. The Bible tells us that. However, we have very few requests for the Lord to do some mighty works among us and through us.
The people of His hometown wanted physical healing but little else. Jesus desired to do much more than physical healing. When was the last time we got serious and asked the Lord to do a mighty work among us? We can see a few small works of the Lord in the church and think that is all there is, but it could be that we are not being open to the mighty works.
Notice that it is does not say that He did not want to do any mighty works there, but could not.
2. Jesus has power
We know that Jesus is God in the flesh. Through him the World was formed. There is no limit to his power, and that no power anywhere is greater than the power of God, yet God has limited himself when it comes to what He will do in our lives. We can stop Him from doing mighty works in us and through us.
It was among the very ones we would have thought he would have been able to do his greatest works. He had to go outside to the world. There was no outside opposition to Him doing mighty works. We do not read that the world outside hindered Jesus from doing might works. The opposition was from the within. They had a limited faith which limited what they could see in Jesus. All they could see was a carpenter who used to live down the road from them. They knew his family. They seemed to be blinded by their familiarity with Jesus.
If the church is Jesus’ hometown, is He able to do all the mighty works He desires for us? Most will probably say that Jesus can do whatever He desires in the church. But the greatest hindrance is within the church. Often it has been our limited faith that has hindered His work. We can hinder Him from doing great works. We can limit Jesus from doing great things and we might not realize that we can do the same thing the people of His hometown did it. The people of His home town said isn’t He the carpenter the son of Mary and aren’t His brothers and sister still with us?
We can limit Jesus by the way we see our church and limit Him by not believing that He can do everything. We can limit Jesus by the way we see ourselves.
How often do we say,” We are just a small church”? We might think that is being humble, but it is actually putting Jesus down and saying that He is not powerful enough to do any great works among us.
3. God has plans for us
God has plans for His church. He wants to do great things.
What can Jesus do in and through us?
What can He do in and through our church?
We should not be the ones who hinder His mission and make Him ‘take aback’ with our lack of faith.
He wants to do great things for and through us.

Krikor Youmshajekian