WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.960 We're working our way through the Gospel of Mark, and this is a really rich six verses. 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:11.800 I think you could probably construct a seminary curriculum just from these six verses. 00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:15.000 We're not going to do that today, don't worry. 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:20.080 We're doing the project that Mark is doing across this Gospel, which is he's writing 00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:25.039 from the perspective of the eyewitness who is traveling with him, Peter. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:30.119 And what Peter is doing through Mark is asking the question, who is this man? 00:00:30.119 --> 00:00:31.960 That's the very first thing we read about in Mark 1. 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:34.280 Who is this? 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:35.439 Who is Jesus? 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:41.799 And so far in the Gospel of Mark, the answer has been mostly that he's very successful. 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:46.799 So he's cast out demons, he's cast away diseases, he's even defeated death. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:50.039 And now when you hit Mark 6, there's a transition. 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:57.039 And that transition is away from Jesus' successes in some way and seeing a lot of his rejection. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:00.799 And so in this passage, he's rejected, and you're going to see a whole host of passages 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:06.759 in the coming week all about the fact that Jesus was rejected everywhere that he went. 00:01:06.759 --> 00:01:09.680 And in Isaiah 53, we read it a little while ago. 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:16.680 It says that the Messiah would come one day and be despised and rejected by men. 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:21.200 And Mark says he was and he is. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:23.000 He's rejected. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:30.120 And so this morning, let's think together about how Jesus offends the people in his hometown, 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:37.040 why he's so offensive, and then why he also marvels at us at the end of this passage. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:38.040 So let's look at that. 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:39.440 First, how Jesus offends. 00:01:39.440 --> 00:01:40.440 All right. 00:01:40.440 --> 00:01:43.000 In verse one, it says that Jesus goes to Nazareth. 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:44.960 That's his hometown. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:48.599 It's 25 miles from where he's been, Capernaum. 00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:55.959 And one commentator says that Nazareth is an obscure hamlet of earthen dwellings chopped 00:01:55.959 --> 00:02:02.199 into 60 acres of rocky hillside with a total population of 500 at the most. 00:02:02.199 --> 00:02:05.319 Meaning that this is kind of a place where everybody knows everybody. 00:02:05.319 --> 00:02:06.319 It's a village. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:07.519 It's rural. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:13.240 And it's clear in verses two and three that when he got there, they knew his reputation. 00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:17.200 They talk about where did he get the power to do the deeds he's done? 00:02:17.200 --> 00:02:18.360 They've heard about it. 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:22.480 This is very likely his second trip to Nazareth after his ministry started. 00:02:22.480 --> 00:02:24.960 We read about the first one in Luke chapter four. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:26.840 So he had a reputation. 00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:27.960 They knew his deeds. 00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:30.080 They knew he had become a rabbi. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:34.600 And that's why he gets asked right there in verse one to preach in the synagogue. 00:02:34.600 --> 00:02:35.600 So this is very normal. 00:02:35.600 --> 00:02:41.040 We've seen this already once in Mark that if you were respected rabbi, you would get asked 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:43.719 all of a sudden to stand up and preach in the middle of the synagogue. 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:44.719 And he does that. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:45.719 He preaches. 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:46.840 They respect him for it. 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:50.359 And then in the midst of that, you know, they say he's got great wisdom. 00:02:50.359 --> 00:02:56.479 That's the word they use, which means skill in this Greek word. 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:58.639 They're saying he's got skill with the Bible. 00:02:58.639 --> 00:02:59.639 He stood up. 00:02:59.639 --> 00:03:00.639 He opened the Old Testament. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:02.799 He explained it so well. 00:03:02.799 --> 00:03:08.000 And they're saying who gave him the ability to teach the Bible like this? 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.879 And then in the very next verse at the end of verse three, it says, and so they took 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:14.439 offense at him. 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:18.159 Now, you see, it's saying that they were amazed by him. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:19.599 They were astonished by him. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:21.520 They saw his great skill. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:25.920 They had heard of his miraculous deeds and they took offense at him. 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:28.759 The Greek word there for offense is scandal. 00:03:28.759 --> 00:03:31.960 So and the reason for saying it is because you hear it. 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:34.000 It's the English word scandal. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:35.240 They took a scandal. 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:36.240 They took. 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:37.560 He was scandalous to them. 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:40.080 They were scandalized by him. 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:43.560 And it very, very much means they hated him. 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:47.439 They were repelled and outraged by him. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:48.439 Why? 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:50.000 Why and how? 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.120 That's the question of the passage. 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:53.199 They're offended, but why? 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:57.560 You know, Jesus, he says it in verse four that a prophet is without honor. 00:03:57.560 --> 00:03:58.560 And what does he say? 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:02.280 He says, in his hometown amongst his family and even his relatives. 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:09.960 So you see Jesus is saying, my family rejected me, my hometown rejected me and my extended 00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:11.759 relatives rejected me. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:13.599 That's everybody. 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:17.360 And even now his synagogue, his home church rejects him. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:21.000 So this is the church to use that language inappropriately a little bit. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:23.759 This is the church that he grew up in. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:28.120 You know, it would be like the kids downstairs coming back in 10 years, 20 years after they've 00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:32.759 gone off and moved away and coming back and getting the sense when they walked through 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:37.439 the doors of St. C's, this place that they had once loved that we all hate them. 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:41.079 And that's exactly what Jesus experienced when he came here. 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:42.560 Now why? 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:46.879 The point is that Jesus Christ is offensive. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:48.519 He's scandalizing. 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:51.480 He creates scandal everywhere he goes. 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:52.480 And why? 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:57.199 Well, one of the reasons we learn here is you have to go back to Luke chapter four, the 00:04:57.199 --> 00:04:59.920 first time that he visited his hometown. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:01.719 A similar incident happened. 00:05:01.719 --> 00:05:02.719 He went into the synagogue. 00:05:02.719 --> 00:05:03.719 He preached. 00:05:03.719 --> 00:05:10.360 He opened Isaiah 61, which says that I came, the Messiah would come to set captives free, 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:12.159 to be for the poor. 00:05:12.159 --> 00:05:15.680 And he says, and today that is fulfilled in your hearing. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:17.719 In other words, he was saying, that's me. 00:05:17.719 --> 00:05:19.000 I'm the Messiah. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:22.879 And then he said, and I have come not only for the Jews in this town, but for the Gentiles 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:23.879 too. 00:05:23.879 --> 00:05:25.519 And it says they tried to throw him off a cliff. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:31.199 Now, you see, he's saying they hated him that day because he said, I am the Messiah. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:33.439 And I'm also for Gentiles. 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:37.519 So he's saying, I reject partiality between ethnicities. 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:41.680 I'm not going to come and just be the Messiah for one nation, but for all the nations. 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:42.959 And they hated him for that. 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:46.919 You see, they hated him for his inclusivity. 00:05:46.919 --> 00:05:50.519 That he was saying, I am the Messiah, but I'm also going to include everyone. 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:51.519 And they hated him for it. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:56.279 So we get a sense there of the kind of things that they were so upset about here in the second 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:57.279 visit. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:03.159 Now, listen, in the last century, there's been this movement in the university called 00:06:03.159 --> 00:06:05.479 the historical Jesus movement. 00:06:05.479 --> 00:06:10.839 And the historical Jesus movement is trying to get what they say, get behind the text 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:17.159 of the gospels to try to construct the real Jesus, the Jesus that is the true Jesus of 00:06:17.159 --> 00:06:21.500 history, not the Jesus of faith, as people often say. 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:26.759 So they're saying, look, the gospel writers wrote from the lens of faith, and we can't 00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:29.079 really trust what they had to say all the time. 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:34.639 And so you have to actually study the gospels to get behind the gospels and try to piece 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:37.199 together who the real Jesus was. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:40.759 Now my point in saying this is not this, but let me mention this, let me say first, you 00:06:40.759 --> 00:06:42.360 can't do that. 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:44.160 You can never do that with a text. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:45.160 Think about it. 00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:51.880 You know, in 2023, a historian in 2023 says, you know, I know, sure, Peter was there, Peter 00:06:51.880 --> 00:06:56.640 was an eyewitness, and Peter was the eyewitness that stands behind the gospel of Mark, but 00:06:56.640 --> 00:06:58.120 I'm here in 2023. 00:06:58.120 --> 00:07:01.520 And I can, you know, what I can do is I can read through and say, well, that happened, 00:07:01.520 --> 00:07:02.520 but that didn't really happen. 00:07:02.520 --> 00:07:05.040 And you see that the philosophers help us here. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:06.840 They say, that's quite silly. 00:07:06.840 --> 00:07:10.879 You know, how could you say to an eyewitness, well, I think from my perspective in 2023 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:13.000 that that happened, but that didn't. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:17.480 The eyewitnesses, it's a silly project, but even more, and this is the main point for 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:23.120 mentioning this, when you read the historical Jesus literature, if you want to, I've read 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:28.680 some of it, when you read it, what you see is this, that every historian constructs the 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:32.720 real historical Jesus how differently? 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:35.439 You know, they go through the gospels and they say, well, this part's true, not that 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:36.439 part. 00:07:36.439 --> 00:07:38.279 Well, the next guy says, this part's true, not that part. 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:44.679 In other words, you realize everybody is picking things that they like and trying to construct 00:07:44.679 --> 00:07:45.679 the historical Jesus. 00:07:45.679 --> 00:07:47.079 But, and you know what you see most often? 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:50.079 You see a narrative that goes something like this. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:54.159 Jesus was a great moral figure and they murdered him because he sought moral reformation, but 00:07:54.159 --> 00:07:55.399 he never said he was God. 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:57.399 He never said he was the Messiah. 00:07:57.399 --> 00:07:58.599 He never wanted to be that. 00:07:58.599 --> 00:08:00.199 He never wanted to be worshiped. 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:01.199 None of that. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:04.119 That's that the real history is the Sermon on the Mount. 00:08:04.119 --> 00:08:06.359 You know, when he talks about ethics, that's the real Jesus. 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:11.400 When he talks about being God, being the way, the truth, and the life, that's the stuff 00:08:11.400 --> 00:08:13.040 that we have to throw away. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:14.960 Now, here's the point. 00:08:14.960 --> 00:08:18.920 In the first century, when he came to his hometown, they rejected him because he was 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:21.439 so inclusive. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:24.280 He said, I've come for Gentiles. 00:08:24.280 --> 00:08:25.280 And guess what? 00:08:25.280 --> 00:08:28.360 When you read the historical Jesus movement, they love that part. 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:29.759 You know, modern people love that part. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:31.160 They say, well, he came for Gentiles too. 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:32.159 I like that. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:33.159 That's historical. 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:36.240 But when he says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody can come to the father 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:38.600 except through me, that's the part we have to cut out. 00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:42.279 When he says, woe to you if you reject me, that's the part that modern people reject. 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:46.560 You see, in the first century, they had no problem with a person saying, there is an 00:08:46.560 --> 00:08:49.000 exclusive Messiah, not at all. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:51.399 But they hated the inclusivity. 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:54.919 But in the modern world, we love the inclusivity, but we hate the exclusivity. 00:08:54.919 --> 00:09:00.720 And you start to realize that in every single century, Jesus gets rejected for opposite 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:01.879 reasons. 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:05.200 There's always a reason, but sometimes the reasons are battling against one another. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:09.759 Nietzsche comes along in the 19th century, and he says, you know, I hate Jesus. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:10.759 I reject Jesus. 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:14.879 He's so offensive because he has a religion of weakness. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:16.360 He props up the poor. 00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:18.040 He tells people not to seek power. 00:09:18.040 --> 00:09:23.080 And you know, that religion is holding back the progress that we could be making in science 00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:26.240 and all sorts of ways, because there's all these people walking around saying, we should 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:27.440 be more about the poor. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:33.440 And so Nietzsche hated the fact that Jesus rejected power. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:36.480 But then you come to the 20th and the 21st century, and everybody loves the fact that 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:40.440 he rejected power, and that he was for the weak and for the poor. 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:43.680 And you start to realize it doesn't matter what century we're in. 00:09:43.680 --> 00:09:45.040 Everybody rejects Jesus. 00:09:45.040 --> 00:09:48.320 Everybody's offended by him and scandalized by him in different ways. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:51.000 Now, let me say this. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:55.680 Jesus always scandalizes for different reasons at different times. 00:09:55.680 --> 00:09:57.760 And that's actually very helpful to realize. 00:09:57.760 --> 00:10:02.640 And the reason it's so helpful is because if you're here today and you are looking for 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:10.720 truth and you're looking for real religion, spirituality you haven't found yet. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:16.840 If you're looking for that, and you have come across things that you realize, this really 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:19.120 fits my personality. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:26.720 This philosophy, this religion, this movement, this group, this workout plan, this community 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:30.519 that I found, this really fits my personality. 00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:39.159 If you found yourself finding hope in a religion where you're not offended, it's not real. 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:42.559 If you come to some religion or some philosophy in your life and you say, you know, I really 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:46.600 like this, it just fits kind of everything I'm looking for, then you've got to be willing 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:50.919 to say that it's probably not something that exists in the objective world. 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:53.240 It's a construct. 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:56.480 See everybody that wants to make Jesus into something they're not offended by ends up 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:59.120 creating a construct. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:01.480 You should expect to be offended. 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:05.039 If God is real and he actually has come into your life, you should expect that there are 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:10.560 things about him that you're going to be offended by, that he's confronted you. 00:11:10.560 --> 00:11:13.600 And if it's anything less than that, then you've got a construct. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.159 You've got a modern construct, not the real thing. 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:19.720 Jesus is always offensive and it's really important that he is. 00:11:19.720 --> 00:11:20.720 It's really important. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:24.360 Now, let me make two points before we move on about this. 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:30.600 Remember here, his family was scandalized by him, repelled by him. 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:31.600 They thought he was crazy. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:35.800 We've already seen that earlier in the gospel and it's mentioned very explicitly here. 00:11:35.800 --> 00:11:37.440 His brothers are named. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:40.759 He had at least four brothers, at least two sisters. 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:46.120 These are biological brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of Mary and Joseph. 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:54.240 And let me say that the fact that they rejected him helps us believe that this is true. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:58.360 That what we're reading about right here is real, not fake. 00:11:58.360 --> 00:11:59.759 Let me put it to you this way. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:05.600 We read across the gospels only about his brothers rejecting him and hating him. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:10.799 And then by the time you get to the end of the story, when you get later on in the New 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:15.080 Testament after he was crucified, all of a sudden you realize that this man that's mentioned 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:22.200 here, James, one of his brothers, is saying, my brother is the Lord and he gave his life 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:24.560 away to his own biological brother. 00:12:24.560 --> 00:12:30.400 Now here it says James rejected Jesus outright, but later on after the crucifixion, all of 00:12:30.400 --> 00:12:34.280 a sudden James is the leader of the church in Jerusalem who's going to give his life 00:12:34.280 --> 00:12:35.960 for his own brother. 00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:39.200 Now oh boy, do you have a brother? 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:40.560 Do any of you have a brother? 00:12:40.560 --> 00:12:44.200 And let me ask you, can you imagine getting into a situation where you would say that 00:12:44.200 --> 00:12:45.560 about your brother? 00:12:45.560 --> 00:12:49.480 If you grew up with your brother, think about the sibling rivalry. 00:12:49.480 --> 00:12:51.560 It makes sense that they hated him. 00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:55.439 If you grew up with this guy and then he's coming back and saying he's the Messiah, 00:12:55.439 --> 00:12:57.959 oh man, would you hate him? 00:12:57.959 --> 00:13:03.599 But then all of a sudden at the end of his life, his own brother worships him. 00:13:03.599 --> 00:13:05.959 And that's inexplicable. 00:13:05.959 --> 00:13:11.479 If you have siblings, you know that's inexplicable unless it's real. 00:13:11.479 --> 00:13:14.239 And even more than that, Judas is mentioned here. 00:13:14.239 --> 00:13:17.519 Judas is the author of the little book of Jude later on. 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:20.759 Judas, Jude are the same names in the Greek text. 00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:25.759 And Jude writes in Jude verse five, my brother, he doesn't say that, but he's talking about 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:31.759 his biological brother, my brother Jesus carried the Israelites across the Red Sea. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:32.759 Can you believe that? 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:38.000 A brother saying about a brother, my brother centuries ago was the one who carried the 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.639 Israelites across the Red Sea. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:42.759 And you know that the only, see what happened? 00:13:42.759 --> 00:13:44.480 This is what the historians actually say. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:48.919 Larry Hurtado across the street, Rodney Stark, some of the great historians of the first 00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:49.919 and second century. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:55.000 And they say this, what is it that made that change in the lives of these brothers of Jesus? 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:58.360 It's because Jesus died and they saw it. 00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:02.120 And then later on, they saw a man that was alive again. 00:14:02.120 --> 00:14:05.079 And all of a sudden they said, he is the Lord. 00:14:05.079 --> 00:14:06.240 Everything that he said is true. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:07.240 It's real. 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:11.679 Now, the second thing, that's the historical takeaway, but there's also something more 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:18.799 personal and the personal, the existential takeaway, if you will, and it's this. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:29.759 Have any of you been despised and rejected by your hometown? 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:34.240 Have any of you experienced the loss of a relationship? 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:40.679 Someone deep and dear to you, your family, your mom, your dad, your sibling, your friend? 00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:41.759 And they left you. 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:44.079 They abandoned you. 00:14:44.079 --> 00:14:48.120 They rejected you and you couldn't understand it. 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:52.440 And you need to hear today that Jesus says, that's me. 00:14:52.440 --> 00:14:54.399 I was rejected. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:56.600 My family hated me. 00:14:56.600 --> 00:14:57.600 My friends. 00:14:57.600 --> 00:14:59.679 My home church rejected me. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:00.919 My hometown. 00:15:00.919 --> 00:15:03.600 And many of you can probably tell stories in different ways of how that's been in your 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:04.600 life. 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:08.080 Now, let me take it further. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:14.279 Are you today the one who has rejected somebody else in this life? 00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:18.159 You know, somebody that was close to you, that loved you, that depended on you, and you 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:23.559 were the one that rejected them in some way, in some detail. 00:15:23.559 --> 00:15:29.319 And you see, this is the great truth of the passage. 00:15:29.319 --> 00:15:31.000 What's the real scandal? 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:32.559 What's the real scandal in this passage? 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:38.480 It's this, that Jesus Christ came to be rejected so that to those who have rejected others, 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:40.480 he might say, you're forgiven. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:46.279 See, here's the scandal, the offense of the gospel is that he came to be rejected. 00:15:46.279 --> 00:15:51.279 He came to say to you whether you're the victim or the perpetrator, and we're all both. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:57.279 He came to say today, I came to be rejected by you so that I could be for you. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:01.279 And today, whether you're the one who's rejected others or you're the rejected, either way, 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:07.039 for all your sins, you can be forgiven and you can be reconciled to God and to the people 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:08.440 in your life that you're far from. 00:16:08.440 --> 00:16:09.519 That that's possible. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:11.860 That power, where does that power come from? 00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:16.879 That power comes from the scandal, the true scandal, which is the gospel itself, that 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:20.799 you rejected him and he saved you anyway. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:25.799 See the real scandal is the scandal of the cross, that God came to die in the middle 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:27.399 of history. 00:16:27.399 --> 00:16:29.039 That's the power, that's the secret. 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:34.439 The only way I can think about this, maybe a slight image metaphor that helps us a little 00:16:34.439 --> 00:16:38.319 bit is to say it like this, you're a parent. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:42.879 And the trope of the obstinate teenager, some of you have lived through this, the trope 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:47.520 of the obstinate teenager, the teenager that says, to their parent, I don't want you, I 00:16:47.520 --> 00:16:50.720 despise you, I hate you, and what does mom and dad say? 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:54.520 Mom and dad says, you will always be welcome at my table. 00:16:54.520 --> 00:16:57.440 And that's exactly what Jesus Christ came to say to you. 00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:03.720 You reject me, you reject me, but I've come to make you welcome at my table. 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:08.759 Now, secondly, and we've got to be quick, why he offends? 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:13.880 Now we look there at how he offends, but let's get a little deeper briefly why he offends, 00:17:13.880 --> 00:17:17.880 because there's something we haven't yet mentioned that's here in the text. 00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:19.640 And it's clear in verse three. 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:24.720 In verse three they say, is this not the carpenter's boy? 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:29.319 Sorry, is this, sorry, excuse me, is this not the carpenter, I should say? 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:30.319 Not the carpenter's son. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:32.640 He is a carpenter's son, but is this not the carpenter? 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:38.759 Now that's a word in Greek, tecton, and it's translated carpenter here, but it just means 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:40.680 actually handyman. 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:47.960 So a tecton we see across extra biblical sources can be a stone mason, a carpenter, a woodworker, 00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:52.360 somebody who builds agricultural tools like a plow, somebody who gets called out to do 00:17:52.360 --> 00:17:54.720 building repair on stone or wood. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:57.360 That means that Jesus probably did all of that. 00:17:57.360 --> 00:17:59.360 He probably was a stone mason. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:03.319 If Jesus was here, he could fix the stones outside of our building. 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:05.279 He could build agricultural tools. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:06.359 He was very handy. 00:18:06.359 --> 00:18:09.439 He had a great skill, a great trade. 00:18:09.439 --> 00:18:13.439 That's important for all sorts of reasons, but all we can say today is that this is not 00:18:13.439 --> 00:18:19.000 an insult because every rabbi even, the greatest rabbis at this time were expected to have 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:20.839 a skill. 00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:22.879 So there was a three-tier process to education. 00:18:22.879 --> 00:18:29.000 The first thing was every boy was expected to memorize the Torah, all of it, and then 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:32.759 to learn a great trade, a great skill like carpentry or stone masonry, something like 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:33.759 that. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:34.759 Jesus had done that. 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:36.119 The problem's not that he's a carpenter. 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:37.119 It's not an insult. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:38.119 What are they saying? 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:39.920 He never got to tier two or three. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:41.720 It's a three-tier system. 00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:47.680 And by tier three, you get accepted by a rabbi as an apprentice, and you learn to become a 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:48.680 rabbi. 00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:49.680 And you see what they're saying. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:50.680 He's a carpenter. 00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:55.920 He never became a rabbi, but yet people are following him, and he's called a rabbi here. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:56.920 So that's one reason. 00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:02.279 The second reason that they're upset is because they say, isn't he just Mary's son? 00:19:02.279 --> 00:19:06.920 And some people will suggest that they say this because Joseph is probably dead. 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:08.440 Maybe not. 00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:15.640 Even if Joseph was dead, it would not be normal for Jews to say, to name a person by their 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:17.480 mother, not by their father. 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:21.120 So it's probably that Joseph may be alive, and that's exactly the point. 00:19:21.120 --> 00:19:23.720 They're saying, is this not Mary's son? 00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:27.720 And most of the commentators think they're actually pointing to the fact that he was born 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:29.799 outside of marriage. 00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:33.319 They're saying he was birthed out of wedlock. 00:19:33.319 --> 00:19:39.079 And they're saying, isn't this Mary's son the boy that was born too early? 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:43.079 And more than that, they're saying, Mary, it's Mary's son. 00:19:43.079 --> 00:19:44.079 Mary is poor. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:47.079 Mary is not a special person. 00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:49.680 And Mary says that of herself in the Magnificat. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:53.920 She says, why am I to be blessed among women? 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:56.400 Why wasn't Jesus born to an emperor? 00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:58.400 But I'm Mary. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.480 I'm just normal person, and I'm poor. 00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:03.120 You see what they're saying? 00:20:03.120 --> 00:20:04.120 They're building a picture. 00:20:04.120 --> 00:20:07.320 They don't mention this, but I think it's probably in the back of their heads. 00:20:07.320 --> 00:20:09.880 If you're from Nazareth, you wouldn't say this. 00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:11.759 But Jesus is from Nazareth. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:13.680 And Nathaniel points that out earlier. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:16.160 He says, nothing good has ever come from Nazareth. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:20.080 In other words, Nazareth is not cool. 00:20:20.080 --> 00:20:21.120 Nazareth is not Edinburgh. 00:20:21.120 --> 00:20:24.000 Jesus would have never been from here. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:29.440 I tried to, at first I thought, well, I'll pick a place outside of Edinburgh and say, 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:32.160 it's like being born in this place or growing up. 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:36.560 But then I thought, well, some of you are going to be from there. 00:20:36.560 --> 00:20:41.840 I could do it easier from Mississippi, but then it wouldn't make sense to you. 00:20:41.840 --> 00:20:42.840 But it's like that. 00:20:42.839 --> 00:20:47.559 Nazareth is not cool, and nothing good comes out of it. 00:20:47.559 --> 00:20:48.559 And that's exactly the point. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:49.559 You see the point. 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:56.279 The reason he offends them, the real reason, is because he is so normal. 00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:58.599 He's so ordinary. 00:20:58.599 --> 00:21:00.879 That's why they're so upset. 00:21:00.879 --> 00:21:07.119 One commentator says, in spite of what they had heard and seen, powerful deeds, great wisdom 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:16.119 of teaching, they in Nazareth failed to penetrate the veil of his ordinariness, which characterized 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:18.599 this man who had grown up in their village. 00:21:18.599 --> 00:21:23.199 They said, I watched this boy play stickball outside of my kitchen window. 00:21:23.199 --> 00:21:25.079 He's too ordinary. 00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:26.799 He's too normal. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:28.759 He's far too human to be divine. 00:21:28.759 --> 00:21:33.919 He's far too normal and boring and mundane in his vocation. 00:21:33.919 --> 00:21:35.819 He's from a place that's not that great. 00:21:35.819 --> 00:21:38.720 He doesn't have a great job. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:40.439 All of it, they never got passed. 00:21:40.439 --> 00:21:41.839 He's a first-tier education guy. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:43.879 He's not elite. 00:21:43.879 --> 00:21:45.679 And what they're saying is, we're offended. 00:21:45.679 --> 00:21:47.000 There's lots of ways to be offended. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:48.720 Let's move on, but let me summarize it. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:54.279 They're offended and we're offended because we want Hercules. 00:21:54.279 --> 00:22:01.480 When we make movies about messiahs and heroes, they look more like Marvel than they do this. 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:02.480 And that's always been the case. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:07.480 Nietzsche said, this man is too weak, he's too normal, he's poor. 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:08.480 He wants an emperor. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:14.519 He wants a man of power, not a baby born in a manger, not a poor boy, not a poor man, 00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:20.360 not the scandal above all of a crucified criminal. 00:22:20.360 --> 00:22:23.759 Or for some of us, maybe it's more like this. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:26.200 He's so ordinary and that's exactly the problem. 00:22:26.200 --> 00:22:29.960 See, Jesus and his ordinariness becomes a mirror. 00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:34.480 When you look at him, they looked at him and they thought, he is me. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:40.440 But when I look at him, I see something that's not like me and that's that, oh boy, I see 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:43.759 what I should be, but what I'm not in him. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:47.680 You see, his very presence meant their judgment. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:54.480 They had to realize that self-esteem was not going to be enough to sustain them or us. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:58.840 And his ordinariness then becomes a mirror for us and then we're scandalized by it. 00:22:58.839 --> 00:23:02.240 Or another way to think about it is this, the gospel is just too normal, it's just too 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:04.240 ordinary. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:05.480 It's just as simple. 00:23:05.480 --> 00:23:09.079 The gospel that he came to bring has no arduous process. 00:23:09.079 --> 00:23:11.720 It's not a three-year internship. 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:13.519 You don't have to have a degree. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:17.119 You don't have to follow a rabbi in this world among us. 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:19.159 You don't have to follow me or anybody. 00:23:19.159 --> 00:23:20.159 None of that. 00:23:20.159 --> 00:23:21.639 You don't have to do this many prayers. 00:23:21.639 --> 00:23:24.199 You don't have to do this many good works. 00:23:24.199 --> 00:23:25.319 There's no arduous process. 00:23:25.319 --> 00:23:26.879 It's too simple. 00:23:26.879 --> 00:23:28.639 It's too ordinary. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:30.360 It's too common. 00:23:30.360 --> 00:23:31.360 It's too universal. 00:23:31.360 --> 00:23:32.360 It's for everybody. 00:23:32.360 --> 00:23:35.040 There's no partiality in it and that offends us. 00:23:35.040 --> 00:23:36.720 That offends humanity. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:38.720 We want to be able to do more. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:42.960 We want some people to earn it and some people to be left behind. 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:45.000 And so at every level we're scandalized. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:46.000 We're looking for greatness. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:48.600 We see ordinariness. 00:23:48.600 --> 00:23:53.680 The shock of history is God came to die. 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:55.200 God came to be despised. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:57.080 God came to be rejected by men. 00:23:57.079 --> 00:24:02.439 The Creator came to be rejected by the creature. 00:24:02.439 --> 00:24:05.919 And that is a scandal and it's upsetting. 00:24:05.919 --> 00:24:09.519 And people in every century for all of history have hated it. 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:10.519 We first reject it. 00:24:10.519 --> 00:24:14.439 Now lastly, that means we've got to see what we need. 00:24:14.439 --> 00:24:16.839 What we need to do today, this morning. 00:24:16.839 --> 00:24:19.759 And the third thing is why he marvels at us. 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:20.759 Very briefly. 00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:22.960 Why he marvels at us as we close. 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:25.079 At the end of the passage, that's what it says. 00:24:25.079 --> 00:24:27.559 He marveled at them. 00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:30.359 He marveled at their unbelief. 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:34.199 In verse 5, verse 6, sorry. 00:24:34.199 --> 00:24:35.799 You see, there's a paradox. 00:24:35.799 --> 00:24:37.000 They see his wisdom. 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:38.000 They see his greatness. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:39.279 They see his power. 00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:41.919 And they reject him. 00:24:41.919 --> 00:24:47.639 And then the text says because of that, Jesus marveled at their unbelief. 00:24:47.639 --> 00:24:51.000 Unbelief there is the word built on the word faith. 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:52.240 Ah, pistia. 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:53.240 No faith. 00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:54.240 No pistice. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:55.240 Not at all. 00:24:55.240 --> 00:25:02.120 If we translated it as literally as possible, it would say he marveled at their no faith. 00:25:02.120 --> 00:25:03.799 And he was struck by it. 00:25:03.799 --> 00:25:09.839 They saw evidence for who he might be and they rejected him in that evidence, through 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:10.839 that evidence. 00:25:10.839 --> 00:25:15.480 There was empirical evidence in front of them and they hated him in the midst of that evidence. 00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:19.279 And that leads us, let me just close this by saying there are two riddles here to mention 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:21.480 and one thing to do. 00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:25.240 And the first riddle is this, his emotional life. 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:30.000 You see, when it says that he marvels, that's an emotional term. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:33.920 And it's saying here that Jesus was taken aback. 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:34.920 Can I say this? 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:37.599 That he was scandalized by their unbelief. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:39.440 That he was shocked by it. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:47.599 In his heart, in his emotional life, he was taken aback by their lack of faith in him. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:50.360 By the fact that they refused to see. 00:25:50.359 --> 00:25:53.439 Now the Bible only tells us that this happens two times. 00:25:53.439 --> 00:25:57.240 Once here at no faith and once at faith. 00:25:57.240 --> 00:26:02.439 He marvels when the Centurion, who is a great Roman power, comes to him without ever having 00:26:02.439 --> 00:26:05.839 met him and says, you can save my family. 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:09.000 And he marveled at this Roman soldier's faith. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:11.000 And here again, this is the second time it happens. 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:13.959 Only other time, here it's at unbelief, not belief. 00:26:13.959 --> 00:26:17.359 And you see what Mark is trying to say in the big picture. 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:18.959 Here's a scandal. 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:21.920 Everybody who should believe never does. 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:24.920 And everybody who shouldn't believe does. 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:25.920 And that's the marvel. 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:26.920 That's another shock. 00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:27.920 That's another scandal. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:29.319 And Jesus has taken aback by it. 00:26:29.319 --> 00:26:30.720 Now you see what Mark's doing. 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:34.079 He's saying, you need to realize how human he is. 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:35.920 He is shocked by their unbelief. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:36.920 He is God. 00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:37.920 He knows everything. 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:41.039 He knows on the one hand, he came to be rejected. 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:47.680 And yet at the same time, when he is rejected, he's shocked and astonished and marvels. 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:53.320 And Mark wants to say, look at the riddle of this man, that he could be both God and 00:26:53.320 --> 00:26:56.120 human at the same time. 00:26:56.120 --> 00:27:01.720 So emotional, righteously emotional, yet knowing what he came for, knowing that this 00:27:01.720 --> 00:27:03.400 would happen. 00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:04.560 And he even puts it in another way. 00:27:04.560 --> 00:27:11.920 He says, it says Jesus could not perform miraculous deeds because of their lack of faith. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:16.320 And you say, wait, he couldn't perform because of them? 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:21.079 He isn't he God and Mark's trying to say, well, he's also human? 00:27:21.079 --> 00:27:22.079 Don't you see? 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:23.519 And then the paradox, but he did anyway. 00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:25.399 It says he couldn't, but he did. 00:27:25.399 --> 00:27:29.279 He couldn't perform miraculous deeds, but then he did a couple times. 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:34.720 You see, Mark's trying to say, you need to see how human he is, how emotional he is, 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:36.519 rightly in this situation. 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:39.159 Now that leads me to the second riddle quickly. 00:27:39.159 --> 00:27:42.200 The second riddle then is the riddle of sin. 00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:45.599 You see, Jesus has taken aback his emotional life. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:48.319 He struck because of the riddle of sin. 00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:50.879 This is what the theologians talk about throughout the centuries. 00:27:50.879 --> 00:27:53.879 They've coined this little phrase, the riddle of sin. 00:27:53.879 --> 00:27:55.799 And the riddle of sin is basically this. 00:27:55.799 --> 00:27:57.240 Jesus experiences it. 00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:00.000 He's God, but he experiences the riddle of sin. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:01.319 It's in his face. 00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:08.719 And he says, whoa, how can the creature reject the Creator? 00:28:08.719 --> 00:28:09.719 It's an enigma. 00:28:09.719 --> 00:28:12.000 You see, sin can't be explained. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:13.159 That's the point. 00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:15.680 Sin, sin is inexplicable. 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:17.200 It's irrational. 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:20.640 Sin in the New Testament is senselessness. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:21.640 It doesn't make any sense. 00:28:21.640 --> 00:28:23.680 We don't know why we reject him. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:27.640 And let me suggest to you that for that very reason, maybe, maybe, if you're struggling 00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:31.720 with unbelief today, maybe it's not really because of science. 00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:35.400 It's not really because of evidence. 00:28:35.400 --> 00:28:36.680 It's something much deeper than that. 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:38.840 It's an enigma. 00:28:38.840 --> 00:28:39.840 Why do we sin? 00:28:39.840 --> 00:28:40.840 Why do we hate God? 00:28:40.840 --> 00:28:41.840 Why do we reject Him? 00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:43.559 Why are we so offended by the Messiah? 00:28:43.559 --> 00:28:45.000 We don't know. 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:47.199 How could sin enter into a world that is good? 00:28:47.199 --> 00:28:48.199 I don't know. 00:28:48.199 --> 00:28:50.039 It's the riddle of sin. 00:28:50.039 --> 00:28:54.559 And even Jesus here in his humanity and his emotional life is taken aback by it. 00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:56.839 And in the New Testament, we have a word for it. 00:28:56.839 --> 00:29:00.000 It's translated lawlessness, anomia. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:02.759 Paul says, sin is lawlessness. 00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:05.319 You could say, sin is chaos. 00:29:05.319 --> 00:29:08.119 Sin is senselessness. 00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:09.119 It doesn't make sense. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:14.679 This is how you know if you're reading a Christian book, a theologian or something. 00:29:14.679 --> 00:29:17.759 And they're asking the question, what is sin? 00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:23.559 And the first thing they do is say, sin is dot, dot, dot, perfect definition, perfect 00:29:23.559 --> 00:29:27.439 dogmatic, systematic theological definition you've ever heard, quoting the confession 00:29:27.439 --> 00:29:28.919 after confession after confession. 00:29:28.919 --> 00:29:31.359 Okay, we do have good definitions for sin. 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:37.199 But at the same time, a good theologian, finally, they realize at some point, Christians realize, 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:40.120 I don't know. 00:29:40.120 --> 00:29:41.120 I can't explain it. 00:29:41.120 --> 00:29:42.120 It's an enigma. 00:29:42.120 --> 00:29:43.759 It's that's the first thing we have to say about it. 00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:45.960 And Jesus is taken aback by it here. 00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:48.799 And here's, and here's the shock. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:50.240 Here's the scandal. 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:52.440 Paul says that there's one other thing that is anomia. 00:29:52.440 --> 00:29:57.480 That is lawlessness, that is senselessness, that is chaos, that is a riddle. 00:29:57.480 --> 00:29:59.519 It's not just the riddle of sin, but he says one more thing. 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:00.519 What is it? 00:30:00.519 --> 00:30:05.559 He says the cross is the lawlessness of history. 00:30:05.559 --> 00:30:08.240 Sin is a riddle, but so is the cross. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:09.639 What is going on at the cross? 00:30:09.639 --> 00:30:10.679 We can say things about it. 00:30:10.679 --> 00:30:13.759 We know on the one hand, yet we don't know. 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:16.599 There's depth to the cross that we will never understand. 00:30:16.599 --> 00:30:19.539 How could God die? 00:30:19.539 --> 00:30:21.359 How could the Creator become the creature? 00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:25.359 How could the Creator become the creature who's murdered at the hands of the creatures? 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:27.919 The cross is lawlessness. 00:30:27.919 --> 00:30:29.720 It's sin. 00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:33.000 And it's the very solution to the riddle of sin at the very same time. 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:36.759 Now that means there's one thing to do, and this is the last word. 00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:41.519 You notice in this passage that there, he says, because of their lack of faith, their 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:44.640 no faith, he didn't do anything. 00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:50.599 And that means that Mark wants you to see as we close that he ties faith so closely 00:30:50.599 --> 00:30:53.839 to receiving Jesus' power. 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:59.640 And if you're coming today to receive Jesus' power, or you're not sure, let me say that 00:30:59.640 --> 00:31:03.160 faith is what you need. 00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:08.640 And so for some of us today, maybe we need saving faith, starting faith, faith that gets 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:13.600 us down the path for the first time of following Jesus, the way of Jesus. 00:31:13.600 --> 00:31:15.120 And what is that? 00:31:15.120 --> 00:31:17.200 Starting faith, saving faith. 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:18.200 It's simply this. 00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:23.320 It's when you come to a place where you say, I don't know why I reject the Lord, but I'm 00:31:23.320 --> 00:31:26.080 willing to say it's senselessness. 00:31:26.080 --> 00:31:27.800 And I'm actually willing. 00:31:27.799 --> 00:31:30.240 It's less about your brain and more about your heart. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:32.399 It's less about science. 00:31:32.399 --> 00:31:34.440 It's less about proving that there's a Creator. 00:31:34.440 --> 00:31:38.000 And it's more about saying, I don't have all the answers, but I'm willing to give myself 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:39.599 to him. 00:31:39.599 --> 00:31:41.680 His brothers did. 00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:44.039 His own brothers did it. 00:31:44.039 --> 00:31:45.599 And that's starting faith. 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:46.980 That's saving faith. 00:31:46.980 --> 00:31:53.399 And Mark is tying the power of the gospel so closely to faith here in this passage that 00:31:53.399 --> 00:31:54.799 that's what we've got to embrace. 00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:55.799 That's what we've got to have. 00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:57.680 We've got to have faith, not no faith. 00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:00.880 We've got to put away our no faith. 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:07.720 Now for the rest of us, if you're a Christian today, lastly, maybe you've got starting 00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:08.720 faith. 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:12.640 You've experienced saving faith, but maybe today is the day that you need to step back 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:15.279 into the way of faith. 00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:19.720 Because faith is not something you start with and then move on from. 00:32:19.720 --> 00:32:22.160 Faith is the life you live. 00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:23.200 It's the way of faith. 00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:26.240 It's the ground you're always walking on throughout your whole life. 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:30.599 And if you've struggled with a bit of hardness and coldness, then today might be the day 00:32:30.599 --> 00:32:35.359 to say, I've got to come back and see that I need the way of faith in my life. 00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:37.240 And the way of faith maybe could be said like this. 00:32:37.240 --> 00:32:40.319 It's practicing the presence of God at all times. 00:32:40.319 --> 00:32:45.799 It's knowing that God is near and therefore you respond by abiding in him. 00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:52.559 Of saying Jesus really is the resurrected Messiah in his spirit, really is here in my 00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:54.240 life right now. 00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:56.359 And so I want to abide with him. 00:32:56.359 --> 00:33:01.960 You can abide with him as you answer your emails on Monday, as you wash dishes, as you 00:33:01.960 --> 00:33:06.640 put your kids to bed, as you go to university class at every level of life. 00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:11.120 The way of faith is finding ways to abide with him and in him. 00:33:11.120 --> 00:33:16.640 Ceaseless prayer, God consciousness, knowing he is near and next to you at all time. 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:20.160 Jesus was rejected so that you could be accepted. 00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:25.400 And so abide in him, remember what Jesus, the handyman said on one great occasion. 00:33:25.400 --> 00:33:28.320 He said, who are my brothers? 00:33:28.320 --> 00:33:29.720 Who are my sisters? 00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:31.040 Who's my mom? 00:33:31.040 --> 00:33:33.640 Who's my dad? 00:33:33.640 --> 00:33:35.360 Who's my family? 00:33:35.360 --> 00:33:39.360 And he says, anybody who by faith does the will of the Father. 00:33:39.360 --> 00:33:41.600 That's my family. 00:33:41.600 --> 00:33:43.880 And that's for you. 00:33:43.880 --> 00:33:47.759 Let's pray. 00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:52.839 Let's help us to be scandalized by the cross so that we would realize how much we don't 00:33:52.839 --> 00:33:56.559 know and what we really need this morning. 00:33:56.559 --> 00:34:02.640 So we pray, Lord, that you would give us saving faith and the way of faith. 00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:05.799 Put away our unbelief, Lord, and help us. 00:34:05.799 --> 00:34:07.519 We have so many areas where we don't believe. 00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:11.039 We don't believe sometimes in your providence and your goodness, in the power of the gospel 00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:12.880 and the forgiveness of sins. 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:15.199 We don't trust you. 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:17.199 We don't believe that we're really Christians sometimes. 00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:19.480 We don't believe that what you said is true. 00:34:19.480 --> 00:34:20.799 We don't believe your word. 00:34:20.799 --> 00:34:22.639 We struggle as Christians with unbelief. 00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:23.639 Help us, Lord. 00:34:23.639 --> 00:34:25.639 Help us with our unbelief. 00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:28.159 And we pray that in Christ's name. 00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:47.719 Amen.