Rock of Offence (4) - Produces Unbelief

When Jesus came to his own village the people were amazed at him, but their amazement soon changed to questions of doubt.

Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him (Mark 6:3).

The people of Nazareth did not get carried away by what has happened, but tried to assess Jesus. This is a sensible thing to do when a new Messiah turns up. Their problem was that they judged Jesus by their experience of him. The boy next door could not be the king of Israel. David had slain a lion and killed a Philistine giant while he was still young. Jesus had nothing to show but a few cupboards and benches. He could not be the Messiah.

Their statements about Jesus were true. He was a carpenter. He was the brother of James and the others. However, these true statements were limited to their knowledge of Jesus, so they gained a distorted view of him. They did not ask about what had happened in other towns. They gave greater weight to their own experience than all that Jesus had said and done.

Their mistake was testing Jesus against their expectation of the Messiah. Their expectations were wrong, so they were disappointed in him. Their disappointment led to their being offended by him. Offence led to unbelief, which shut down the power of God.

Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5,6).

The people of Nazareth did nothing more than ask the wrong type of questions about Jesus, but the scriptures say they were offended by him.

Nazareth illustrates a dangerous downward spiral that can affect Christians.

• Amazement
• Judging God’s work against our expectations and experience
• Disappointment
• Offence
• Unbelief
• Holy Spirit quenched
• No miracles

Offence at God produces unbelief, which limits the Holy Spirit’s power.