Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 4, 2021) Mar 6:1-6

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

1 He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

John Gill

He went away from there—From Capernaum;

And came to his hometown—Or “city,” as the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, the city of Nazareth; so called because it was the place where Christ was conceived, and where he was educated; for which he had a regard, and was willing it should partake of the benefit of his doctrine and miracles:

And his disciples followed him—As they did wherever he went; and which is a true characteristic of a disciple of Jesus.

2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?

21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.

John Gill

And they went into Capernaum—Jesus and his four disciples he had just called, Simon and Andrew, James and John; though the Arabic and Persic versions read, “he went”; that is, Christ; and so Beza says it was read in a certain copy:

And immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching—That is, immediately, as soon as he entered the, city, it being then the Sabbath; or, as soon as the Sabbath came, he went to the synagogue at Capernaum, and his disciples with him; where the people used to meet weekly to hear the law read, and to be instructed in divine things; which opportunity Christ laid hold on to preach the gospel to them, and teach them things concerning the kingdom of God.

22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

John Gill

And they were astonished at his teaching—The nature and importance of it, it being what they had not been used to hear; only at best the doctrine of the law, and sometimes only the traditions of the elders, or an allegorical and traditional sense of the Scriptures, and things very trifling and unedifying: and also they were amazed at the manner of his preaching, which was with so much gracefulness, gravity, and majesty, and was attended with so much evidence and power:

For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes—Or “their scribes,” as the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read. He did not go about to establish what he said by the authority of the rabbis, as the scribes did; saying, Hillel says so, or Shammai says thus, or such a doctor says thus and thus; but he spoke as from himself, as one sent of God, that had an authority from him, and was independent of man; and this was what they had not observed in others, and wonder at it (see Gill on Mat 7:28-29).

39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. MAR 1:21-22, 39

John Gill

And . . . preaching in their synagogues—Which were in the next towns, in the village cities, and

Throughout all Galilee—Taking every town and city in his circuit, he continued preaching the gospel of the kingdom in one place and another, until he had gone over the whole country:

And casting out demons—As out of the souls, so out of the bodies of men, whereby he confirmed the doctrine he preached.

3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

John Gill

For he grew up before him like a young plant—Which springs out of the earth without notice; low in its beginning, slow in its growth, liable to be crushed with the foot, or destroyed with the frost, and no great probability of its coming to any perfection; or rather as a little “sucker,” as the word signifies, which grows out of the root of a tree, at some little distance from it, of which no notice or care is taken, nor anything hoped for from it; and the figure denotes the mean and unpromising appearance of Christ at his incarnation; which is the reason given why the Jews in general disbelieved, rejected, and despised him; for this phrase of “growing up” does not design his exaltation, or rising up from a low to a high estate; but his mean entrance into the world, like that of the springing up of a low and insignificant plant or shrub out of the earth: and the phrase “before him” is to be understood either of God the Father, by whom he was taken notice of, though not by men; and in whose sight he was precious, though despised by men; or his growing up, and the manner of it, or his mean appearance, were all before the Lord, and according to his will: or else it may be understood of Christ himself, and be rendered “before himself,” who was meek and lowly, and was mean and low in his own eyes; or rather it may be interpreted of the unbelieving Jew, of any or everyone of them that did not believe the report concerning him: because before him, in the sight of everyone of them, he sprung up in the manner described; unless it can be thought that it would be better rendered “to his face”; or “to his appearance”; that is, as to his outward appearance, in the external view of him, so he grew up:

And like a root out of dry ground—Or rather, “like a branch from a root out of dry ground”; agreeably to Isa 11:1, meaning not so much the land of Judea, where he was born; or the country of Galilee, where he was brought up; as the family of David, from whence he sprung, which was reduced to a very low condition when he was born of it; his supposed father being a carpenter, and his real mother a poor virgin in Nazareth, though both of the lineage and house of David; from this passage the ancient Jews are said to conclude that the Messiah would be born without a father, or the seed of man:

He had no form or majesty—Like a poor plant or shrub just crept out of the ground, in a dry and barren soil, ready to wither away as soon as up; has no strength nor straightness, of body; without verdure, leaves, blossom, and fruit things which make plants goodly and beautiful. This regards not the countenance of Christ, which probably was goodly, as were his types Moses and David; since he is said to be “fairer than the children of men”; and since his human nature was the immediate produce of the Holy Spirit, and without sin: but his outward circumstances; there was no majesty in him, or signs of it; it did not look probable that he would be a tall cedar, or a prince in Israel, much less the prince Messiah; he was born of mean parents; brought up in a contemptible part of the country; lived in a town out of which no good is said to come; dwelt in a mean cottage, and worked at a trade:

That we should look at him—As he grows up, and comes into public life and service, declaring himself, or declared by others, to be the Messiah: here the prophet represents the Jews that would live in Christ’s time, who would see his person, hear his doctrines, and be witnesses of his miracles, and yet say,

And no beauty that we should desire him—Or “sightliness” in him; nothing that looks grand and majestic, or like a king; they not looking at with an eye of faith his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father; only viewing him in his outward circumstances, and so made their estimate of him; they expected the Messiah as a temporal prince, appearing in great pomp and state, to deliver them from the Roman yoke, and restore their nation to its former splendour and glory; and being disappointed herein was the true reason of their unbelief, before complained of, and why they did not desire him, who is the desire of all nations.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ISA 53:2-3

4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand . . .” JER 11:21

John Gill

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth—That is, “to,” the townsmen of Jeremiah, and who were the persons that combined together to destroy him; of this place (see Gill on Jer 1:1)

Who seek your life—Or “soul”; that is, to take it away:

And say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord”—Without their leave, and such hard things as he did, unless he would prophesy smooth things, and then he might go on, otherwise he must expect to die:

Or you will die by our hand—Or means; they intimate, that, should he persist in this way of prophesying, they should not stay to carry on a judicial process against him, to bring him and accuse him before a judge, or the council, or any court of judicature; but should do as those called zealots in later times did; lay violent hands upon him, and dispatch him themselves at once; perhaps this they said after they found that the prophet had knowledge of their designs against him.

5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.

And he went about among the villages teaching.

Has a nation changed its gods,

even though they are no gods?

But my people have changed their glory

for that which does not profit. JER 2:11

John Gill

Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? Though they are not by nature gods which they worship, only nominal and fictitious deities, yet they did not change them for others; but when they once embraced the worship of them, continued therein; so did the Kittim, the inhabitants of the isles, who though they traded to distant countries, from place to place; and so the Kedarenes, who dwelt in tents, and fed cattle, and moved from one desert to another, and from one pasture to another, as Jarchi observes; yet they carried their gods with them, and did not exchange them for new ones where they came. The Jewish writers say, that the Kedarenes worshiped water, and the Kittim fire; and though they knew that water would quench fire, yet the latter would not change their gods. Kimchi and Abendana relate it just the reverse, and say the Kedarenes worshiped fire, and the Kittim water, which is most likely; and so it is said elsewhere.

But my people have changed their glory—The true God, who is glorious in himself, and whom they should have glorified, and have counted it their highest honor and glory that they knew him, and were the worshipers of him; yet they changed him, their glory, into the form of an ox that eats grass (Psa 106:20), therefore it is justly added,

For that which does not profit—Meaning Baal, and such like idols; see the note on Jer 2:8.