Mark 6:1-13
This text is used for the Lectionary Year B on July 5, 2015.
As this story in Mark begins, Jesus and the disciples have just participated in the healing of the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue leader. On the way to Jairus’ house, the bleeding woman is healed, and before that, Jesus heals the Gerasene demoniac. One of the common threads of these stories is the necessity of faith for healing. That context is worth considering when exegeting the stories that follow.
This passage begins with the “journey” motif and the destination is Jesus’ hometown, Nazareth. It’s an important teaching time for the disciples. The disciples came from other parts of Galilee. Here they will see Jesus’ teaching among his “home folks.” It seems that the response Jesus receives in Nazareth would have been a surprise to the disciples since they had seen Jesus command such large and adoring crowds elsewhere in Galilee.