Mark 6:1-32

Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth and was preaching in the synagogue. The people there that knew Him were amazed at His teachings, but were dismissive because they knew Him as "the carpenter's son". Jesus wants to have a personal relationship - to be our friend - but we can't let that closeness blind us to the fact that He is still God. If we lose the awe and wonder of Jesus' divine nature, we can start to think of Him as just a good man or a great teacher. We always need to show Jesus the utmost reverence and be humbled that the God of the universe has chosen to befriend us .


Jesus sent the twelve disciples out to preach the message of repentance. They were to travel light and rely on the people in the towns they went to for shelter. They also cast out demons and healed the sick because Jesus had given this power to them. Jesus calls each of us to serve Him in some way. We need to listen and obey when we hear Him call. Not everyone is called to be a missionary to a foreign land, but each of us has a mission field in our own backyard. When we turn our hearts toward Jesus, He will let us know where we can best serve Him.



Herod heard of the things Jesus was doing and thought He might be John the Baptist returned from the dead. This was more than likely a product of guilt caused by the fact that Herod had killed John at the request of Herodias' daughter. When we do wrong, there is always something deep in us that knows we did something wrong. When we try to suppress it, the guilt comes out in different ways, like superstition. We can't get away from what we know to be right and wrong no matter how hard we try. Pretending otherwise only leads to problems in the end.


When the apostles returned from their journeys, Jesus took them off to be away from the crowds for awhile. God never expected us to work non-stop. Even when we are doing His work, we need to take a break and get away from the fast paced world we live in. We need to take time to be alone with God, to be refreshed and renewed by the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus went to be by Himself from time to time to pray. If we don't take time to rest in the Lord, we will burn out spiritually and possibly even physically.