Mark 6:1-6 - The hands of Jesus

Today we continue our series, Work and our Labor in the Lord. Today we will be in Mark 6:1-6. So far we have seen that God is the chief Worker and so we, made in His image, work, imaging Him. Yet, because of the fall work is toilsome, but Jesus redeems our toil. And last time we saw that we work from our true rest, Jesus. Today we will see how Jesus’ own hands legitimize all vocations.

In Mark 6 we are following Jesus and His disciples into Jesus' hometown. Here as the Carpenter of Nazareth teaches in the synagogue, the people of Nazareth are astonished by His wisdom, but they can't get past His ordinary résumé and ordinary lineage. So they say to one another, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary…?’ Familiarity and “ordinariness” breed offense and unbelief, and their unbelief shuts the door to Jesus’ blessing and mighty works, “he could do no mighty work there.” This was not because Jesus lacked power, but because their unbelief refused to receive it. In a sense, this is God’s judgment on Nazareth.

The people of Nazareth aren't the only ones who do this…we do too. We often evaluate a person's wisdom based upon their résumé not the Spirit of God, and discount a person based upon the dirt under their fingernails or the callouses on their hands. If we were there, our calloused hearts would probably have discounted Him too.

But what if we listened to the wisdom of God and experienced His power even if it comes from calloused hands or those who are most unlikely? What if we believed that Jesus speaks the truth through His people whether they are doctors, engineers, construction workers, or stay-at-home parents?

This is the opportunity that is before us today. Let's listen to the wisdom of God, the carpenter from Nazareth, in Mark 6:1-6.

Mark 6:1–6 ESV

He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 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? 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. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

This passage teaches us that…

God works mightily using Jesus' "ordinary" hands

Where do we see this in our passage?

In verse 2 (and framed by v.4), we see that God teaches mightily through Jesus the true Prophet. The OT prophesies that Jesus was more average than we probably ever imagined in Isaiah 53:2-3 says that He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was an "ordinary" man that no one would have thought anything of. Yet, even without formal training, He astonished His hearers who said, "Where did this man get these things?" Jesus taught mightily with His ordinary voice/words.

But we also see in verse 2 that God displays His wisdom and power through Jesus, an "ordinary" man with "ordinary" hands. Jesus was a carpenter by trade in His hometown, a tradesman, or one who constructs. He was some type of builder or worker in wood or possibly stone as well. Jesus most definitely worked with His hands and they were probably calloused. God gave Jesus, the Wisdom of God, One with calloused hands, the power to do mighty works by those same hands.

Yet, we see in verses 3 and 5, that even though He was a scandal or offense to His relatives and fellow townspeople, God does show His works of power through Jesus' "ordinary" lineage and "ordinary" hands. Even though many rejected Him, a few received mercy and were healed, experiencing God's mighty works through Jesus' "ordinary" hands.

You know, no one would expect calloused hands that assemble widgets Monday through Friday to do the incredible and gentle work of healing on another day. We don’t expect 'ordinary' hands to do extraordinary work for the good of others. In fact, we simply look at a person's résumé and assume that is all they can do. I know this personally: when I transitioned from software development to ministry, people often viewed my almost 25 years in tech as a liability, making me feel like I was starting at the back of the line.

This illustrates the problem…we naturally…

(We) dishonor Jesus' "ordinary" hands (Him and His people)

We, just like the Nazarenes, often judge a person by the ordinariness of their résumé. We naturally define or limit people to the things we see on the outside, seeing them through credentialing lenses.

Think about the way we often classify people as ordinary based upon their professions. We often ask people what they do, and if we find out they work in something ordinary, we rarely ask them questions about their work. Why? We don’t value the ordinary the same way God does.

We operate under the assumption that God works most through the extraordinary—those with the best pedigree, the most experience, and the most impressive résumé. We apply worldly standards to the things of God, gauging competence based upon externals rather than the Spirit. We think education and status make a person more qualified than another. This is pure pride.

When someone asks a stay-at-home mom what they do and she tells them, how often is she treated with disdain. But do you know what? We do this in the church, too! We might dismiss a powerful insight from a stay-at-home mom because we think she's "out of touch." We might give the floor to the elder in a suit with a gold embossed résumé, while ignoring the construction worker with calloused hands and dirty clothes.

Why? Because we believe status is more important than sonship. We want the approval of men more than the anointing of God. We’d rather control what’s said than listen to the Spirit through His people.

Outside the church this kind of behavior makes many people feel their daily work is irrelevant and useless. Inside the church it handcuffs God’s people and limits ministry. It minimizes the gifts Jesus has given His bride and pushes people to the sidelines. Ultimately, as we dishonor ordinary people whether they are filled with the extraordinary Spirit or not, we dishonor God who made them in His image or who lives in them.

But this isn’t the end of the story…

Jesus' ‘ordinary’ hands were pierced to redeem us to His work

As verses 2 and 6 show us, Jesus didn't allow His rejection at Nazareth to stop Him. He knew who He was. He was the eternal Word of God in flesh, the Wisdom and Power of God who was on His way to complete His earthly mission to do the mightiest work of all eternity, allowing His "ordinary" calloused hands and feet to be pierced through with nails and pinned into a tree, the very thing He probably used to make things with, so that we might be saved so that His greater works would continue through His people. Not because we are doing them, but because He is doing them through us as His hands and feet. Jesus allowed His powerful hands to be pinned to a cross so that He might rescue us from the handcuffs of sin and hell, doing harm and evil, and free us to become His hands and feet to do the works of God in love and service to others, treating all with dignity and purpose.

Jesus taught from the power of the Spirit as we see in verse 2, as the Word of God, of the kingdom of God, realized in the hearts of all those who trust Him made new by the Spirit He would send after He completed His work. Jesus was the very Wisdom of God whose teaching was rejected because He came and fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah as One who wasn't much to look at.

Jesus performed miracles from the power of the Spirit, as the Word of God, healing people, raising the dead, and casting out demons, demonstrating that the kingdom of God is realized in and through Him. No greater power could be demonstrated than His power to defeat death and hell, not only by healing people and casting out demons, but through His own descent into the grave by which He would conquer death and rise in victory. As He was raised in power, Jesus now works by His Spirit through our ‘ordinary’ hands.

In verse 3-4, we see how Jesus would bear the dishonor of His own people, and eventually the shame of hanging on a cross in order to remove our dishonor and shame and draw us out of our "ordinary" families into the extraordinary family of God, adopting us into His covenant family. You see, Jesus became a scandal so that He could remove the scandal of our sin, dishonor, shame, and unbelief. Jesus was rejected so that we could be accepted in Him, in the beloved.

In verse 6, we see how His people's disbelief and rejection of Him, which would lead Him to the cross would be the very means by which He would pour out His Spirit upon us to grant us belief and enable us to accept Him.

Jesus rejected living from His résumé, and lived from His identity as the true Son of God, doing God's will so that He might take our tattered and terrible résumé and give us His. But we didn't just get His résumé, we got His Spirit and presence so that…

By the Spirit we celebrate the work of all hands

Because of Christ's life, death, and resurrection, we now honor all of God's children, regardless of how ordinary their background is, not just those highly esteemed by the world. We know this because not only are they made in God’s image, but they have been saved by Christ and created in Christ Jesus for good works (Eph. 2:10). This isn’t just because Mark tells us that Jesus was a carpenter, it is also implied in the New Testament's teaching on work that says that we work as unto the Lord and we do all to His glory (Col 3:23; 1 Thess 4:11; Eph 4:11–12).

But let’s be clear, we also honor all people who are ordinary because God has enabled us to see how He has created them with dignity and purpose, their work, though ordinary is fulfilling His purposes of providing good things to us and many others through them.

But this isn’t the only reason. Here in Mark, we see Jesus, the King of the universe, becoming a carpenter by trade. His own calloused hands and sweat show us that every lawful calling has dignity and meaning (whether they are Christians or not). Would we dare look down on Jesus as He labored ordinarily? Our value isn't in what we do, but because of Him, whatever we do in love for God and others has real value.

Because of this, the Spirit reminds us that rather than pushing others away for not having the right credentials, we are to invite them in to share their gifts. The very same Spirit who gifts the elder in a suit also gives wisdom to the stay-at-home mom. Instead of thinking those with "dirty hands" are excluded from ministry or have less value in society, our hands now cover our mouths so they can speak from the Spirit who lives within them and be dignified as God’s image-bearers. This is true whether it is the construction worker with calloused hands or the pastor with a divinity degree. Instead of treating others or our own work as less valuable, we remember that we are now the hands and feet of Jesus, empowered by His Spirit to do good works in whatever ordinary or extraordinary profession we are in.

But this honoring of others doesn’t come as an act of duty. The power to value every person and every vocation comes as the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see our marvelous God, who took on ordinary flesh and labor—even that of a carpenter, someone the Nazarenes disregarded. He did this so we might see how we can share His love through our work, no matter what it is.

If you have only seen Jesus as an ordinary man, and have prior to this been offended by this ordinariness, Jesus, the One who heals the sick, raises the dead, is the wisdom and power of God, invites you to come and leave behind your ordinary life, destined for death and destruction, wasting away your work for nothing, into His extraordinary life where He lives in and through you and creates you into His beautiful workmanship to do good works and allow your work to have meaning, value, and worth, no matter what it is.

So come, whether you have never known Him or have known Him all your life and allow His own "ordinary" vocation as a carpenter provide you with dignity no matter what you do, so that you can show Him through the work of your hands, empowered by the Spirit, to the glory of the Father.