'Who does this guy think He is anyway?'

After doing mighty works, Jesus Christ comes back to Nazareth and the reaction there is they don't want Him now either.

Luke 4:22 says, [22] And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

"It's, 'That's Joe's kid! When did he get so smart? Where does he get off saying all these things?' " explains Richard Jordan.

Verses 28-29 say, [28] And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
[29] And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

"The first time He was there teaching in that synagogue it didn't end well, to put it in a way. He's gone out, He's preached, He's done all these mighty miracles and wonders and then He comes back to His own.

"Mark 6 begins, [1] And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
[2] And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

"When it says they were astonished, it doesn't mean they were, 'Woo, wow, He's doing a great job!' It's, 'Who does this guy think He is anyway?!' You see how Mark says in verse 6, [6] And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

"They're suspicious of what He's doing; they're not there being happy about it. Verse 2 has them asking, 'From whence hath this man?'

"You see that 'this man'? They're saying, 'Who is he to elevate himself over us?! I mean, he's Joe's kid; he's no big deal.'

"They're offended at Him because they think He's trying to make something of Himself--'He ain't no better than we are!' They're scandalized.

"They're suspicious of where He got the power and His ability to teach and preach it with authority like He did. They don't believe it's come from a legitimate source. They really think it's come from the underworld of evil.

"We've looked at passages saying this, [22] And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
[23] And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

"They're claiming He's got the spirit of Beelzebub. They say, 'God didn't send you.' They're reasoning in Mark 6:2 is based on verse 3: [3] Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

*****

"In verse 3 you get a glimpse into the early life of Jesus Christ. This passage is probably one of the more revealing ones. At 12 years old, Jesus knew He was, He had an awareness. He'd learned from the Scripture His identity.

"Jesus Christ literally worked in His daddy's business. When you look at Mark 6 where He's called 'the son of Mary,' evidently by this time Joseph was dead, because it doesn't call Him the son of Joseph.

"Evidently by this time the Lord Jesus is the breadwinner in the home and He's 'the carpenter.' He's the first-born and He would be the one who's the head of the house and responsible for its upkeep and protection and provision after His dad isn't there. And even when His dad was there He was working with His dad, learning how to be a carpenter.

"If you think about that, that's just a normal kind of a life. He lived in a normal, run-of-the-mill family. He's got four brothers and at least two sisters. Mary's got at least seven kids.

"It's a busy household with a normal family life, and what that tells you is the Lord Jesus Christ truly participated in our humanity. It was not a royal, palatial kind of a thing.

"When they call Him 'the son of Mary,' there is a background to that statement. In John 8, the religious leaders in Jerusalem say, 'You see what they said about Jesus?' John 8:41 says, 'Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.'

"They say, 'We know who are daddy is; you don't. We're not born of fornication like you.' There was an insufferable stigma attached to the reputation of His family. Think about it. His mother, engaged to Joseph, comes up pregnant. Joseph marries her anyway, but he's not the daddy and that became publicly known.

"There's this hint of a 'this man.' 'He's just a dude that works down at the corner and, by the way, there's that rumor about Mary.'

"By the way, Mary had four more boys and sisters (plural) after Jesus was born, Mary was not a perpetual virgin. That's just a lie taught by Romanists in order to propagate their worship of the Queen of Heaven, which is a pagan goddess that goes all the way back to Genesis 11 in Baal worship. The idea that it's a perpetual virginity is just part of the pagan ritual.

*****

"Jesus has cleansed the temple at the beginning of his ministry. John 2:16-17: [16] And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.
[17] And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

"In other words, when Jesus cleansed that temple, the verse in Psalm 69:9 was being fulfilled. Psalm 69 is a messianic psalm that prophesies and foretells the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The verse reads, [9] For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

"Prophetically this is Christ talking in verse 8: [8] I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.

"No new bible's going to know how to get rid of that one because they don't know it's there unless they hear somebody like you talk about it." 

(no new article tonight even though I promised. Sigh. My brother unexpectedly invited me and my mother to dinner and it got too late, considering I have to get up early for another day at the job. New post tomorrow now.)