Mark 6:6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief.
Whom do you trust? Do you trust what you see in the press conferences? Do you trust what you watch in the news? Do you trust what your friends are saying? Whom do you trust and how do you know whom to trust? It occurred to me the other day that there are a couple of different criteria for trust.
Usually when we think of someone being trustworthy we simply mean that they are reliable, a person of integrity. Yet, that is just one of a couple of things. For instance, if you do trust someone, you would hope they would be a person of integrity, that they tell the truth. But there are other things to consider, like their perception, their ability to think things through. Some people may be people of real integrity, but they have no sense of danger or proportion, which may cause them to do things that are unwise or unsafe.
Other people yet may have good perception but no ability. They are just as slow, weak, or whatever as you consider yourself to be. So, whether you trust someone or not depends on what you are trusting them about, and how much you trust them depends upon how many of these things, and maybe some others, they possess. Jesus is certainly worthy of your trust.
In Mark 6 Jesus came to His own country in His own synagogue with His own neighbors, and the Bible says that they were astonished. Why were they astonished? Well, they said, “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?” They saw what Jesus did and heard what Jesus said, but they wondered how that could be possible from such a person. They said, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary…?” No, He is not the carpenter’s son; He is the Son of God.
Jesus went on to say that “a prophet is not without honour, but in his own country.” But the thing that catches my attention is in verse 6 which says, “And he marvelled because of their unbelief.” What did they not believe? Did they not believe that He had wisdom? No, they had heard the wisdom. Did they not believe that He could heal the sick? No, He had healed the sick, and they had seen it. What did they not believe? What they could not believe was Who He was, His identity.
The truth for us is that those who know who Jesus is need not stumble at what He can do. You think, “How could they not know this was God the Son, seeing what He did and hearing what He said?” There are a number of possibilities. For instance, Herod in verse 14 heard of Jesus and thought that He was John the Baptist risen from the dead. It was easier for Herod to believe that Jesus was John risen from the dead than that Jesus was Who He claimed to be.
Others said that Jesus was Elijah, and others that He was a prophet. Evil spirits knew that Jesus was the Son of God. They knew, but Jesus’ own countrymen and neighbors didn’t seem to know. They had seen His working and didn’t disbelieve that. They had heard His words and didn’t disbelieve those. What they disbelieved was Who Jesus is.
Your identity plus your ability equals your character. They had no confidence in Jesus’ character. They had no confidence about His identity. They saw His ability, but they didn’t have any confidence about His identity.
When it comes to Jesus today, if you know Jesus, you don’t need to balk or stumble at what He can do. He loves you, knows everything, and is One of integrity. So, who Jesus is is the first question. Once you get it settled in your mind that He is One of integrity, perception, and ability, it should help you with all the others things that hinge on that.