Mark 6:1-13 Received Or Rejected.

Jesus, with his disciples, returned to his own country, teaching in the synagogue (vv. 1-2a Cf. Lk. 4:16ff.). Many heard him and marveled at both his teaching and the works he performed (v. 2b Cf. Mt. 7:28; 13:54; Jn. 6:42). Nevertheless, many could only see Jesus as someone just like them – a carpenter who was part of a local family, and not as a prophet (v. 3). “But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house’” (v. 4 Cf. Jn. 4:44). Because of this unbelief among his own, only a few people were healed (v. 5). Jesus, in turn, marveled at their unbelief (v. 6a). “Then he went about the villages in a circuit, teaching” (v. 6b Cf. Mt. 9:35).

Rejected by many of his own countrymen, Jesus departs with the twelve whom he had chosen, to preach the kingdom, casting out the evil spirits of Satan’s domain (v. 7 Cf. 3:13-14). The twelve were sent out two by two (Cf. Eccl. 4:9-10), taking only enough to live one day at a time (vv. 8-9 Cf. Eph. 6:15). They would be cared for in those houses in which they were received (v. 10), but in those houses in which they were not received they were to depart, shaking the dust off their feet as a testimony against them of judgment (v. 11 Cf. Mt. 10:11-15; Acts 13:51; 18:6). They preached repentance, cast out members of Satan’s domain, “and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them” (vv. 12-13 Cf. Js. 5:14).