He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.
Jesus walks back to the town where He grew up, and His disciples come with Him. Mark gives the visit no build-up, which leaves two questions: why go back there, and what are the disciples meant to see?
The town He came from
The word Mark uses points to Nazareth, and its reputation is part of the story.
The Bible TreasuryNazareth was His country, His fatherland (patris), and is so called elsewhere in the Gospels (Matt. 13:54, 57; Luke 4:23-24; John 4:44). And Nazareth was a despised town or village in the despised province of Galilee. It was far from Jerusalem and Judah. It lay in the far north, among those tribal districts of Israel that revolted from the rule of David's royal line in the days of idol-worshipping Jeroboam.
Why He goes back
He had already refused to let family claims steer His service. That makes this return striking.
The Bible TreasuryOn that occasion the Lord publicly refused to let family ties interfere with Him. He was the Servant of Jehovah, doing the will of the One who sent Him. Now He visits the place where He grew up, and His disciples come with Him... This visit shows the Lord keeping to His own instruction to the man He had freed from demons in Gadara: "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you" (Mark 5:19).
The Servant who does not sulk
Mark 6 opens with a Servant already refused. Set His reaction beside our own.
W T TurpinIt begins with Him rejected, and yet, as I have already said, unwearied. He is a contrast in that way to every other servant that was ever known in this world. When people are refused in their service, a feeling of humiliation comes over them. It is a spirit natural to us as fallen creatures, with the taint and nature of Adam in us. So we shrink back into our own littleness whenever we think someone has slighted us.
Why the disciples come along
The detail that His disciples follow Him is not filler. It marks where the twelve disciples are in their training.
F. B. HoleThe chosen twelve were to be with Him first. Then, when their time of instruction and preparation was complete, He would send them out. The period of their training lasts until verse 6 of Mark 6. In verse 7 of that chapter we begin the account of their actual sending out.
Nazareth is their last classroom. Their final lesson comes from the way the town receives Him.
C E StuartThey had rejected Him before (Luke 4:28-30). How would they treat Him now? Most of them had not changed, and the Lord had to leave them. So the disciples were to learn that faith can draw down blessing, but unbelief holds it back.
What lowliness exposes
His lowly way among ordinary people shows what is in the human heart — then and now.
Hamilton SmithHe comes among them with divine wisdom and divine power. He ministers the truth among the poor of the land and heals some sick folk. But in no way does He cater to the vanity of human nature that loves display, and rejects men because of their humble origin... So in our day, are we not in danger at times, even as Christians, of hindering the work of God? The pride and vanity of the flesh slights the ministry of a servant of God because of his humble origin.
The despised name afterwards
The town's bad name became His public name — and it did not stay a term of shame.
The Bible TreasuryBut if this title is one of dishonour and disrepute among men, angels are not ashamed to use it. The angel at the tomb said to Mary Magdalene, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him" (Mark 16:6)... More striking still, the exalted One Himself used that name of reproach. Speaking from the glory to Saul of Tarsus, He said, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 22:8).
Summary
- His own place. His hometown is Nazareth — a despised village in a despised province, far from Jerusalem.
- His own initiative. He goes back to the town that had already turned on Him, doing Himself what He told the healed man of Gadara to do: go home and tell your own people.
- His own manner. Refused once, He returns unwearied — the opposite of the servant who withdraws into himself the moment he feels slighted.
- His own learners. The disciples follow Him into this rejection as the last stage of their training. From verse 7 He sends them out.
- His own name. The reproach of Nazareth followed Him to the cross — and the angel at the tomb and the risen Lord Himself still use that name.