As Jesus and his disciples moved from town to town, they came to Nazareth, where Jesus had grown up (Mark 6:1). As he began to teach in the synagogue, the people of the village expressed strong emotion: “What is this wisdom that has been given to him?” they asked (6:2).

We need to read their words out loud to “hear” the meaning. That’s because it’s the tone of voice that indicates the attitude behind their words. Suppose they were quite curious, pondering the unexpected wisdom of Jesus? You’d be able to hear that in their voice tones. Or were they joyfully exulting in the wisdom he had spoken, glad of the difference it would make in their lives? You would hear that in the sound of the words. Or were they sarcastic, indicating by the scoffing in their voices that even though they said the word ‘wisdom,’ they didn’t think there was any wisdom there at all?

“What does it sound like?” is a key aspect of Bible reading. Nearly all of the Bible was spoken before it was written: that tells us that quite a bit of the meaning was carried in body language and voice tones, which didn’t get written down. Here we only find out for sure that it was sarcasm, instead of curiosity or faith, because of what the text says next: “they took offense at him” (6:3), with an attitude of “unbelief” (6:6).

Jesus recognized that when you are far from home, they can honor you as a prophet; but when you’re with the people you grew up with, they might well remember you as an awkward teenager and want to keep you from being uppity. They do their best to remind you to keep your humble place (6:4). The downside of that attitude is this: people can so severely miss the visitation of the divine in a way that their lack of faith will amaze even Jesus (6:6).

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We are so much like the people of Nazareth, Lord Jesus: cavalier and glib as we assume we can judge the adequacy of your wisdom and your deeds. We have had so much more opportunity to see your grace in action: does that make our unbelief even more astonishing than theirs?

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