The amazement of Christ

Geoff Thomas

The Lord Jesus returned to preach for a second time in the family synagogue in Nazareth. The first time, a year earlier, they had tried to kill him, but now he had twelve disciples with him. Again he was greeted with stony silence and hostility, and we are told that the Lord Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith (Mark 6:6). Can God be amazed? The whole point is this, that the inspired words of Mark say that God the Son was amazed, and that is very bold, but it is inspired boldness, and Scriptural boldness. The Lord looked at their hard faces staring at him as he preached to them, and he was amazed. Why was he amazed?

He was amazed at their sin. He was amazed at their unbelief. It's extraordinary, because God could look at the heavens, the imploding galaxies and black holes and not be amazed. He could see a billion tons of rain falling on the earth every minute and not be amazed. He could look right into the microscopic world of the atom, and the neutron, and the electron. He could see all the whizzing movement there and in the sub-atomic particles and not be amazed. He could go right into man's brain and see the amazing interplay of all the brain cells and not be amazed. But we are told that when God the Son looked at unbelieving man he was amazed. I can go further: we are not told that God was amazed that men could crucify his Son but God was amazed that they could be so recalcitrant at the mighty works of Jesus.

Here we have this great picture of God being amazed, and of all the things in human history that God saw, the one thing we are told that amazed him was man's lack of faith. I am saying that this is what God's word says. The Lord looked and he was surprised and shocked at the fact that they rejected him. He had lived in their midst for almost 30 years. They had never heard him say a mean word or do an unworthy deed. He had lived an utterly consistent blameless life. They had heard of his mighty miracles and these were not tall tales. He actually had done hundreds of them. He preached to them with beauty and authority so that they were amazed at what they heard and saw. But in the end they all turned on him. It was not that there was a division in the synagogue with some believing and following, while others rejected him. They all dismissed him. They together belittled him. It was not that they were deep thinkers or that they had a better alternative. They said, ‘He might fool those city slickers in Capernaum, but we know all about him.’ It was simply unthinkable that Jesus of Nazareth might be God's Messiah. They had nothing, but they were passionately prejudiced against the man who raised the dead and the man who preached the Sermon on the Mount, and Christ was amazed.

What will modern man give in exchange for Jesus Christ? I will tell you. For California dreamin'. What do I mean? Englishmen used to laugh at the excesses of Californians but the once-unthinkable has happened. The life-style that our fellow-countrymen envy and try to adopt is American West Coast. They are pursuing 'self-actualisation' by learning how to feel good about themselves They are into self-improvement and self-esteem. The Prime Minister's wife invites her own personal guru to No 10 Downing Street. She and her husband go through 're-birthing ceremonies' in a hut in Mexico, smearing one another with crushed fruit - the British Prime Minister! The Englishman today talks of anti-oxidants, Omega 3 and cholesterol levels. He drinks herbal teas, and Botox is a household name. He has his coffee in Starbucks. Fitness training, bodybuilding and tanning is the norm. He eats crunchy salads and fish skewers, goes rollerblading and surfing. My problem is that I cannot make that exchange seem amazing or ridiculous in his eyes. He has said no to the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ! He has said yes to all of that, and it is not at all incredible to most people, but the Lord is amazed.

The Lord sees a godly woman walking with Christ year after year and her husband defiantly refusing to believe. He sees the gospel preached in the power of the Spirit in the heart of a community and nobody wanting to know. He sees Gideon Bibles given out and never opened, a Christian Bookshop open six days a week and few going in. They have the Word of God in their own language and they can't be bothered to turn one page. They steer the conversation away from religion when an evangelical Christian begins to speak. That is what we see in society and meet in our own experience. It is the most depressing thing in the world, the lack of faith in Christ of 21st century men, women, boys and girls, and it shows no sign at all of ending. There's a lot more California dreamin' to be done before they wake up on resurrection morning.

The Bible despairs of human nature. There is no use saying, in the face of these words, that if only people are presented with a living Jesus they will fall over themselves to embrace him. They did not do that in Nazareth. It is futile to believe that there is something good in every man, a divine spark that only needs a little bit of tenderness and it will blaze for Jesus. The only thing that blazed for Jesus in Nazareth was their scorn. The Son of God looked at them. How could he have preached better? What more signs did they want? How better could he show his love than by living in their midst for so long? They wouldn't believe in him. That is the hostility in the sinner's heart faced by gospel churches today, and if that does not drive us to God to send forth his light and truth then his word has never gripped us.