He Was Amazed

“He departed from there and came to his native place” (Mark 6:1a)

When I read the gospel account of Jesus’ return to Nazareth in Mark 6:1-6, the phrase that jumped off the page at me was in verse 6: “He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Jesus was amazed, perhaps even surprised. How strange, I thought. Usually, I think of Jesus as confident and composed, wiser than any of the people who tried to argue with Him, and always unshakable. After all, He is the Son of God. Yet somehow, in this verse, I saw His human nature. When you look up the meaning of the word amazed, you find words like astonished, puzzled, and confused. Actually, it can mean everything from awe and wonder to shock and bewilderment. That just struck me as an odd reaction for Jesus to have, so I looked it up. In the Gospels, the word amazed appears in 50 different places. The people in His hometown were amazed; Mary and Joseph were amazed; the crowds were amazed; the Pharisees were amazed, and His disciples were amazed. But there are only a couple of times when Jesus is the one who is amazed.

From the Nativity story in Luke 2:18: “All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.”
In Luke 20:26, when the chief priests asked Him about paying taxes to Rome: “So amazed were they at his reply that they fell silent.“
We see it in Matthew 8:27: “The men were amazed and said, ‘What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?’”
Mark 15:5 says: “Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.“

Throughout His life, Jesus caused the people around Him to be amazed. They came to Him from all segments of society, the richest and most powerful as well as those who suffered because of illness, poverty, loneliness, and rejection. They were drawn to Him because of His message and His compassion, and they marveled at His ideas and His miracles. But what was it that triggered amazement within Jesus Himself? “He was amazed at their lack of faith.” How sad!

It was sad in Jesus’ time, and it is sad today. Like the people who sat in amazement at the feet of the Master, we still hear His words and experience His power to heal and to change lives. Some of us are perplexed and astonished, but many are filled with wonder and awe. These are the ones who are truly blessed. These are the poor in spirit whom Jesus spoke of in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). These are the ones who look at Jesus and know in their hearts that they have seen God. “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And that’s what I want to do every day, open my mind and heart to Jesus, and be absolutely amazed!