And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
In the 1960 presidential election, Kennedy and Nixon debated; nothing unusual except this time, it was televised. From that point on, image and appearance began to supersede competence and wisdom. I think we are seeing the results now. We judge our leaders by their appearance and gravitas and the Bible says we always have. The Israelites wanted a king and handsome, dashing Saul fit the bill. His record was far less desirable. Here in Mark, we see that Jesus taught like no other because he was like no other. What did the people focus on? The teaching? Of course not. They zeroed in on his lack of status and his infuriating ordinariness. He was not going to get their vote. He didn’t have the “it” factor.
Sadly, our internet is filled with flashy, good looking, theatrical preachers with millions of followers and very little knowledge of Scripture. Meanwhile, good teaching is going on all over the world in small churches and homes but no one wants to listen to people with such small social media presence. They are teaching the same wisdom Jesus taught because they are teaching what his word says. Jesus did not have the “it” factor. He did not need it. The secret to his success was that he is…
The Great I Am.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church