Among his own people, in his hometown, Jesus encounters rejection and conflict. Mark suggests that they rejected him because they thought of him as an unimpressive “hometown boy.” Interestingly, we are given no content of his teaching here, only a report that encounter with Jesus provoked fierce resistance, even among those who were closest to him.

Mark links this story of rejection with the sending out of the disciples as if to say that the crisis which Jesus provoked will also afflict those who follow Jesus as Jesus gives his disciples instruction on how to handle inevitable conflict.

From this text I gain a simple, straightforward, but sometimes overlooked insight: Jesus provoked controversy; his followers also provoke controversy. Something about Jesus, something in his teaching or in hi…