Big Idea: In mission one must expect serious opposition. When disciples participate in the life and work of Jesus, this will engender both mission to the lost and persecution from the lost.

Understanding the Text

Mark 6:1–6 is another conflict narrative (like 2:1–3:6; 3:20–35), and like many transition passages, it functions two ways: (1) it parallels 3:1–6 and ends the second cycle (1:16–3:6; 3:7–6:6) with a conflict story; (2) there is also an A-B-A pattern in 6:1–29 in which the mission of the Twelve (6:7–13) is set between two rejection stories, first the opposition of Jesus’s hometown (6:1–6) and second the arrest and death of John the Baptist (6:14–29). After the triumphs of his succession of miracles and the wonder that this caused among the people, we are in a sense back to the r…