Mark 6:2-3

The reaction of the people in this synagogue contrasts with that of Jairus, the ruler of another synagogue (Mark 5:22). Mark recorded three questions the observers in Nazareth raised. They wondered where Jesus got the teaching and the authority that He demonstrated. They asked each other who had given Him the wisdom He manifested, and they questioned where Jesus had obtained His ability to do miracles. Obviously they had not concluded that they came from God. Their questions manifested unbelief and hostility. Their personal acquaintance with Jesus’ family and Jesus’ former manner of life among them made it hard for them to think of Him as anything more than a mere man. This is the only place in the New Testament where the writer referred to Jesus as a carpenter. A "carpenter" (Gr. tekton) worked with stone and metal, as well as wood. [Note: Ibid., p. 310.] Jesus’ critics asked rhetorically if Jesus was not just a common worker with His hands, as most of them were.

"It was the common practice among the Jews to use the father’s name, whether he were alive or dead. A man was called the son of his mother only when his father was unknown." [Note: Hiebert, p. 139.]

Formerly the people of Nazareth had referred to Jesus as Joseph’s son (Luke 4:22). Evidently they now called Him Mary’s son as a deliberate insult implying that He was an illegitimate child (cf. Judges 11:1-2; John 8:41; John 9:29). The Jews did not speak insultingly about such a person’s birth if they believed he lived a life pleasing to God, but if that person became an apostate they spoke publicly and unreservedly about his illegitimate birth. [Note: See Ethelbert Stauffer, Jesus and His Story, pp. 207-8, cf. pp. 16-17.] Consequently this appellation reflects the belief of the Nazarenes that Jesus was not virgin born and was displeasing to God. [Note: Cf. Cranfield, p. 195.]