What Does Mark 6:3 Mean?
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they stumbled at him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.THE KEY
The word “offended” pictures a stumble: the familiar facts about him become the snare that keeps them from seeing him.
THE MEANING
A person can be held inside the familiar facts attached to them, their work, family, and place among you. When those facts become the measure of what is possible, they can trip recognition at the very point of encounter. The verse names that trip as offense, a snare in the path.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Knowing someone’s role, family, or history does not mean you have seen the whole person. Familiarity itself can become the reason you fail to recognize what is present.
THE ROOT
ἐσκανδαλίζοντο
eskandalizonto
GROWS FROM
σκανδαλίζω
skandalizō
To cause to stumble, ensnare, or take offense.
“stumbled at him” in this verse is eskandalizonto. The word’s family holds the image of a snare or stumbling block alongside the sense of taking offense. Their response is a stumble in their encounter with him, and the familiar identities listed just before it sit at the edge of that snare.
ALSO GROWS
skandalon: Snare; stumbling block.
σκάνδαλον
The noun makes the hidden image in “offended” visible: something in the encounter becomes a trap or obstacle.
skandalismos: Stumbling; occasion of offense.
σκανδαλισμός
This related noun keeps the focus on being tripped up, illuminating the force behind their reaction.
THE PATTERN
Familiar roles and outward appearances can narrow recognition of what is present.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.He came to his own, and his own did not take him in.And they stumbled over him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without worth, except in the land of his fathers and in his own house.THE THREAD
When Jesus knew within himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said to them, Does this cause you to stumble?“Offend” translates the same Greek word family as Mark’s “were offended.” Here the stumble arises during an encounter with his words; the shared root lets you see offense as a point where recognition catches and falters.
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