Mark describes briefly what Luke describes at much greater length (Luke 4:16-30). The people of Nazareth where Jesus had grown up and lived until his Baptism, could not believe that he was a prophet of God. Mark says tersely, 'And so they rejected him' (6:3). They saw him only as a man who had been the village carpenter (6 :3). James, who later became leader of the Jerusalem church, is mentioned in 6 :3.

This sad story would have been significant for many of Mark's readers who had found themselves rejected by families and friends when they became Christians. Jesus had accepted rejection by his home community as part of the suffering of the Servant of God (Isaiah 53 :3--4), so that he might bring salvation to others, (1 Peter 2:21-25).