If I wanted to proclaim the Good News and show how Jesus is the Son of God, I don’t think I’d choose a story about a time that Jesus’ power was diminished or curtailed, but that’s exactly where Mark begins here.
Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth, and while at first, the people there were amazed by his teaching, their wonder quickly turned to offense and ridicule.
And then Mark says Jesus was amazed too – only he was amazed by their unbelief or lack of faith. Mark goes on to say that in that place, Jesus couldn’t do many deeds of power or miracles.
There in Nazareth, the people rejected Jesus and the work of God in him. It wasn’t their first rejection of him, and it won’t be the last. The final rejection, of course, will happen at Golgotha where he will be crucified and die. But the story of cross, just like our first story today, shows God’s power at work in God’ weakness.
Part of faith is believing God is
at work even when, or perhaps especially when, we cannot see evidence of it. In
this story we see that, even with the power of God in him, Jesus experienced
helplessness – situations and people he had to surrender to God.
Jesus’ experience in Nazareth also shows his followers that not everyone will hear the gospel as Good News.
There are going to be people who do not want to hear the Good News that God loves you and wants good for you; that God forgives your sin and offers you new life in faith in Christ. There are going to be people who care more about where you’re from and who your daddy was than anything else you have to say. There are going to be people who cannot see Jesus or God’s abundant grace and power in the world in your witness.
In his encounter with his hometown crowd, Jesus shows his disciples how to respond when the Good News is not heard as Good News.
Jesus doesn’t curse the Nazarenes, threaten them or shame them. He walks away, just as he will go on to tell his disciples, “if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave….” (6:11)
But as important as their response is, Jesus also instructs them on how to go into the villages and towns. Mark says he sends them out two by two and he tells them to be dependent on the hospitality of others. The Lord’s Prayer that we hear in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount doesn’t appear in Mark’s gospel, but Jesus’ instruction here is similar – take only what you need. In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God for our daily bread – enough to sustain us for this day – and we trust that God will provide for all of our needs. In the Small Catechism, Luther expands “daily bread” to include,
everything included in the necessities and nourishment for our bodies, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, farm, fields, livestock, money, property, an upright spouse, upright children, upright members of the household, upright and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, decency, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.
We are dependent upon each other and we are called to rely on God, depend on God’s grace and sufficiency and trust the future to God.
Where Jesus’s experience in his hometown had been disappointing and confrontational, the disciples go out together from the villages, preaching, driving out demons and anointing and healing people who were sick.
Accompanied by Jesus, we too are sent out of our sanctuary and into the world, called to meet our neighbors and bear witness in our community to God’s healing love and forgiveness.
And we are asked to be expectant about what God can accomplish through us and trust that God’s grace will be active in what we do together.[i]
Lutheran pastor Delmer Chilton tells the story of being with the congregation council at the church where he served as a vicar or an intern pastor. They were talking about the budget and he and a newly elected council member – let’s call him Henry - were there too. Henry was an alcoholic but he’d put together some sobriety and was working AA and had been worshiping at the church a while at that point. During the meeting, Delmer was given the chance to tell the leaders about some ideas for ministry that he had, and they were kind but they said that their congregation was too small for any of those big ideas he had. Before they ended the meeting, they asked Henry to pray, but Henry said no. And when they asked him, “Why not?” And he said to them, “Well, I’ve learned one must depend on the higher power and to pray is to ask the higher power for help, and it’s evident this here church ain’t going to do nothing it can’t do by itself. So why pray? We don’t want God’s help.” And the leaders thought for a minute and they turned back to Delmer and said, “Preacher, which of these ideas is the most important?” and he told them and they decided they would try that one new thing.
Sometimes God is calling us to do more than our resources say we can or asking us to do something that is beyond our own imagination or ideas. At that moment we need to say yes and let God send us, trusting God is with us.
Let us pray…
Good and Gracious God,
Thank you for your Son Jesus who experienced
all the disappointment and the joy of human life.
Forgive us when we forget to ask you for
everything we need for life.
Help us depend on you in all circumstances and
ask you for help, trusting in your grace will be present in the work you send
us to do in the world.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our
Savior and Lord.
Amen.
[i]
Lectionary Lab Podcast for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B.
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