A Sermon for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
by Pastor Laura Gentry
John 6:1-21 & Ephesians 4:14-21
Oh no! How are we going to feed all these people? That is the serious concern in today’s gospel lesson. At this point in his ministry, Jesus is attracting a huge crowd wherever he goes. Word has spread about the healing power he posesses. And in this passage, they are on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, up on the mountain and Jesus is surrounded a fantastic-sized audience. So he tests Philip by asking him where they can buy bread for all these people.
Philip kind of freaks out here. He has no idea how they could afford to buy bread for them all. He says that even six months’ wages wouldn’t be enough. It seems totally impossible.
As people of faith, we know that nothing is impossible for God. With God, everything is infinitely possible. God’s power is "far more than all we can ask or imagine," as we read in our lesson for today from Ephesians.
This is certainly the case in this story. It is discovered that a little boy in the crowd has packed a sack lunch and presumably is generously offering it for the group. The only problem, however, is that his lunch consists of five loaves of barley bread and two little fish and the crowd is 5,000 men plus women and children. Impossible? Absolutely. But Jesus blesses the lunch and it is distributed. Shockingly, there is enough for everyone and so many leftovers that it takes 12 baskets just to gather them!
It is much more than they could ask or imagine. Truly this feeding is miraculous, but in John’s gospel these events are called signs rather than miracles. They are signs because they point to deeper truths about who Jesus is and what he has come to do. This sign cannot be taken at face value—we must probe deeper. It is not about Jesus being a guy who magically makes bread and fish multiply. It is about the fact that Jesus is himself the bread of life, the one who will soon nourish them with his own body and blood. Bread satisfies hunger for the moment but he satisfies spiritual hunger for all time. Jesus made a similar statement to the woman at the well—calling himself living water. Still, the crowd doesn’t seem to understand this sign and instead, they want to seize him and make him king because of the free lunch program they are sure he will institute. They had come to this mountain searching for Jesus and even after this marvelous sign, they still don’t find what they are looking for.
And you are here this morning—why, I don’t know. But I can assume that it is because you too, are seeking Jesus. You are trying to find the one who offers the opportunity to live an everlasting and meaningful life. You are clamoring after the God who makes the impossible is possible. You are looking around this world where of despair and fear and scarcity and you know that there has got to be more—there must be abundance if you can just tap into the power of Jesus that can feed a multitude with just five loaves and two fish.
Well, if that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place. That’s what our life of faith is all about: seeking and finding the abundance of our God. Yet as humans it is difficult to accept such lavish love and care. In our New Testament lesson for today, we are offered a prayer. Paul writes:
“I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Yes, the God who feeds the multitude with one boy’s lunch is the God of abundance. That’s the sign Jesus wants for us to get. He is the bread of life. And he feeds us with the unfathomable love of God—the fullness of God. And because this power is in us through the Holy Spirit, there is nothing we can’t do. This Spirit can accomplish far more through us than seems possible. And we are called to live in that believe in the possible, to stake our lives on it.
The theologian Soren Kierkegaard said faith is like floating in a deep ocean. If you struggle and thrash about, you will eventually tire and sink. But if you relax and trust, you will float. Faith, you see is trusting in the bouyancy of God to keep you safe. It is allowing God to be your everything: the ground in which you live and move and have your being. You have to let go of your fears and trust in the abundance of God and how much it can be present in your everyday life. That’s the sign that Jesus was pointing to in this miraculous act.
To close, I share with you a famous quote by Marianne Williamson.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.
May the God of all possibility bless you with the peace of Christ which passes all understanding. Amen.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
IT'S ALL "US"
A Sermon for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost
Pastor Laura Gentry
Ephesians 2:11-22
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
There was a young man who was an All-American football player in college and then went on to play professional football for a few years. After a brief career, he came back to his alma mater as an assistant coach. One of his main responsibilities was to go and recruit players the team. Before he made his first recruiting trip, he went in to visit with the head coach—the same coach for whom he had played when he was in college.
The head coach was a serious old guy with a raspy voice from all the years he’d yelled at players. He had held that position as head coach for many years, was widely known and highly respected all across the country. The new young coach said to him, “Coach, I’m about to head out on my first recruiting trip, but before I go I want to be sure that you and I on the same page. Tell me, Coach, what kind of player do you want me to recruit?”
The old coach leaned back in his chair. He looked the young coach straight in the eyes and said: “Son, I’ve been at this job a long time and over the years I have noticed that there are several different kinds of players. For example, there are some players who get knocked down and they stay down. That’s not the kind we want!” He said, “And then there are find some players who get knocked down and they get right back up only to get knocked down again and then they stay down. That’s not the kind we want!”
And then the old coach went on: “And then there are some players who get knocked down and they get knocked down and they get knocked down, and every time they get knocked down, they get right back up!”
At this point, the young coach got excited and he said, “Now, that’s the kind of player we want, isn’t it, Coach?”
“No!” said the old head coach. “We want the one doing all that knocking down!!”
Now in today’s epistle lesson, the Apostle Paul is talking about this kind of incessant knocking down, but he’s not talking about knocking down people—like in football—he’s talking about knocking down the walls that divide people from one another.
Paul, you see, was born into an “us” and “them” world. There were two, very distinct camps: the Jews—that is, the chosen people of God, to whom God had been revealed and had given all the promises of Hebrew Scriptures—and the Gentiles—that is, everybody else. In his worldview, the Jews were “us,” and the Gentiles, clearly, were “them.” Until Paul’s conversion to Christianity, he was so set on the wall between them that he persecuted everyone who wasn’t a Jew and even killed them. So the writer of today’s scripture understands how walls work.
Some things never change. Nineteen hundred years later, the English writer Rudyard Kipling said, “East is east, and west is west, and never the twain shall meet.” He wasn't just saying that to sound poetic, even though it does (especially the twain part). Kipling was reflecting the reality of the world in which he lived. He fully understood that there is something deep in human nature that makes us want to divide the world into us and them—that causes us to choose sides, to draw dividing lines, and to build up walls, walls we will defend with our very lives.
There are so many ways in which we do this! Our society has endless barriers and walls that divide us such as cultural background, nationality, race, socioeconomic class, gender, sexual orientation, political party, favorite sports team and so forth. We even divide ourselves up based on the kind of car we drive. We have barriers between Christians—perhaps the most of all. I can’t tell you how many people refer to different Christian denominations as different “religions.” We aren’t of different religions! We are all of the Christian religion—we share the same Lord, Jesus Christ. Even within the ELCA, we build walls that divide us as we struggle to find God’s truth on various theological and social issues that confront our church. In fact, the churchwide assembly is going to be next month: August Aug. 17-23. Because there are so many controversial issues on the table, the Bishop has invited the whole church into 50 days of prayer for wisdom, discernment and unity. Obviously, unity is a big challenge for our church. It's still a world of us versus them.
As humans, we are really good at building walls—both physical and philosophical ones. Some of them have names: the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall. We all remember the historical speech of President Reagan's when he challenged the Russian leader about the Berlin Wall. He emphatically said: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” I remember visiting that wall when I was a little girl and seeing the fences within fences surrounding the walls with gunmen sitting on towers. I remember hearing my relative recount—with tears streaming down his face—how he had escaped East Germany with bullets whizzing past him as he swam to safety but how he was, then, separated from his friends and family. I never thought that wall would come down in my lifetime. And yet it did! Shortly after I’d graduated from high school, it was dismantled and people all over the world grabbed pieces of it as souvenirs to take home—each stone a powerful symbol that walls CAN be torn down.
This is good news because walls are not God’s intention. Christ came to build bridges, not walls. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we read, “He has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.”
“Something there is that doesn't love a wall,” wrote the great American poet Robert Frost. We could add to that statement: someone there is who doesn't love a wall. That someone is Jesus Christ—the one who came to knock down the dividing walls of our world.
As Christians, then, it is our job to continue that work; to be like that football player who is doing all that knocking down. We are to knock down walls wherever we see them and to be very careful that we don’t contribute to building and maintaining them—which is all to easy to do. We need to examine our lives and our hearts to find those invisible but very real barriers that we place between ourselves and our fellow human beings—setting up the old us and them scenario again. Our fearful, sinful self is all too eager to do this.
“East is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet,” just isn't okay. Paul explains that in Christ, we have been saved by grace and therefore, we have all been given peace that makes us one. He writes it this way: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (3:28) In a world that constantly encourages the us and them mentality, the Christian message is radical—it declares that there is no them. Them is a myth. There is only us—we are all in the same boat, all members of the same body with Christ as the head. It reminds me of a bumper sticker I have. It says: “God bless everybody. No exceptions.”
Paul goes on to say that we are to be “one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,” For Christ himself is our peace and it is he who makes us one. There is NO us and them. There is only us and Christ is Lord of us all.
But do we live like this is a reality? Think about times when you’ve seen others knocking down dividing walls. What a miraculous thing it is. How can you do this too? How can you build bridges instead of walls? How can you connect with people that you consider them instead of excluding these children of God? What can you personally do to promote Christian unity and peace in our world? These are questions which Paul urges us to ask of ourselves day after day, that we may be moved by the Spirit to positive action for the sake of the kingdom.
Let us pray: O God you have made all your people one and sent your Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you. Pour out your Spirit upon ALL your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Pastor Laura Gentry
Ephesians 2:11-22
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
There was a young man who was an All-American football player in college and then went on to play professional football for a few years. After a brief career, he came back to his alma mater as an assistant coach. One of his main responsibilities was to go and recruit players the team. Before he made his first recruiting trip, he went in to visit with the head coach—the same coach for whom he had played when he was in college.
The head coach was a serious old guy with a raspy voice from all the years he’d yelled at players. He had held that position as head coach for many years, was widely known and highly respected all across the country. The new young coach said to him, “Coach, I’m about to head out on my first recruiting trip, but before I go I want to be sure that you and I on the same page. Tell me, Coach, what kind of player do you want me to recruit?”
The old coach leaned back in his chair. He looked the young coach straight in the eyes and said: “Son, I’ve been at this job a long time and over the years I have noticed that there are several different kinds of players. For example, there are some players who get knocked down and they stay down. That’s not the kind we want!” He said, “And then there are find some players who get knocked down and they get right back up only to get knocked down again and then they stay down. That’s not the kind we want!”
And then the old coach went on: “And then there are some players who get knocked down and they get knocked down and they get knocked down, and every time they get knocked down, they get right back up!”
At this point, the young coach got excited and he said, “Now, that’s the kind of player we want, isn’t it, Coach?”
“No!” said the old head coach. “We want the one doing all that knocking down!!”
Now in today’s epistle lesson, the Apostle Paul is talking about this kind of incessant knocking down, but he’s not talking about knocking down people—like in football—he’s talking about knocking down the walls that divide people from one another.
Paul, you see, was born into an “us” and “them” world. There were two, very distinct camps: the Jews—that is, the chosen people of God, to whom God had been revealed and had given all the promises of Hebrew Scriptures—and the Gentiles—that is, everybody else. In his worldview, the Jews were “us,” and the Gentiles, clearly, were “them.” Until Paul’s conversion to Christianity, he was so set on the wall between them that he persecuted everyone who wasn’t a Jew and even killed them. So the writer of today’s scripture understands how walls work.
Some things never change. Nineteen hundred years later, the English writer Rudyard Kipling said, “East is east, and west is west, and never the twain shall meet.” He wasn't just saying that to sound poetic, even though it does (especially the twain part). Kipling was reflecting the reality of the world in which he lived. He fully understood that there is something deep in human nature that makes us want to divide the world into us and them—that causes us to choose sides, to draw dividing lines, and to build up walls, walls we will defend with our very lives.
There are so many ways in which we do this! Our society has endless barriers and walls that divide us such as cultural background, nationality, race, socioeconomic class, gender, sexual orientation, political party, favorite sports team and so forth. We even divide ourselves up based on the kind of car we drive. We have barriers between Christians—perhaps the most of all. I can’t tell you how many people refer to different Christian denominations as different “religions.” We aren’t of different religions! We are all of the Christian religion—we share the same Lord, Jesus Christ. Even within the ELCA, we build walls that divide us as we struggle to find God’s truth on various theological and social issues that confront our church. In fact, the churchwide assembly is going to be next month: August Aug. 17-23. Because there are so many controversial issues on the table, the Bishop has invited the whole church into 50 days of prayer for wisdom, discernment and unity. Obviously, unity is a big challenge for our church. It's still a world of us versus them.
As humans, we are really good at building walls—both physical and philosophical ones. Some of them have names: the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall. We all remember the historical speech of President Reagan's when he challenged the Russian leader about the Berlin Wall. He emphatically said: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” I remember visiting that wall when I was a little girl and seeing the fences within fences surrounding the walls with gunmen sitting on towers. I remember hearing my relative recount—with tears streaming down his face—how he had escaped East Germany with bullets whizzing past him as he swam to safety but how he was, then, separated from his friends and family. I never thought that wall would come down in my lifetime. And yet it did! Shortly after I’d graduated from high school, it was dismantled and people all over the world grabbed pieces of it as souvenirs to take home—each stone a powerful symbol that walls CAN be torn down.
This is good news because walls are not God’s intention. Christ came to build bridges, not walls. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we read, “He has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.”
“Something there is that doesn't love a wall,” wrote the great American poet Robert Frost. We could add to that statement: someone there is who doesn't love a wall. That someone is Jesus Christ—the one who came to knock down the dividing walls of our world.
As Christians, then, it is our job to continue that work; to be like that football player who is doing all that knocking down. We are to knock down walls wherever we see them and to be very careful that we don’t contribute to building and maintaining them—which is all to easy to do. We need to examine our lives and our hearts to find those invisible but very real barriers that we place between ourselves and our fellow human beings—setting up the old us and them scenario again. Our fearful, sinful self is all too eager to do this.
“East is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet,” just isn't okay. Paul explains that in Christ, we have been saved by grace and therefore, we have all been given peace that makes us one. He writes it this way: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (3:28) In a world that constantly encourages the us and them mentality, the Christian message is radical—it declares that there is no them. Them is a myth. There is only us—we are all in the same boat, all members of the same body with Christ as the head. It reminds me of a bumper sticker I have. It says: “God bless everybody. No exceptions.”
Paul goes on to say that we are to be “one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,” For Christ himself is our peace and it is he who makes us one. There is NO us and them. There is only us and Christ is Lord of us all.
But do we live like this is a reality? Think about times when you’ve seen others knocking down dividing walls. What a miraculous thing it is. How can you do this too? How can you build bridges instead of walls? How can you connect with people that you consider them instead of excluding these children of God? What can you personally do to promote Christian unity and peace in our world? These are questions which Paul urges us to ask of ourselves day after day, that we may be moved by the Spirit to positive action for the sake of the kingdom.
Let us pray: O God you have made all your people one and sent your Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you. Pour out your Spirit upon ALL your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
THE HIGH COST OF DISCIPLESHIP
A Sermon for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost
by Pastor Laura Gentry
Mark 6:14-29
Austin Powers: Not the time to lose one's head.
Vanessa Kensington: No.
Austin Powers: That's not the way to get ahead in life.
Vanessa Kensington: No.
Austin Powers: It's a shame he wasn't more headstrong.
Vanessa Kensington: Hmm.
Austin Powers: He'll never be the head of a major corporation.
Vanessa Kensington: Okay, that'll do.
Austin Powers: Okay.
When I examined today’s Gospel reading about the horrible decapitation of the famous prophet, John the Baptist, I decided I’d have to start the sermon out with this set of puns because, how else can you cope with such a horrifying text? I mean, what is this story even doing in the gospel of Mark, let alone our lectionary? There are a lot of gruesome stories in the bible that didn’t make it into the set of lectionary readings like Uzzah who is struck dead just for reaching out his hand to steady the ark of the covenant when it wobbled on its way to Jerusalem (2 Samuel). Why did this story about John the Baptist’s awful death make it in the lectionary? And what are we supposed to gain from having examined it?
Well, to begin with, we should look at where the interlude comes chronologically in the Gospel story. It happens right after Jesus sends the disciples out to do their ministry. Remember? We talked about that last week. They didn’t take anything with them—no purse, no money, to extra clothes, not even a cell phone—and they were given power to heal and to cast out demons. It is during the time they are off doing this exciting ministry that we hear about John’s sad fate.
I think the point of juxtaposing these two stories is to highlight the high cost of discipleship. Jesus’ disciples are off slugging it out with the demons and illnesses and they’re out there on their own without even any snack bars or other provisions that might help prop them up in this difficult work. They’ve just been called as disciples and so they are not that experienced, yet they are sent to proclaim the good news. It’s certainly not an easy mission Jesus has sent them on. It’s costing them everything, as they’ve had to leave their old lives behind do to this.
Meanwhile, John the Baptist is about to loose his head for having had the courage and integrity to criticize Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee. He had stolen his brother’s wife, Herodias and married her himself. So his wife’s daughter, Salome, was at once his niece and his stepdaughter. John had told Herod that this marriage was a moral outrage. This wasn’t exactly music to his ears. Still, he was fascinated by John and he feared him, recognizing he was a righteous and holy man. Furthermore, he liked listening to John, even though his words were critical. So Herod put him in prison, rather than killing him as Herodias had wanted him to do.
Well, then things really come to a “head” at Herod’s birthday banquet. This was an extravagant event thrown my Herod himself. The entertainment, it seems, was the dance of the stepdaughter/niece, Salome. I’m with John on the being outraged here because it doesn’t sound appropriate for this daughter to be entertaining the party guests in this way. Herod is a bit too “into” his step-daughter’s dance. He is so “pleased,” it says, that he makes an exaggerated oath to give her whatever she wants (up to half his kingdom, which is the most a woman could inherit).
The girl goes to her mother for guidance on what to request. Herodias has had it in for John from the start and so without hesitation, she tells Salome to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
Now Herod’s in a tight spot. All of the guests heard him give his word that he would grant the girl her request. If he wants to be a man of his word, he will have to do it. It says he is deeply grieved about it but it’s rather difficult to have pity for him. He orders the dirty deed done and John’s head is brought into the banquet on a platter—still dripping with blood—and presents to Salome, who gives it to her evil mother.
Um...where’s the happy ending? I guess the old saying holds: No good deed goes unpunished. Here we have an incredible prophet in John. Even his birth was a extraordinary and miraculous and had been prophesied. While he was still in his mother’s womb, John leapt for joy upon hearing the greeting of Jesus’ mother. He was born to a family of priests to prepare the way for Jesus. He called people to repentance and baptized them in the Jordan River. He had no earthly possessions and ran around in nothing but some stinky camel hair and ate wild honey and grasshoppers, for crying out loud! The guy was committed. Here is a prime example of fabulous discipleship. He didn’t give God a portion of his life—he gave it all. And in the end, he’s gotta die for it? What’s the reward in that?
And he wasn’t the only one to die for his faith: the apostles did too. The only one who lived out his days was Saint John but he was exiled to the island of Patmos where he is said to have written the book of Revelation. All the others died as martyrs: killed for having the courage to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
John’s death foreshadows the death of the one he has come to prepare the way for: Jesus Christ. Just as Herod reluctantly orders the death of John, Pontius Pilate will soon reluctantly order the death of Jesus. Yes, even the Son of God is given the death sentence for bringing the good news. So is it really good news?
Indeed it is, because God does not let death have the final say. Jesus is laid in the tomb but three days later, he is risen to new life and with it, he brings resurrection power to the whole world. He lives that death may die!
And so the tragedy of John’s violent death, as well as the tragedy of all those disciples dying in the line of duty is nullified. There is no sting in death—there is no victory in it at all. Jesus’ has taken their deaths and transformed them into resurrections.
Hopefully, none of us will ever have to face what John the Baptist or any of the apostles did. Nevertheless, we can expect problems in our life of faith. Don't be mistaken: the cost of discipleship is extremely high. We can lose friends, even jobs because of our religious convictions. We can experience hardship and prejudice and any manner of setbacks. Yet these things don’t matter compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. Jesus has given us his life so that we may have life and have it abundantly. And he has called us to a life of discipleship in which we give our very ALL for the sake of the kingdom. We cannot hold back even a part of ourselves—no, we must follow the example of the saints who have gone before and dive right into our mission. We can do it because the Spirit’s power is with us and nothing can ever separate us from the love of God. Amen.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
LET GOD BE GOD
A Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
Mark 6:1-13
There was a kid who got kicked out of the neighborhood drug store by the time he was in high school. Needless to say, he’d caused the owner quite a bit of grief in his mischievous younger days. Twelve years later, while visiting home after his ordination into the ministry, his mother sent him to the same store. When he walked in the owner looked up and said, “I told you: OUT!”
It’s hard to be a prophet in your own hometown. That’s the same thing Jesus found out in today’s gospel reading. It’s hard to gain respect from those who know you. You know what the definition of an expert is, don’t you? It’s someone from at least 50 miles away.
Sometimes, I think we forget how difficult Jesus had it. In Mark 3:21, we see that Jesus’ own family had labeled him crazy and tried to restrain him. A few verses later, his mother and brothers and sisters try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. In last week’s story when he came to raise the girl from the dead he was laughed at.
And now in today’s gospel scene, he’s back in his hometown and goes to the temple to teach. The people who heard it are astounded. The Greek word used here implies a hint of incredulity. They can’t comprehend it! I can imagine all the muttering things like: Hey isn’t that Mary and Joe’s kid? The one that used to throw rocks at the house? Yeah, yeah and his brothers were all messed up. Now he thinks he’s a prophet? Some great teacher back here in Nazareth? And doing miracles! I hear he just raised a little girl from the dead. No way could Joe’s kid do that. He’s gotta be a fraud.
Yes, Jesus is flatly rejected by his peers—by the folks he grew up with. It amazes Jesus that they could be so impervious to the good news. This scene shows us how deeply God has entered into our world in the person of Jesus. He experiences all the same problems, peer pressures, disappointments and sufferings that we do. Yet he gives us a model of how to deal with the pain of being human. He shows us that depending upon God is the way to get through it.
Jesus is anchored in God’s love and even if he is not accepted, he will not lose heart. In fact, he realizes that trying to do more miracles here in his hometown is going to be a waste of time because they won’t understand that he’s not trying to be a show off with the miracles. He is trying to give them a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. Instead, these displays of power will become a stumbling block for them. So he does no great deeds of power here.
And then he calls his disciples and immediatelysends them out in pairs to proclaim the Gospel. The amazing thing is that he sends the out without anything: no money, no extra clothes, no bag. I like to have a different bag to match each of my outfits but Jesus’ disciples are sent out with no bag at all! He instructs them to depend upon God, not other things that would normally sustain them on such a journey. And he tells them something strange. He says: “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”
Now I used to be troubled by that statement because it comes across as rather rude, even mean-spirited. Shaking your shoes at them? Why should Jesus tell them to do this? It comes from his own experience. He knows that not everyone will accept the good news and some will wholeheartedly reject it. There is danger that this rejection will discourage them from moving forward with their mission. Jesus knows that they have a vital task and they cannot allow nay-sayers to get them down. Negativity has a way of doing that, as you know. Instead, Jesus instructs them to be connected to God and depend upon God’s mercy entirely and so if someone has something bad to say, shake it off and move forward.
This is all well and good but it is easier said than done. How many times have you been set back by the negative comments of others, particularly your friends and loved ones? Being rejected by a stranger is no big deal compared to being rejected by people close to you. How do you deal with it? How do you not lose heart? Do you ever feel too weak to go on?
Paul talks about this in the Epistle lesson for today. He had been through all kinds of rejection and even had what he called a “thorn in the side.” We don’t know if this was literally a torn stuck in his side or a metaphor for some other medical or emotional problem. Whatever it was, it made life really difficult for him. And like Jesus, he had a hard time teaching in places where people knew him. They doubted his motives and authority.
Indeed, Paul felt weak. Yet he discovered a profound truth in this weakness: it is strength. It is strength because it keeps you humble. It keeps you from believing your greatness comes from your own doing. It enables you to cling more tightly to your Savior. God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Grace, he explained, is all sufficient for us no matter how many thorns we have in our flesh.
In their weakness, Jesus’ disciples truly experience the sufficiency of grace. Without a bag, they go out to do God’s work. They follow Jesus’ advice to walk away from rejection and to allow God’s power to fill their weakness. Truly God’s power became their power. This passage tells us that they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. Yes, they could cast out demons and heal the sick! God’s power was evidently in them.
And so this morning, we must ask ourselves: Is God’s power in me? Do I trust that if I humbly allow God to work through my weakness, I will have amazing power too?
The theologian Meister Eckhart wrote: “A pear seed grows into a pear tree, and a hazelnut seed grows into a hazelnut tree and a seed of God grows into God. God does not ask anything else of you but to let yourself go and let God be God. In you.”
This reminds me of a story. A man was hiking along the top of a great cliff and lost his footing and fell over the edge. Yet he managed to grab the edge of the rock with one hand. As he dangled there in great danger, he prayed: “God, God, are you there?”
And a voice said: “Yes, my son, It’s me: God. I’m here for you.”
Relieved, the man prayed: “God, you’ve got to help me out of this situation. Tell me what to do!”
God said: “You are going to have to trust me entirely. What I want you to do is let go of the rock.”
There was a long pause and then the man said: “Is there anyone else up there?”
That’s us. We say we want God’s help but when God shows up and asks us to let go and trust him, we get a little nervous.
It’s easy to get puffed up about our own accomplishments, but the goal of the Christian life is humbly to let yourself go and let God be God. In you. For with God, all things are possible. But if we stand in the way of the Spirit, we’ll be like the nay-sayers in Nazareth who could not believe and for whom no great works of power were performed. No, we are called to proclaim the good news even though the road is rough and we are weakened by the thorns in our flesh and not everyone, especially those in our hometown, will receive the liberating message we share. Nevertheless, we shake it off and press on. We must let God’s power be made perfect in our human weakness. Today, may we hear the call to truly let go and let God be God. In Us. Amen.
by Pastor Laura Gentry
There was a kid who got kicked out of the neighborhood drug store by the time he was in high school. Needless to say, he’d caused the owner quite a bit of grief in his mischievous younger days. Twelve years later, while visiting home after his ordination into the ministry, his mother sent him to the same store. When he walked in the owner looked up and said, “I told you: OUT!”
It’s hard to be a prophet in your own hometown. That’s the same thing Jesus found out in today’s gospel reading. It’s hard to gain respect from those who know you. You know what the definition of an expert is, don’t you? It’s someone from at least 50 miles away.
Sometimes, I think we forget how difficult Jesus had it. In Mark 3:21, we see that Jesus’ own family had labeled him crazy and tried to restrain him. A few verses later, his mother and brothers and sisters try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. In last week’s story when he came to raise the girl from the dead he was laughed at.
And now in today’s gospel scene, he’s back in his hometown and goes to the temple to teach. The people who heard it are astounded. The Greek word used here implies a hint of incredulity. They can’t comprehend it! I can imagine all the muttering things like: Hey isn’t that Mary and Joe’s kid? The one that used to throw rocks at the house? Yeah, yeah and his brothers were all messed up. Now he thinks he’s a prophet? Some great teacher back here in Nazareth? And doing miracles! I hear he just raised a little girl from the dead. No way could Joe’s kid do that. He’s gotta be a fraud.
Yes, Jesus is flatly rejected by his peers—by the folks he grew up with. It amazes Jesus that they could be so impervious to the good news. This scene shows us how deeply God has entered into our world in the person of Jesus. He experiences all the same problems, peer pressures, disappointments and sufferings that we do. Yet he gives us a model of how to deal with the pain of being human. He shows us that depending upon God is the way to get through it.
Jesus is anchored in God’s love and even if he is not accepted, he will not lose heart. In fact, he realizes that trying to do more miracles here in his hometown is going to be a waste of time because they won’t understand that he’s not trying to be a show off with the miracles. He is trying to give them a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. Instead, these displays of power will become a stumbling block for them. So he does no great deeds of power here.
And then he calls his disciples and immediatelysends them out in pairs to proclaim the Gospel. The amazing thing is that he sends the out without anything: no money, no extra clothes, no bag. I like to have a different bag to match each of my outfits but Jesus’ disciples are sent out with no bag at all! He instructs them to depend upon God, not other things that would normally sustain them on such a journey. And he tells them something strange. He says: “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”
Now I used to be troubled by that statement because it comes across as rather rude, even mean-spirited. Shaking your shoes at them? Why should Jesus tell them to do this? It comes from his own experience. He knows that not everyone will accept the good news and some will wholeheartedly reject it. There is danger that this rejection will discourage them from moving forward with their mission. Jesus knows that they have a vital task and they cannot allow nay-sayers to get them down. Negativity has a way of doing that, as you know. Instead, Jesus instructs them to be connected to God and depend upon God’s mercy entirely and so if someone has something bad to say, shake it off and move forward.
This is all well and good but it is easier said than done. How many times have you been set back by the negative comments of others, particularly your friends and loved ones? Being rejected by a stranger is no big deal compared to being rejected by people close to you. How do you deal with it? How do you not lose heart? Do you ever feel too weak to go on?
Paul talks about this in the Epistle lesson for today. He had been through all kinds of rejection and even had what he called a “thorn in the side.” We don’t know if this was literally a torn stuck in his side or a metaphor for some other medical or emotional problem. Whatever it was, it made life really difficult for him. And like Jesus, he had a hard time teaching in places where people knew him. They doubted his motives and authority.
Indeed, Paul felt weak. Yet he discovered a profound truth in this weakness: it is strength. It is strength because it keeps you humble. It keeps you from believing your greatness comes from your own doing. It enables you to cling more tightly to your Savior. God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Grace, he explained, is all sufficient for us no matter how many thorns we have in our flesh.
In their weakness, Jesus’ disciples truly experience the sufficiency of grace. Without a bag, they go out to do God’s work. They follow Jesus’ advice to walk away from rejection and to allow God’s power to fill their weakness. Truly God’s power became their power. This passage tells us that they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. Yes, they could cast out demons and heal the sick! God’s power was evidently in them.
And so this morning, we must ask ourselves: Is God’s power in me? Do I trust that if I humbly allow God to work through my weakness, I will have amazing power too?
The theologian Meister Eckhart wrote: “A pear seed grows into a pear tree, and a hazelnut seed grows into a hazelnut tree and a seed of God grows into God. God does not ask anything else of you but to let yourself go and let God be God. In you.”
This reminds me of a story. A man was hiking along the top of a great cliff and lost his footing and fell over the edge. Yet he managed to grab the edge of the rock with one hand. As he dangled there in great danger, he prayed: “God, God, are you there?”
And a voice said: “Yes, my son, It’s me: God. I’m here for you.”
Relieved, the man prayed: “God, you’ve got to help me out of this situation. Tell me what to do!”
God said: “You are going to have to trust me entirely. What I want you to do is let go of the rock.”
There was a long pause and then the man said: “Is there anyone else up there?”
That’s us. We say we want God’s help but when God shows up and asks us to let go and trust him, we get a little nervous.
It’s easy to get puffed up about our own accomplishments, but the goal of the Christian life is humbly to let yourself go and let God be God. In you. For with God, all things are possible. But if we stand in the way of the Spirit, we’ll be like the nay-sayers in Nazareth who could not believe and for whom no great works of power were performed. No, we are called to proclaim the good news even though the road is rough and we are weakened by the thorns in our flesh and not everyone, especially those in our hometown, will receive the liberating message we share. Nevertheless, we shake it off and press on. We must let God’s power be made perfect in our human weakness. Today, may we hear the call to truly let go and let God be God. In Us. Amen.
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