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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