Encounter at
Nazareth
Mark 6: 1-13
July 8, 2012
Good
morning!
Right after I
signed up to preach I thought –
Andrew - what
have you done?!
A few days
later I received the readings for today.
I had to chuckle when I read the
Gospel – Jesus returning to his home town to preach!
There was
– I’m guessing - one major difference – when Jesus got up to speak in front of all
the people who had known him – he probably wasn’t quite as - nervous
- as I am.
+ + +
As I read
the first half of the today’s Gospel – I have to tell you - there
is a part of me that went right to the mind, in a little fantasy, of one
of the fellows who confronted him in the Synagogue in Nazareth. I imagined, this now bitter man, remembering
Jesus when they were both kids – hearing his mother – on
more than one occasion – saying–
“Andrew
- Andrew
- Andrew – why can’t you be more like Jesus ? . . . You
know very well who I’m talking
about. Mary’s son?. He’s such a good boy!”
Would I hold
a grudge - be a little jealous?
Perhaps . . .
From what we
know, Jesus was a good kid – and certainly an intelligent one.
We’re told:
As Jesus grew up he advanced in
wisdom and in favor with God and men.
That’s great
and good . . . but . . . He was also one
of us – human.
For some
reason I’ve never really thought of Jesus as having been one of those ‘squeeky
clean’ - obnoxiously perfect kids.
For me – I’m
thinking that he probably got himself into one fix after another as a kid –
lost a mantle – ripped his tunic and got it dirty just before going to the
synagogue. And don’t we all remember what
happened when he was twelve – the time
when he and his parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival . . .
Let me
remind you . . . this is a good one!
When the
festive season was over and they started for home, the boy Jesus stayed
behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know of this; but thinking that
he was with the party they journeyed on for a whole day, and only then
did they begin looking for him among their friends and relations. As they
could not find him they returned to
Jerusalem to look for him; and after
three days they found him sitting in the temple surrounded by the teachers
. . . enough said.
He was - I’m
sure - a good kid . . . doing what
kids do!
And as a teenager - - - can you imagine what he must have been like to live with?!
Now . . .
Imagine . .
. all the mental & emotional & spiritual changes that Jesus had to have
gone through as a devout young Jewish man - in
order for him to be willing -
and - able - to step forward into His destiny . . .
into his divinity.
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Why on earth would Jesus choose to go back to Nazareth
– his home town – knowing that there
was a pretty good chance that the reception he was going to get was going to be
pretty dicey? He must have known that his reputation was going to precede
him.
Jesus wasn’t
just another great ‘teacher’ on the lecture circuit –
His words – his actions – they were
radical – they were dangerous – and they
were scary!
His powerful
message of repentance and the many miracles he was performing as he moved from
village to village were wondrous to the throngs of people who gathered
around him – and worrisome
to the powers that be.
We saw in
the gospel several weeks ago how His own family
out of fear or embarrassment – or both - “went out (to the hill-country where he was
staying) to restrain him”
because “the scribes who had come down
from Jerusalem” to check him out were saying he was possessed by the “prince
of devils.”
How
surprised – and perhaps
upset and even shocked - they must have been to see their Jesus
talking back to the learned
scribes of Jerusalem – speaking to them with parables!
He was
pushing a lot of peoples
buttons –
So – why did
he go back to Nazareth?
It was necessary
- even critical that he go.
What he knew he would encounter at
Nazareth would become a crash course, if you will, for his disciples on how they
were to face their future as his followers - a
future that would confront them with all the jealousy, hate
and fear
that the world could and would throw at them.
I can
imagine – Jesus and his disciples - they’ve
been walking all day toward Nazareth - they’re
hot, tired, dirty, hungry - and
maybe even a little cranky. Turning to his disciples at the edge of town he
says, “Listen up! Pay attention! And, yes,
there will be a test! “
On the Sabbath he began to teach in
the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said,
Where did this man get all this?
What is this wisdom that has
been given to him?
What deeds of power are being
done by his hands!
And then the fateful moment came – the crowds astonishment
awakened their jealousy – their envy and their fear.
Is not this the carpenter, the
son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and
Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?
And they took offense at him.
And what are the people offended by?
They are
offended by the gifts he has, the wisdom he has and the healing power he displays.
They are offended by his authority.
In their
minds - Jesus is no longer ‘one of them’.
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Jesus then transforms this awkward rejection
into a teaching moment for his disciples – and for us.
How did he
react?
He faced the derision and hatred and
jealousy straight on.
He said to
the congregation - and to his disciples who were with him:
Prophets are not without honor,
except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.
He called
the situation for what it was. He showed his
disciples what they were up against.
Teaching
moment two:
Jesus and his disciples stayed in Nazareth - even
though the lack of faith among the people meant that
he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few
sick people and cured them.
Sadly - not even
those acts of compassion among their
own people could change the hearts of those who had taken offense at him.
And he was amazed at their unbelief.
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Jesus had shown
his disciples how to face fear and find the faithful.
Then he went about among the villages teaching.
Test time!
He called the twelve and began to
send them out two by two (apostolos means ‘sent’ in Greek),
and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
Jesus was getting
them used to the power and responsibility
that they would hold in the future. After
carefully instructing them on the details for their first mission he sent them
on their way. They were on the ‘the radical simplicity prayer plan’ - guaranteed to foster faith
and humility among them through their total reliance on God for their direction
and protection. They were
available - and they were vulnerable. This would be their first great undertaking of
faith.
So they went out and proclaimed that
all should repent. They cast out many demons
and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
+
We are on our
own great undertaking of faith.
We long
for spiritual perfection - we live - by God’s grace - with
spiritual progress .
The Last Word
Come to the edge, he said.
They said, We are afraid.
Come to the edge, he said.
They came.
He pushed them . . .
And they flew.
Peter McWilliams
--
D. Andrew Eddy
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