July 8th Sermon

Today’s passage of scripture comes from the book of Mark. We will be focusing this morning on chapter 6, verses 1-15. The Book of Mark is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It’s short and to the point. It also has a lot of lessons set by the seashore. The seashore is one of my favorite places to be and to gain inspiration as I take in the marvel and wonder of God’s mighty creation. There are two things that stand out in the book of Mark for me. These things were pointed out to me by my Uncle Stan Dotson and the other by a former professor, Dr. James Blevins. Mark uses the Sea of Galilee to set the stage for Jesus ministry to be all inclusive. No more is the Kingdom of God reserved for the select Jews. By crossing the Sea of Galilee to teach and perform miracles with the Gentiles Jesus sends an undeniable message of there being room at the table for all of God’s creation. Secondly, Mark brilliantly illustrates Jesus’s non conformity to Jewish Laws and expectations by performing miracles, teaching things and living his life in such a way that the disciples and others are constantly saying in their most surprised and astonished voice: What? These surprises Dr. Blevins called Fish Hooks, things that hooked the disciples in and made them ask for more explanation. The use of Fish Hooks as an image is appropriate given the number of lessons that take place by the seashore in the book of Mark. Before I delve into our focal passage this morning I want to point out some of the “fish hooks” that have occurred so far in the life of Jesus up to this point. Mark begins his account of the life of Jesus with the baptism of Jesus after identifying Jesus from being from Nazareth in the region of Galilee. He follows this with the account of Jesus going into the wilderness. A time of preparation and testing for his ministry to come. Once leaving the wilderness Jesus starts out going into his home region of Galilee preaching that “The Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the Good News.” The message of Jesus was simple. There was no deep theological secrets, no list of rules to follow. Just “repent and believe the good news.” It is while in Galilee that Jesus calls his first disciples, fisherman who were fishing in the Sea of Galilee. He calls them to become fishers of people. He then set out in Capernaum casting out demons, healing the sick and teaching in the synagogue. He would then retreat and spend time praying in solidarity before going onto what he believed was his next assignment. From Capernaum he felt called to go out into the nearby villages throughout Galilee preaching the message, driving out demons and healing the sick. People were amazed and a following quickly emerged for this man. While in the villages in Galilee Jesus performed the first Major Fish hook. He healed a leaper. You may know that leapers were considered unclean and contact with a leaper would quickly send a person into isolation for a period of cleansing. Jesus had no regard for the rules and had contact with the leaper. He told the leper not to tell but the leper did and Jesus was then in isolation. He couldn’t enter a town openly but stayed outside in the “lonely places.” The lonely places of isolation where only the outcasts remained. Yet, still people came to him. What? The surprises have only just begun. Jesus breaks the Sabbath by healing a lame man, the religious authorities calling him blasphemous. What? Jesus calls a tax collector as a disciple, but wait the surprise doesn’t stop there. He eats with him in his home with a room full of tax collectors and sinners. Jesus’s table of fellowship is full of persons on the wrong side of the law? What? The disciples don’t obey the fasting laws, grain is picked on the Sabbath and this Jesus is okay with this. What? Then when you think there could possibly be no more surprises Jesus begins his series of journeys across the lake to the Gentile area; a whole region of uncleanness. He casts out a demon in a man that has been living in a cemetery. He sends the demon into a herd of pigs, the symbol of the uncleanness of the Gentiles and sends the pigs to their drowning death, symbolizing the death of the uncleanness of the Gentiles. There is room at the table for the Gentiles as well as the Jew. Back and forth across the Sea of Galilee he goes. Showing no partiality in his healing and teaching. He heals Jew and Greek. He heals male and female. The Kingdom of God does not discriminate. There is room at the table for all. This new kingdom that Jesus is living out is not at all what anyone expected. Jesus meets with opposition from the religious leaders, the political authorities, his own disciples and even his family, those that know him best. This leads us to today’s passage. Jesus goes to his hometown of Nazareth where he goes to teach in the Synagogue. How would you picture such a homecoming. Here is the boy that grew up in our church and he is out there healing people, he speaks with such authority and wisdom, he casts out demons. We are so proud to call him ours to know that he came from among us. I was able to recently witness the ordination of Leyton Alan Mears. Alan has been the associate pastor of Longs Chapel for the last 6 years. Alan grew up in the Longs Chapel family. While I have only been at Longs Chapel for 11 years , I still felt a sense of deep pride in watching Alan become a Full Elder of the United Methodist church. I have seen him grow so much in the last 6 years. That is not the experience Jesus had though. The people in his home church questioned his authority, accused him of being blasphemous and crazy. They were saying things like “We know where he come from, this is just a carpenter’s boy.” His mother and brothers and sisters are among us right now. He performs miracles and teaches as if he were of some other authority. How could this possibly be? We know his humanity. Oh how easy it would be to be discouraged, to quit, to find something else to do. I might would. In fact I almost did. I heard god’s call to ministry as a 12 year old girl in a small southern Baptist Church. That didn’t go over very well in my denomination. Women just weren’t called to preach. I spent 30 years of my life trying to call Social Work my ministry and allowing the obstacles put in front of me to stop me, to hinder the call on my life. “I must have heard wrong, this is really what God wants me to do.” If it were meant to be these obstacles wouldn’t exist. Why I am a single mother, I have a great career. I can retire when I am 53 with full benefits. I can fulfill God’s call on my life through volunteering at the church and visiting nursing homes, speaking every couple of months. But, God wouldn’t let me settle for that for that was not God’s plan for me. Recently a friend of mine said don’t view opposition as an obstacle to be overcome, view it as a rock in the river that just changes the direction of the journey. What a great lesson. Jesus didn’t let opposition deter him. He was disappointed in the people’s lack of faith. For him faith was essential for healing to take place and he was able to heal very few people because of the lack of faith that existed. As sad and disappointing as this was Jesus did not let this failure to be accepted in his home town to become an obstacle for him or for his disciples. He kept moving forward with His Mission to bring about this new kind of kingdom. He went out into the villages and he continued to perform miracles, to teach and to heal. Then comes the second part of today’s story: the commissioning of the disciples. Starting with vs. 7. “Calling the twelve to him he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. He then instructed them in how to go about this: Vs. 8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff==no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave as a testimony against them. What was the result of this instruction. Vs. 12-13….They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. The failure of the hometown people to accept Jesus only pushed him forward to spread the mission outward and through his disciples spread it even more. His hometown folks’ attempt to kill him and thus kill the message was the ultimate fail. Friends we are all called to tell our stories, to let people know the love and grace of God. So what does this story today teach us about our own relationship with God. 1. God comes to us in unexpected, common ways such as through a carpenter’s son, we need to be looking for those ordinary means through which God might speak to us. 2. Failure should not be looked upon as a reason to give up but as a step with which to spawn us forward with even better more expansive plans. Shake the Dust off and move on. 3. We are not in this journey alone. We have companions for the journey. Travel in twos. 4. Travel Light. About this my friend Chip says: “feels like openness, hands free, not encumbered with my stuff - just dependent on God to supply our needs through the kindness of others.” It is very easy to let our attachment to stuff be a deterrent from doing God’s work. 5. Expect times of failure. Let that failure spur you forward, shake the dust off and move on. Where in your faith journey are you stuck, allowing doubt and unmet expectations stop you? Today is the day friends. Won’t you shake off the dust and move forward doing your part of bringing God’s Kingdom to Earth as it is in Heaven.