(The photos are of the synagogue at Capernaum.)
Scriptures: 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 Ezekiel 2:1-10, 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, Mark
6:1-13
Jesus had just concluded a whirlwind tour of teaching,
preaching, and healing. He had not only
toured through many of the villages near where he had grown up, he had crossed
the Sea of Galilee – which is really a lake - to minister to Gentiles living in
ten villages on the other side of the Sea.
In particular, while among the Gentiles, he had cast a legion of demons
out of a man who was possessed. When he
crossed again to his side of the Sea of Galilee, he raised the daughter of
Jairus, who was thought to have died, and healed a woman who has suffered
internal bleeding for twelve years.
Having done all this, Jesus now came home to Nazareth. Undoubtedly it would be a time for Jesus to
rest and recharge. But one might also
expect Jesus’ homecoming to be a moment of triumph. Having done so much for so many in his
travels, we might expect the folks in his hometown to be falling at the feet of
the “hometown boy made good.”
That’s what we might expect, but that’s not what
happened. Mark’s gospel tells us that
Jesus began to teach in his hometown synagogue…the synagogue in which he had
grown up…and the people could not get their minds around what they were seeing
and hearing. After all, they’d known
Jesus since he was a toddler, had watched him take over Joseph’s carpentry
shop. Many of them may have brought
Jesus their tables and chairs to be repaired.
They’d surely heard the stories from the surrounding countryside about
Jesus’ miracles…and yet, when they saw him in front of the synagogue, he looked
like the same old Jesus that they’d known for years, his hands calloused, full
of splinters, probably knobby from his having banged his fingers with the
hammer from time to time. No halo, no
choir of angels, just the same Jesus they’d known all these years. At first,
Mark’s gospel tells us, they are astounded: “Where did he get all this? Where
did this wisdom come from? What are these miracles we’re hearing about?” But, we’re told, before long, astonishment
turns into contempt….Mark tells us, “They took offense at him.” And Jesus said, “Prophets are not without
honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own
house.” And, Mark tells us, Jesus could
do no deed of power there, except he laid his hands on a few sick people and
cured them. And Jesus was amazed at
their unbelief.
What went wrong? Why
couldn’t they welcome Jesus’ message as so many of the surrounding villages
had? To put it bluntly, why were they so
thick-headed? I’m sure that part of the
reason is, as I’d said earlier, that their long familiarity with Jesus got in
the way. For the others who heard Jesus,
they saw him as he was at that moment, without any prior baggage. For those in his hometown, they saw Jesus as
he had been – a hometown boy from an iffy family situation, raised by a man who
had not fathered him and yet had provided for him, along with his brothers and
sisters – a hometown boy who up until recently was carrying on his stepfather’s
carpentry business. They were quite
happy to bring their chairs to Jesus to be mended. To bring their souls to be mended – thanks,
Jesus, but no thanks.
It’s also likely that Jesus’ sermon pushed their
buttons. Mark doesn’t give us the
content of Jesus’ sermon in his hometown synagogue, but Luke does – the story
is in Luke chapter 4 – and Luke tells us that Jesus preached about God’s love,
not for Israel, but for those outside Israel, such as the widow at Zarephath
who hosted the prophet Elijah, and Naaman, the Syrian, whom the prophet Elisha
cured of leprosy. Jesus called the folks
in his hometown synagogue to a larger understanding of God, to an understanding
of God that did not begin and end with them, but embraced Jews and Gentiles
alike. And they weren’t having any of
it. While Mark tells us that his hometown folk took offense at Jesus, Luke
tells us they became so enraged that they tried to throw him off a cliff.
Jesus is certainly not the first prophet that folks tried to
throw off a cliff. Centuries earlier, in
preparing the prophet Ezekiel for his mission, God reminds Ezekiel that he is
being sent not to strange people in a far-away land, but to his very own
people. But God also tells Ezekiel,
over and over again, that the people to whom Ezekiel will be speaking, Ezekiel’s
own people, are “rebellious.” Over and
over again, God calls Israel “a rebellious house”…so much so that I suspect
Ezekiel might have been ready to tell God, “Ok, they’re rebellious, I get the
point.”
We might still wonder why the folks at Jesus’ hometown
synagogue got so riled up. After all,
what’s offensive about a God that loves us and other people too? Here’s a thought experiment: of course, yesterday was Independence Day,
July 4. Lots of flags, a big parade in
downtown Philly, and I’m sure Kate Smith’s version of God Bless America got
lots of play across the country. All to
the good. But what if we are reminded,
on the day after July 4, that God loves and wants to bless, not just America,
but also Canada, and Mexico, and the countries of Central America and South
America, and Africa, and Europe, and Asia, and Antarctica….that God wants to
bless the countries of the Middle East, including the ones our government
doesn’t like so much, such as Iran and Iraq and Afghanistan…. If we’re feeling a little uncomfortable
right about now, maybe we’re getting a small inkling of why the folks in Jesus’
hometown “took offense at him”, as Mark’s gospel tells us, or wanted to toss
him off a cliff, as Luke’s gospel tells us.
You see, they thought that, as part of the Chosen People, they owned
God, perhaps even thought they had a copyright on God, that they held the
patent on God. But Jesus reminded them
that, throughout history, God had chosen others in addition to themselves.
The folks at Jesus hometown synagogue were unimpressed with
Jesus because of their familiarity with who Jesus had been didn’t allow them to
see who he was now, and possibly because his message pushed their buttons. Could part of their reaction to Jesus have had to do, not with
their opinion of Jesus, but their opinion of themselves? On one hand, they may not have wanted to hear
about God’s love for Gentiles, but on the other hand, perhaps they thought
that, if God was at work, it would surely be in Jerusalem, among the chief
priests and scribes, and not in an out-of-the-way place like Nazareth. Or if
God was at work in Nazareth, it would be with the head of the local synagogue,
maybe, but not with the town carpenter, somebody seemingly just like
themselves. Perhaps they felt unworthy
to have God in Jesus at work in their midst.
But throughout the Bible, it’s exactly in marginal places and among
marginal people that God is most active.
So in our context, it may not be in a prominent place such as the
Cathedral on the Parkway that God is active, but perhaps in a small, out of the
way little church in a small, out of the way neighborhood like our own.
So Jesus’ visit home was a debacle….and in Mark’s gospel, we
don’t hear about Jesus visiting his hometown again. We’re told that, in response, Jesus went out
among the surrounding villages. And he
sent his disciples out, two by two, to proclaim that all should repent, and to
cast out demons. He ordered them to
travel light – no money, no food for the journey, no bag, not even a change of
clothes, just a staff, a pair of sandals, and one set of clothes. In the same way, Jesus sends us out to preach
good news, to bring healing, to name those places where ungodly forces are at
work, and cast them out. Lest we feel
unequipped, Jesus’ instructions to his disciples assure us that what God has
already given us is sufficient for the task.
Like the disciples, may we go forth from this place to
proclaim God’s good news. Like the
disciples, may we trust that God will provide for our needs. And may we have eyes to see those places in
which God is at work in our midst – even if it’s in familiar places, among
familiar people, here in Bridesburg, where God has planted us. Amen.
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