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Mark 6:1-13
Jesus had gained quite a reputation as a healer. In the chapter immediately preceding this one Jesus casts out a demon, heals a woman of a life long malady and raises a little girl from the dead. Then he came to his hometown! He left there a carpenter with a religious bent and he returns as a world-renowned prophet, teacher and healer. So of course they roll out the red carpet! They make him the grand Marshall of a parade and give him the key to the city!
No, not exactly. It starts off fine. He is a holy man so they ask him to preach in the Synagogue. And Mark tells us that many who heard him were astounded.
But some were not impressed. When they ask, "where does he get this wisdom?" they were not praising him. This becomes obvious when they say, "Isn't he a carpenter and don't his mother and brothers and sisters live here with us." They are saying that he is just a simple man and that he has no authority to say the things he is. In other words he must be talking through his hat.
What was it that led the people to of his hometown to reject Jesus? Was it jealousy? They had known him back when he was knee high to a grasshopper. He was famous now and they weren't. Maybe they wanted to knock him down to size.
Their comments suggest that this may have been part of their motivation. Luke tells us more of the story. There part of their motivation is possessiveness. They are upset that Jesus is spending time with people of other regions. He belongs to them and is from their people. So Charity should start at home and he should do in Nazareth the same wonders he is doing elsewhere.
Either way their familiarity with Jesus has bred contempt. How can the extraordinary come from someone so ordinary. How can a carpenter speak eternal wisdom? "Naw, he's Mary's boy. He can't be a rabbi or prophet, much less the Messiah." And in the end their refusal to accept what Jesus is doing limits their ability to receive his blessings. And the story ends by saying that Jesus only laid hands on a few and healed them.
Right on the heels of this rejection of Jesus he calls his disciples together. Maybe he is going to throw in the towel or retreat to another region where the people listen to him. No, he sends them out to proclaim the gospel. But before they go he gives them authority over unclean spirits. They will carry Jesus' authority to fight evil.
Then he gives them directions. Go two by two so that each has a companion to strengthen them. Basically they are not to carry a lot of baggage but just what they need. Secondly they are to stay in one place where they are welcomed. And he prepares them for rejection. He was rejected and they will be too, so they should just shake it off and move on.
So they went forth. They proclaimed that all should repent. That is not an easy message and it sets one up for rejection. But they are successful! Many demons are cast out and many are healed.
What made the difference? Jesus' own hometown and family reject him. But the other villages in the region respond positively to the disciples. Could it be that they were not as familiar with the disciples and so stopped to listen to them. Whereas his hometown would not listen to Jesus because they knew him?
You know people talk about America being a Christian nation. And I have to laugh a little. Granted, not everyone who came to America came to seek religious freedom. Many came seeking wealth and glory. Many others were kidnapped and brought here against their will. Not to mention the folks that were already here. All that given, many of the founders of this nation sought religious freedom to practice Christianity the way they felt led by God. And many of the principles of our government are based on the idea that humans are fallible and that God has give us all rights. Most of the patriotic songs we sing are hymns that recognize God as the giver of freedom. God Bless America, Battle Hymn of the Republic, O Beautiful for Spacious Skies: even the Star Spangled Banner contains the line, In God is our Trust. The Christian story permeates our culture at every turn.
So you would think that Christ would be welcome in the USA. But just as in Nazareth, familiarity breeds contempt. Instead of growing, the church in North America is shrinking. Jesus is old hat to most folk. You try to tell them about Jesus and they tune you out and say to themselves, "Been there done that." Then they go running after some new philosophy or some new religion when they feel empty.
But in other parts of the world Christianity is growing. In Africa and Asia the church is growing by leaps and bounds. It is to the point where churches in Africa and Asia are sending missionaries to North America. Oddly Christianity is growing the fastest among cultures that are not as familiar with it as we are here in America. People here, like the people of Nazareth, have an old image of Jesus and they refuse to accept that he could me more than their preconceived notions of him. Some say that Americans are inoculated against the Christian message. More accurately they are just plain prejudiced against it.
So what should we do? Should we give up on America? Throw our arms up in the air? Perhaps we Christians should focus our efforts on sending missionaries to the third world instead of planting churches here in North America. After all they are listening and responding while most of America ignores the church.
What would Jesus do in such a situation? Well, he would send out witnesses anointed with the power to resist evil and heal the wounded and hurting. That is what he did when his own hometown and family rejected him. And so we are to go out into a society that thinks it already knows all about Jesus. And we are called to show them that their assumptions are wrong. And we will be rejected but some will hear and be saved.
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
We all like to think we are strong. As Americans we take pride in the belief that the U.S.A. is the strongest nation in the world. We have the most stable government. We have the best laws for protecting individual rights. Our industrial base, despite decline, is still more powerful. And our armed forces are mightier than any Army, Navy and Air Force on the face of the earth.
But pride in strength is not just a national inclination. As individuals we all like to think that we are strong. One person takes pride in the tone of their muscles. Another boasts of the economic power which they have. And those who lack strength in other areas fancy themselves as possessors of inner strength. There are even those who boast of spiritual strength.
Because we take pride in our strength, we boast about it. We boast of our nation's power. We boast of our own personal strength. We boast of the strength of our faith.
We all like to think that we are strong, but in reality we are weak. It is part of who we are as humans. We were made from dust and we are nothing but dust. A stiff wind could blow us away. The smallest microbe or bacteria can kill us. And we are sustained in a fragile environment which we need to continue to exist. Here on Earth the climate and the pressure and elements in the air are carefully balanced to sustain us. In most other places in the universe we would die instantly.
Despite that reality, we continue to think we are strong. The illusion that we are strong is a psychological defense mechanism. Maybe if we convince ourselves and others that we are strong we don't have to face the truth. The truth being that in things that count we are really helpless.
Perhaps our boasting is the best evidence for arguing that we are truly weak. If we were strong we would have no reason for boasting. It is because we are weak that we feel a need to convince others and ourselves that we are strong. We are weak and in need of help. But instead of asking for help we boast of a greatness we do not possess. So we receive no help, because we ask for none.
Paul the apostle knew that he was weak. He had a thorn in his flesh that constantly reminded him of it. Because of that thorn he knew that he was a mere mortal. Even though he endured great persecution, his ailment always reminded him that his life was held together by a very thin thread. Paul even says that he had prayed to God to take that pain from him. But God left it there to remind him of his mortality.
Paul knew he was weak and that all humanity was just as mortal as he was. But Paul also knew something even more important. He knew that God helps the weak. That is the kind of God, the Almighty is. God cares for those who are in need. This is because God loves. And that love impels God to help the weak. After all it is the weak who ask for and accept God's help.
This led Paul to make some rather odd statements. It led him to boast of his weakness instead of his strength. He knew that it was because of his weakness that God worked in him. His weakness was the basis of God's aid. He said, "I gladly boast of my own weakness that the power of Christ might rest on me." He also said that God's power is made perfect in weakness. How can weakness perfect God's power? It is only when we acknowledge our weakness that God's power can work through us. Only when we say, "Lord, I am weak and need you," can God help us. That is when we are ready to accept God's help.
As the Apostle Paul said, "Our strength doesn't conquer the world, our weakness does." We like to think we are strong. But in truth we are weak. If we persist in the fantasy or illusion that we are strong we will not accomplish much. We will work and work, and get nowhere because we are too weak. But if we admit our weakness, then God can work in us, and the power of Christ will rest on us.
Paul was as great as humans get. He endured much for Christ. He was shipwrecked, imprisoned, threatened by mobs. He faced death over and over for Christ. Through it all he brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ to many. Despite his greatness he didn't boast of these things. He boasted only of Christ and his own weakness.
With this in mind maybe we should be careful about how we boast. Not just about ourselves but about our nation too. Instead of saying "look what I have done," we should say "I am incapable of doing anything look what Christ has done." And instead of saying "America is great and strong," we should say, "in truth America is weak, but look at what Christ has done through our weakness." After all it was Christ's weakest moment, the moment of his death, that conquered sin. As Christians we should take on his weakness. Otherwise we are pretending to be better than him.