The Limitations of Jesus – sermon on July 8, 2018
Mark 6: 1-13 Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Then Jesus went around the surrounding villages, teaching the people. And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick – no food, no traveler’s bag, no money. He allowed them to wear sandals but not to take a change of clothes. “Wherever you go,” he said, “stay in the same house until you leave town. But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.” So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God. And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with oil.
Sermon: The Limitations of Jesus by Rev. Doreen Oughton
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but raised in Nazareth, in the hills of Galilee. His ministry, however, began down by Lake Gallilee, where he called the first disciples, and they apparently used Capernaum, a lakeside fishing village about 50 miles from Nazareth, as their base. At this point in Mark’s gospel, they have been traveling all around Galilee, Jesus teaching, healing, and casting out demons. In most recent travels, they had been across the lake from Capernaum, in Gerasenes, where Jesus cast out a legion of demons. When they returned, the crowds pressed in on him and he healed Jairus’ daughter and a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. And now they have moved on from Capernaum to head to the place where Jesus grew up – Nazareth.
How long has it been since he’s been there? Perhaps not long. We are told back in chapter 3 that Jesus goes to a mountain with the followers who made the cut as apostles. After that, his family worries that he is out of his mind when the crowds are so persistent Jesus doesn’t even have time to eat. And when they seek him out, Jesus pledges familial allegiance to those that were around him, taking in his message.
Since then he has given an amazing sermon on the lake, used many parables in his teaching, stilled a storm on the lake on his way to Gerasenes. I wonder if he returned hoping his family heard about his work and better understood what he was doing. On the Sabbath he heads to the synagogue to preach. And what was the reaction? We are told they are “amazed,” which I think of as wowed or awed. But no. The same word is used to describe Jesus’s reaction to their unbelief, so maybe shocked is better – shocked and dismayed. We are told he couldn’t do much there, just a few healings. I wonder what else he would have liked to do. The other things he’s been doing are teaching and casting out demons. They rejected his teaching (not told what it was). I wonder what demons might he have noticed and wished to cast out?
The passage continues – he goes to surrounding villages, teaching. Does it seem like a new passage, or is this connected to previous section? He sends out the disciples, assigning them each a partner and giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. I wonder how he did that. Was there a ritual, was it simply reminders of what he had done and encouragement to them that they too could do it? He instructs them on what they can and cannot take with them, and instructs them on how to deal with rejection. Do you think his experience in Nazareth was still on his mind as he gave these instructions? He tells them, “if anyplace refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet.”
I tell you, I love this story, and I am scared of this story. There are a few things that resonate with me. One is the idea that our thoughts about Jesus, our reaction to him and reception of his ways, or lack thereof, can influence, can limit, what he can do. And I have to wonder, what ideas do we hold about Jesus that interfere with his work. Perhaps it is that the ideas we have are not incorrect, only incomplete. And it could be that the ideas we have are incorrect.
An incorrect idea I carried for many years was that Jesus was judgmental – that he was in the business of dictating who was or wasn’t worthy of going to heaven. This certainly limited his ability to transform my life, because I didn’t want to have anything to do with someone like that, with someone who would condemn people who were part of a different religion, or of no religion, or who struggled in life with doing the right thing. I knew I didn’t always do the right thing, and I had compassion for people who were doing what they thought they needed to for survival. Why would I want to follow someone who was less compassionate than I was? Yet somehow I was led to experiences that challenged this belief, and I was able to let it go. What ideas might you have that limit Jesus’ power?
Another thing that resonates with me in this passage is the vulnerability of the disciples as they are sent out. They are pretty much being forced to depend on the hospitality of others. They are to take no food, no bag, no money, no change of clothes. They are allowed one tunic, a pair of sandals, a walking stick and a partner each. And they are sent with the caution that their message would not be welcomed by all. They are not armed – not with weapons, not with identification, no facts or incontrovertible proof that they are on a mission from God. I wonder what sort of mix of excitement and fear, confidence and doubt, they carry with them as they head off.
I feel like I am standing before you in some measure of vulnerability. I have some thoughts on this passage, on the ways our beliefs limit Jesus’ power, but I am not armed with facts or proof. I have only my own experience of Jesus, my own understanding of scripture, which may be different from yours. Yet I am called to offer it to you, humbly, relying on your hospitality and receptivity to the message.
I believe Jesus is limited when we see him as only or primarily concerned with the salvation of individuals. Whether it is his power to heal or his guidance on how to live into the kindom, his message is not directed just to me or you or you. If we cling to this belief, we are missing out on something amazing. I believe Jesus was primarily concerned with the salvation of all, as a whole – the us. I believe his message was political, and if we cling to the belief that politics have no place in the body of Christ, we are missing out and may be limiting the power of Christ’s salvation. Now by political, I do not mean partisan. Of course, he was neither democrat nor republican. In his earthly life, he was a citizen of an occupied country; he wouldn’t have been allowed a voice or vote in the Roman governance. But he was attentive to what was going on and had a lot to say about it. He was killed as a political criminal, a threat to the Romans, as well as to the Jewish leaders that allied themselves with Rome.
He rejected no one, not those in power nor those on the margins. He ate with Pharisees and tax collectors. He healed the servant of a Roman at the Roman’s request, and people of other faiths, like the Syro-Phoenician woman. He healed those who believed in him and those who needed help with their unbelief. He taught in the synagogues and Temple, and on the lake and on a mountainside. His message was shared freely, extravagantly. He saw the brokenness of those who were oppressed, and the brokenness of those doing the oppressing. And he cared about it all. When Mary conceived Jesus, she sang about the great reversal he would bring, with the high brought down low and the lowly lifted high. But I believe that Jesus wasn’t interested in a reversal. He wanted to disrupt and interrupt the way we understood power and freedom and life.
And so he fought hatred with love, fought greed with self-sacrifice, fought fear with surrender. These things are hard things to understand, to take in, to serve as guides for our personal lives, let alone go out and spread to others. To fight hatred with love, to fight greed with self-sacrifice, to fight fear with surrender. Jesus calls his disciples to be incredibly vulnerable in a world that is possessed. And though he rejected no one, and wants to save everyone, I believe the gospels show he is particularly concerned with those on the margins. Some say he shows a preference for the poor. So while he may be concerned about the behavior and the souls of the wealthy, he is not concerned that they build or keep their wealth, that they have strong storehouses for all their goods. And he is concerned that the poor have enough to eat, that they be healthy enough to be part of community, that they are not unduly burdened by the tithes demanded by the Temple nor the taxes demanded by Rome. He is concerned about the widows and orphans and immigrants and foreigners. And I believe he wants us, his followers, to be concerned about them also.
Another belief that I think limits Jesus is the belief that he has a special fondness for the US of A. It seems that for some people, national pride and Christian faith become conflated. My thought is that Jesus is not particularly for or against any nation, was not even against the Roman empire, but is always concerned with how any nation treats its citizens as well as every other child of God. I believe Jesus was not happy about drone strikes on civilians whether they were initiated by Bush or Obama. I believe he is concerned about how we treat immigrants and foreigners no matter who is setting and enforcing the policies. I believe he wants to save us from inhumane treatment of his beloved ones whether it is happening in China or in South American gangs or ICE detention centers.
We are a people, a society, a world possessed – possessed by the sins of fear and greed and selfishness; possessed by the sins of racism and militarism and nationalism. And Jesus is sending us to cast out these demons. He has authorized us to do it. He has shown us how to do it – with love, with self-giving, with our witness and action, through our commitment to God and to Jesus. Is there some way that you can boost the power of Christ to save this world? For that is what he is offering – to save the whole world. Can you, will you, loosen your grip on your ideas about Jesus enough to welcome his full message of mercy and liberty for all people, or will you be left with the dust of an inhospitable world? Amen.
