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Jesus, the “Regular Guy” Mark 6: 1 – 13 |
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Summary
Jesus, the “Regular Guy” When, as we look back at our lives, have we been most sure of God’s hand in events? Has it been when we — or someone we loved — were healed of a disease? Was it just a feeling that washed over us, a peace that seemed to flood our souls, or a joy that we couldn’t contain? Perhaps we found an inner strength we didn’t know we had. We faced some task, but didn’t know how we would get through it. Somehow, we found the resources. As far as we are concerned, the resources came from God. Did exactly the thing we needed to have happen come about? The pieces of some puzzle fall right into place? Looking back on it, we can attribute the way things worked out to providence. Do we have such times, when we experienced God’s hand in our lives? Perhaps we have to think hard to come up with an example, but we all have something. Maybe right at that moment the doubt that usually presses against us scooted over to make room for faith. We experienced faith as an assurance of God’s presence and power. We genuinely felt God’s love and care for us. When was that moment for you? Now, what if we shared that moment with someone, only to have that person analyze the moment, trying to figure out what “really” happened? We might share the experience with a friend, a true confidant, perhaps to influence that person’s faith, or just because we want to tell about it. Maybe our confidant doesn’t believe the way we do, doesn’t have the faith we have. Our confidant, whoever it might be, could come up with an explanation for whatever happened that would seem to exclude God. Perhaps if we think God healed someone we love, our confidant might explain it as the body repairing itself. If God seemed to have shaped events to bless us, our confidant might say that it just happened that way. If we found inner peace, joy or strength, our confidant might say it came from a function of our brain, not from God. If we think God answered a prayer, our confidant might say it would have worked out even if we had been silent and kept our prayers to ourselves. God’s interventions, God’s presence in our lives, God’s blessings and God’s answers to our prayers are always at least a little bit ambiguous. We don’t receive a certificate of authenticity with our blessings. No unmistakable voice booms out for all to hear, “I did this!” No mysterious skywriting appears to say, “This is the work of God!” Anyone who really wants to could explain some other way what we see as God’s action. Even when researchers have tried to discover if prayer for healing really works, the results are unclear. We can’t measure the effect of prayer on healing. The ambiguity just hangs there. The hometown church That seems to be what is happening in this scene from Mark’s gospel. Jesus’ ministry is ambiguous. Jesus has come to his hometown to preach and teach in the synagogue. At some point, most pastors have the opportunity to preach at the hometown church. That visit usually goes quite well. The good kind of pride just fills the room. Even if everyone has forgotten by the time the inevitable potluck supper starts what the preacher actually said, the whole congregation enjoys the experience. That’s usually the way it goes when a young preacher stands in the hometown pulpit. Jesus is not so lucky. What Mark reports sounds a little strange. “Many who heard” Jesus were astounded. On one level they were impressed. Mark doesn’t tell us what Jesus said, but we know the reaction. The people were astounded. (How many times have we been astounded by a sermon? On second thought, don’t answer that! We are often moved or inspired by a sermon, but rarely astounded.) Even though they were astounded by Jesus’ sermon and considered Jesus to have great wisdom, they just couldn’t relish the experience. They couldn’t let Jesus’ words fill them and accept the blessing. They couldn’t seem to open up and have faith. They had to analyze what was going on. “This is just Jesus,” they said. We know him. We grew up with him. (How would we feel if the boy who sat behind us in freshman English class grew up to be the Messiah? How would we feel if the girl whose toes we stepped on at the prom turned out to be a great spiritual leader?) Many who heard Jesus couldn’t see past the ordinary, regular guy they had known all their lives to experience God’s presence in him. Shouldn’t the Messiah come riding on a cloud out of the sky so that everyone would recognize him? How could the Messiah be someone you used to hang with? How could the Messiah be the boy you watched grow up? How could you have flirted with the Messiah’s brother? Skepticism and faith Many who heard Jesus were skeptical. That can be a good thing. We need a little skepticism. People are always trying to sell us a bill of religious goods. People report things to us that don’t quite ring true. An intrepid explorer has found a board that came from Noah’s ark! How does he know? Still, folks will send in a donation to get a splinter of that board. A friend sends us an e-mail saying a professor at a big university claimed that he would believe in God if a piece of chalk that he dropped didn’t hit the floor. It lands in the cuff of his pants. Some folks will forward it to everyone they know. But we check it out and it never really happened. Who comes up with this stuff? We need a healthy dose of skepticism. We also need faith. We need to experience God in our lives. We need to trust. We need to recognize when God is acting, when God is calling, when God is nudging us to take a risk. We need faith so that we do not give in to despair. We need faith so that we will tackle the big social problems like racism, poverty and hunger. They all seem so big we don’t know where to start. We think that if only God would act in an unmistakable way, we could banish our doubt and have real faith. Our passage teaches us that it doesn’t happen that way. Because many who heard Jesus did not have faith, Jesus could not — or did — not perform many deeds of power in his hometown. We might think that Jesus would have performed a mighty act to let the air out of their skepticism. The great acts of God do not always create spontaneous faith. Throughout the gospel of Mark, the disciples still don’t get it, even after a miracle. The disciples watch Jesus feed 5,000, but have no clue how Jesus will feed 4,000. Having seen the Transfiguration, John and James are full of ambition, not awe. Even the empty tomb did not clear everything up. The women ran out in fear at the end of Mark’s gospel. No event, even a spectacular one, wipes away all doubt and guarantees faith. Faith and God’s actions The relationship between our faith and God’s actions on our behalf are complicated. We don’t earn God’s actions by our faith. If a person isn’t healed, but dies anyway, even after sincere prayer, it doesn’t mean that our faith wasn’t strong enough. Nevertheless, our faith matters. Faith creates a space for God to act. Faith creates the sense of expectation, the atmosphere in which God acts. Faith helps us understand what God’s actions mean. Maybe Jesus couldn’t do acts of power because they would not have been properly understood. A lack of faith kept them from experiencing God’s grace and power. Faith is never a slam dunk. We have to choose to have faith. Faith makes us vulnerable. We can protect ourselves by skepticism, but we can be too well protected. We can protect ourselves so much that we miss out on the blessings. Faith does not mean that we fall for everything people tell us. Faith doesn’t mean we can just stay in denial. Faith does mean that we continue to have hope. Faith does mean that we find a way to give thanks even in the midst of pain. Faith does mean that we don’t give up on God. Faith does mean that we look for God’s presence even in what looks like ordinary life. God is at work. Let us look for the deeds of power all around us. |
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