EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodical authorized minister. The journey together these past seven years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on July 10, 2024.
This week's gospel: Mark 6:1-13
The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth
6 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary[a] and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense[b] at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown and among their own kin and in their own house.” 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.
The Mission of the Twelve
Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff: no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
The message:
Faith Family, I think one of the most daunting tasks we are asked to step into as a disciple of Christ is to be a prophet to those who do not know the ways of Jesus.
I mean, who wants to strike up a conversation about faith with their coworker over tuna sandwiches in the break room? … Or worse yet, who wants to ask the person on the next treadmill over at the gym what their relationship with Jesus is?
Or discuss your call story with another parent at your child’s softball game? Or mention how fulfilling the Bible can be to someone else standing in line to get a footlong hotdog at the fair?
You get the picture right? … None of this seems very comfortable to us, does it?
And yet, if we listen to Jesus, he is continuously calling us as disciples to go where it is uncomfortable and to prophesy words that are unwanted.
At its heart what it means to prophesy, is to share communications from God you’ve received to others. And, as we know, not all of God’s messages are what we want to hear, are they?
Just look at poor Ezekiel in the First Reading tonight.
Now, Ezekiel … a priest … who already had been exiled from his home land in Jerusalem to the land of Babylonia. So, he’s already given up much in serving his God, but then he is asked to go and prophesy to the Jewish people who also are living in exile in Babylon as well.
And, let me assure you … no one wanted that job. … Because if you aren’t familiar with the situation, a little context here would be helpful.
For Ezekiel and the nation of Israel, the first three decades of the 6th century B.C. were devastating. First off, now under captivity, the once powerful Israelite nation had been reduced to a much less powerful state known as Judah.
And adding insult to injury, eventually even Judah was eliminated by the more powerful Babylonian empire.
So, you can about imagine the state of despair the Israelites were in. … They may have been a little prickly with their God at that point?
Maybe like, “Hey, God, what about these promises that we are the chosen people? Huh? … What’s up with letting empire after empire roll through Israel every few decades?”
And then God comes along to Ezekiel and says: “Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.” Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”
Well, thanks for that, God! … Right? … What a plum assignment. Go and be the priest to people angry at you!
But Ezekiel wasn’t alone. … Remember tonight’s gospel? Jesus himself didn’t have it much better, did he?
Remember what the people in Jesus’ hometown synagogue said about him?
“Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! … And they took offense at him.”
Faith Family, the people who presumably knew Jesus the best, even took offense at his teachings! … Listen to this again: “And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.”
Finally, the Apostle Paul didn’t have it much better either. From the Second Reading tonight: “Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ …”
Oy, yoy, yoy!
Ezekiel, Paul and even Jesus … none of them received a very hospitable crowd when they were called on by God to prophesy, now did they, Faith Family?
And yet that is the very thing we are being called to do in our service to God. To go forth among those who may not have the most friendly relationship with our Lord -- or even know him in the least -- and to prophesy to them.
Ezekiel was called to do so to the nation of Israel who had a bit of a beef with God after they were forcibly removed from their homeland.
Paul was called to do so to gentiles throughout the Roman Empire, which frankly considered Christianity a threat.
And even Jesus’ hometown crowd wasn’t so friendly when he preached about upsetting the status quo.
And then there is our call … to go forth in an earthly world that frankly sometimes at best is adverse to God’s message, and at worst is hostile to the message of love we preach.
But take heart, Faith Family … because as daunting a challenge as being called to prophesy into this secular world at a seemingly divisional time in history is, we don’t do so alone.
Remember that God called out to Ezekiel and promised him: “O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me.”
Take hear, God doesn’t send us out on this mission alone, Faith Family.
God actually promises to be there to speak with us! … And I hope that you find that that gives you strength and encouragement!
And specifically speaking to you members of the Faith Lutheran LYO … in the coming week, you’ll be setting off on a great adventure into an unknown land, where you’ll be asked to prophesy to strangers who may have zero relationship with God. And who may not know Jesus in the least.
And when you find yourself in that moment, face to face with a stranger, I pray that you recall that God is right there and is speaking WITH you. … And I hope that gives you courage.
And that is the Good News for this Seventh Week after Pentecost, Wednesday, July 10, 2024 … Amen.
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