Sermon for July 7, 2024 7th Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 6 Rejection of Jesus and Disciples

I grew up in the beautiful Skagit Valley, home of the tulip fields. My mom and dad still

comment on how they’ll be driving home from Seatac after a trip, and they’ll crest the top of

the hill at Conway and the then whole valley just opens up to you; and they always say no

matter where they have travelled there is nowhere as beautiful in the whole world. To quote

Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home.” Now, while to some, returning to

your hometown can be full of beauty and nostalgia (You can even buy a cheesy placard for

your living room that says, “Home is the starting place of love, hope and dreams.”), for others,

coming home, eh, it’s a little more complicated. I remember years ago when one of the

Lutheran churches in Mt. Vernon opened up for call and my mom was like, “You could come

home and be a pastor here!” And I was like, “Uh, no. These people knew me as a stupid kid.

They remember all the dumb stuff I did. You think they’d ever accept me as their pastor?”

Thomas Wolfe famously said, “You can never go home again.” And it is true insomuch as you

change, they change, but memory is a static thing. Even Taylor Swift, as mega-popular as she

is, said, “As supportive as my hometown is (she’s from Reading, Pennsylvania), in my High

School there are people who would probably walk up to me and punch me in the face.”

So in that light, did Jesus return to his hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania, with a naïve sense

of nostalgia? Or did he know he might get punched in the face? Maybe he thought they would

celebrate him and all the wonderful deeds of power he had done, the healings and casting out

demons. Jesus had certainly given them reason to celebrate his homecoming. Quite to the

contrary, no sooner had Jesus got up and preached in his hometown church in Nazareth than

they accused him, “Who does this Northern Yankee think he is?” Right? OK, so that’s the

movie “Sweet Home Alabama.” But really, they accuse him of getting too big for his britches.

“Who do you think you are? You think you’re better than us, now that you’re all famous and a

big deal? Besides, some of us remember that little business with your mommy and how she

wasn’t married when you were conceived.” You see, it was tradition and honorable to refer to

a man in that day as ‘son of his father.’ They should have called Jesus “Son of Joseph”; so when

they refer to him as “Son of Mary” this is really a startling dishonor. They are reminding him

that no one really knows who his daddy is and he might show up here thinking he’s a big deal,

but we all know he’s nothing but a bastard. And so they take offense at him. How dare he

think he can preach down to us. Their unbelief was so acute, it says it actually limited Jesus’

power to do healings in that place. Crazy, right?

You would expect Jesus to be nothing but celebrated in his hometown, heralded as local-boy-

makes-good, maybe even throw a parade in his honor. But for that matter, everywhere Jesus

goes there should be nothing but joyful receptions and faith overflowing like some old-

fashioned tent-revival. But it was never like that. Everywhere Jesus went he faced opposition,

rejection, even to the point of his own murder. And so what did the disciples expect? Maybe

they too were naively optimistic about the reception they would get when Jesus sent them out

into ministry, but Jesus warned them that when they were rejected they were to shake the

dust from their sandals as a testimony against them. He warned his disciples in no uncertain

terms, “If they persecuted me they will persecute you,” and again, “In this world you will have

trouble,” and finally, “If the world hates you it hated me first.” Christ expressly warns his

church that the work you do in this world will not be met with flowers and parades, but with

opposition and rejection. Why? What is it about the message of Jesus Christ that is so

offensive?

For a time there in my career I used to welcome everyone to church by saying, “Good

morning, sinners!” Now, for those who’ve been a part of the Lutheran church a while, they

know that saint and sinner is one of the favorite Lutheran paradoxes, so to playfully call

ourselves “sinner” is to be followed with, “Yeah, while of course I am a sinner, I’ve got good

news! Christ has called me saint. I am forgiven and a new creation.” It’s all kind of tongue-in-

cheek. It’s like calling a seven foot pro-wrestler “Tiny.” Maybe I used to be small, but look at

me now. However, the Old Adam, the Old Sinner can’t stand being reminded that, A) He is a

sinner, indeed and, B) he is daily being put to death by Christ’s word of forgiveness. The Old

Adam doesn’t want to be called ‘sinner’, he would rather play religious; and so people would

object, saying things like, “Do you really need to call us sinners every Sunday? I mean, these

are good people here,” or my favorite, “I’m just tired of coming to church and being told what

a bad person I am.” The Old Adam wants to think that he is on some great religious project

where calling one another sinner is inappropriate because I have worked really hard to be a

“good” person. It’s all tom-foolery of course. Luther in his Small Catechism says that

opposition to the gospel comes from three places: the self, the world and the devil. The self –

he means the old self, the old sinner who will always reject the gospel being done to us, that it

comes purely as a free gift from God and doesn’t require me to do anything religious first. The

world opposes the gospel because, well, the world is full of selfs! And the nature of the world

is selfish gain, complacency over injustice and suffering, and even violence to get ahead. And

finally, the devil. As if we needed any help opposing the gospel. The point being, there is very

real opposition to the gospel. And so when we ask, “Why is the message of Jesus Christ so

offensive?” Why would his hometown reject him? Why would the Pharisees and priests want

him dead? Why would the world hate him? It is because there are very real forces at work

opposing the gospel and those forces begin right here in your own selfish heart, my lovely little

sinners. 

No one likes to have their sins pointed out. Naming sins is painful. Take the prophet Ezekiel.

While the scroll that God gave to Ezekiel tasted sweet like honey in his mouth, the words

themselves were a burden to the Israelites. God warns him, “I am sending you to my people

Israel, a rebellious and sinful people, impudent and stubborn, but I am sending you to them.”

And then I love this verse, “And whether they hear or refuse to hear, that they shall know that

there has been a prophet among them.” I love it because it is kind of clarifying for me. I mean,

put quite simply: sinner’s gonna sin, devil’s gonna do what the devil does; the Old Adam is

gonna do his Old Adam stuff; and the Gospel is the Gospel. You can’t change the Gospel, it is

what it is. And you can’t change the Old Adam, he will always oppose God. So what’s your and

my job? Preach. Preach the Word. So that whether they hear the word or refuse to hear the

word, at least they might know that the promises of God were among them. Luther says that

God doesn’t sit around twiddling his thumbs while the self and the world and the devil oppose

and thwart his kingdom. Above all he sends his Word, his promises of forgiveness and eternal

life. Those promises when preached are the death of the old sinner and they are the

strengthening and encouraging of your faith. So like Ezekiel choking down that weird scroll on

our bulletin cover this morning, we have only been given one thing, and that is the word of

God. We only go out into this world that is hostile to God armed with only one thing, the

promises of Christ.

I close in that spirit with the words from our short little psalm this morning, Psalm 123,

“Though I have had my fill of contempt and my soul has had more than its fill of scorn; yet to

you, O Lord, I lift my eyes, You who are enthroned in the heavens for you have had mercy

upon us.” You have had mercy upon us. Despite the scorn and contempt, God’s mercy is

without end. This is the only word by which you are sent and it is God’s final word. Mercy

without end. Amen.