Reclaiming Our Strength

“Reclaiming Our Strength”

(Mark 6:1-13, 2 Cor. 12:9-10)
Sermon for Celebration MCC, Naples, FL

July 8, 2012

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

If I made a bumper sticker for today’s Gospel passage (and I know from the parking lot that some of you love your bumper stickers), it would be very simple: “Jesus was rejected too.” In this passage from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus returns “home.” Though it is not specifically mentioned, we can assume that home was Nazareth. Nazareth was where Jesus grew up as a normal kid, the son of a carpenter. The gospels in our Bible don’t tell us much about Jesus’ childhood; they instead tend to jump as quickly as possible into Jesus’ ministry. But we can assume from the way the people of Nazareth speak of him, that he was seen as “just one of us, nothing special.”

But Jesus had been away from home long enough, and he had changed enough that people even questioned his identity. They asked, “Who is this? Isn’t that just Yeshua, the son of Mary?” Since we know Mary so well as a major figure in the Christian tradition, some even calling her the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven, we may easily overlook what these people are saying. In ancient Israel, people were not called children of their mother, but rather children of their father. So to call Jesus the son of Mary (instead of the son of Joseph) was essentially to call him a bastard. After all, his conception was questionable- something the community doesn’t seem to forget.

Perhaps it was this memory or perhaps it was their reluctance to accept a message from a non-traditional source, but they nonetheless rejected Jesus outright. Though he knew the old saying that prophets were respected anywhere but their hometown, Jesus still gave them the benefit of the doubt and tried to teach them the message of the gospel. He did not prejudge them by never going back home because they knew him earlier in life. No, instead, he gave THEM the choice of whether or not to accept his message of unconditional love.

This story is all too “close to home” so to speak for many of us. Many of us left home because we knew we would not be accepted there if we came out at LGBT, feminist, progressive, pro-choice, anti-war, among many other things. Many of us found new homes in other towns where there are like-minded people. In the 1970s, thousands of gay men and lesbians flocked to San Francisco, New York, and other large cities to form communities because it was the first time in U.S. history that we were becoming aware that there were others like us out there. Prior to the gay liberation movement, the standard was to suffer in silence in the closet. Now, we know to create spaces of welcome wherever we go, like here.

Poet Mary Oliver composed this poem that really resonates with me:  (The Journey)

“One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Jesus, called Jesus of Nazareth (Yeshua ben Nazareth) decided to go home and come out of the closet about who he had found himself to be: a prophet. In Jewish society at that time, prophets of old were admired for the work they had done in turning Israel back to God. Their great works were recorded in Scripture. But they could not look past the fact that a prophet is not someone who tells you what you want to hear. Rather, a prophet is someone who challenges people, calling them to change in some way.

The common people of Jesus time were stricken with fear, fear primarily of the power of the Roman Empire. At any time, a Roman official could show up and demand their livelihood, or even take lives. There was no way to fight back. The Empire was absolute. So when Jesus shows up preaching a gospel that is rooted in release from fear, Nazareth was not ready to accept it. Fear made them feel powerful again, as all their power had been taken away from them. Jesus offered an escape from the living Hell of a life of fear into a life of love, but they were just too stubborn. They also could not imagine one of their own as being more wise than any of them. “Who is he to outshine us?” they might say.

I know this is also our experience. Our families and those we grew up with can be envious of our success. “After all, who are you to escape and live a happier life? You were supposed to stay here and be miserable like the rest of us! That’s what family’s about!” I care to differ. I know it has been repeated many times over the past decade or so, but this quote truly speaks to this text. Spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson writes, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Who knows what happened to the Nazarenes after Jesus left. But I do know that when Jesus was home, he gave them his all. He spoke prophetically as God had called him to do. He challenged them to repent, which simply means to redirect attention from fear to love. This is also the definition of a miracle according to A Course in Miracles, which teaches, “Miracles should inspire gratitude, not awe” (I:31(42)). Perhaps knowing that the people of Nazareth would just be amazed, bringing attention to himself instead of to the gospel, he was powerless there.

Many Christians today have come to think of Jesus as a superhero with super powers. He was said to have the power to turn water to wine (I’d want that one!), walk on water, bring people back to life, and many other “deeds of power.” But none of this was to glorify him. Jesus always pointed to God as the source of all he did and the gospel of radical love as the reason. Today, let’s separate Jesus from the superhero image. Jesus was not Superman and Nazareth was not his kryptonite. Jesus was limited in Nazareth because of a fundamental spiritual law: God always respects the agency God has given us. God respects our power of choice.

Look at your own life. Have you ever tried to change someone else? (If you have ever had a spouse, I better see your head shaking J.) What happens? They always push back. And then if we’re stubborn, we try to change them again… and again… and again. It’s like hitting your head against a wall. You probably know the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” Jesus knew that he could lead people to Living Water, but he could not make them drink. If he had spent any more of his time there trying to convince the people, he would have been disrespecting himself and handing over his self-worth to those who didn’t particularly care for him.

How often do we do this? We get into conflicts with people and out of the need to win or the need to be right, we keep fighting until we’re spent. It happens in the church too. (Can you imagine that? J). We preach the gospel of radical inclusivity and some people just can’t receive it. And when they preach an exclusive message, we all too often become doormats because we know that many other people who call themselves Christian preach that message of exclusivity. I’m here to tell you today what Jesus said to this: in the presence of such lack of hospitality, shake the dirt off your feet and walk on. You are called to greater things than to deal with the lie that anyone is anything less than a child of God. Fear-based doctrine has no place in MCC, period. If anyone walks away from MCC because they can’t accept the gospel of radical inclusivity, we simply must release them into God’s hands and pray that the seeds of love that they received while among us will someday sprout.

            Just as Jesus was not a superhero, we are not superheros either. We are human. If you’re in the habit of doing it, stop saying, “I’m just human.” There is no need to compare ourselves to God in all that God is. Instead, we need to look to the divinity within, which is what I think Paul teaches us with his second letter to the Corinthians. To repeat, he writes, “God said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” At first, this may seem like an insult. It’s too easy to read this text as saying that humility is the same as being a doormat. That’s not the case at all. Paul is talking here about the ego versus the Higher Self, the True Self. Out of fear as children, we create the ego to protect us. The ego is a mask, a false self. It’s the ego that throws insults back at people when they offend us. The ego can never turn the other cheek. It is the True Self that God created, so it is the true self that holds our power. God is only able to work through us when we choose to live through this self. When we live through this self, we know that what other people think of us is none of our business! Whether it’s your family of origin, your neighbors, or people on the news, their egos do not deserve your energy. You are better than that.

            Friends, rejection does not need to be a roadblock. You hold the power within you to turn rejection into projection- that is projection into the abundant future that God has prepared for you. Take off this day the burden of fear and lay it before the throne of grace. Because I can assure you that hidden under that heavy boulder of fear lays the power to work miracles. Go forward with blessed assurance and holy boldness! Amen.