July 5th Sermon: Let Us Not Be Distracted (Mark 6:1-13)

Good Morning and Welcome to Eastside Community Lutheran on this sixth Sunday of the Pentecost Season.  Our gospel lesson for today is one that puzzles a lot of people, so to begin today I thought I’d share one of my favorite puzzles.  It goes like this: Mary’s mother had five daughters.  The first was named Nala, the second Nele, the third Nili, and the fourth Nolo.  What was the fifth daughter’s name?  Any takers?  How about if I reword the puzzle this way:  Mary’s Mother had five daughters.  Mary’s first sister was Nala, Mary’s second Nele, Mary’s third Nili, and Mary’s last sister Nolo.  Who has to be the fifth daughter?  Mary!  If Mary’s mother had five daughters, one of them has to be Mary then, doesn’t it?  I love that puzzle because it relies on distraction, it gets your mind to wander elsewhere and not realize that the puzzle already gave you the answer you were looking for. 

Our gospel story is a lot like that.  When we read this text we often get drawn away on its tangents.  Why does the text say Jesus was powerless because of their unbelief?  Is Jesus like TinkerBelle from Neverland, do we have to clap and believe in him for him to exist?  Why are the disciples sent out without food, money or an extra tunic?  What is the point of that?  I could answer all these questions, and I will, but the fact is they are like the four daughter’s names in my puzzle, just distracting and not the real point. 

Let’s read our gospel story again, but this time let’s fill it in with some context and see if it doesn’t make more sense.   

          “After healing Jairus’ daughter, He left that place and came to his hometown of Nazereth with his disciples.   On the Sabbath, as was custom, 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! Is not this the carpenter, the fatherless son of Mary (in the ancient world, to name you the child of your mother and not your father was an accusation that you were born of adultery, everyone knew Jesus was not Joseph’s son).  Isn’t he the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?  And they took offense at him.

            Then Jesus said to them, "if the Prophet Jeremiah teaches us anything, it is that Prophets are not without honor - except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." By saying this, he reminded them that Jeremiah was a prophet before the fall of Jerusalem; that Jerusalem was Jeremiah’s hometown and his family rejected him.  Jesus warned them of the dangers of not listening to the bearers of God’s Word. 

            Because the Pharisees were already accusing him of casting out demons by the Prince of demons, doing deeds of power there would only have earned him more enemies and so he could not perform them.  He kept his miracles small in number and, laying his hands only on a few sick people and curing them.  Jesus was absolutely amazed at their unbelief.

Undaunted, he went about among the other villages to teach.  He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.  He ordered them to go as messengers with such urgent news that they took nothing for their journey except a staff and sandals; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, not even two tunics.  He ordered them to look as people with such incredibly wonderful and necessary news that they looked like they barely could get dressed before heading out the door.   

He said to them, "When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place. Honor those who show you hospitality.  If any place will not welcome you, however, and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 

So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent for the Kingdom of God was coming. They cast out many demons publicly, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”

A bit easier to understand this time?  It is rather strange and ironic, I think, that the pieces in here that distracted us in fact kept us from seeing the plain answer, which was namely that Jesus didn’t get distracted.  His priority was the Kingdom and he did not let things like his relationship with his hometown distract him from what was really important…making sure news of God’s Kingdom of Peace, Justice, and Healing reached the ears of those who had been waiting for it.  This plain truth now revealed and our hearts focused on that reality, what things might we learn from our gospel lesson? 

First, we can say with confidence that the story points out that only fools talk themselves out of a Blessing.  Rather than gratefully accept the teachings they admitted were wise and the miracles of healing that they proclaimed openly to be true they chose instead to be jealous and foolish.  Why is this fatherless goat able to do these things? Why should I pay attention to one who left my community instead of staying with his family business and helping us?  Rather than see the bigger picture of what God wanted to do in their lives they got distracted by their social prejudices, receiving a dire warning of judgment instead of the blessings God wanted so desperately to give.  Divine Blessing can come from anyone and anywhere.  If we would deny God’s blessings in our lives because they originated from an Arab, a homeless woman, or a person transitioning from a man to a woman, we will have failed to learn this lesson.  Let us resolve not to be like that.

Second, we should realize there is a flip side to the previous lesson: You cannot help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.  Jesus, the lion of Judah, who bounces all over creation, going from mountain tops to cities to villages to countrysides, to hometown synagogues, and back again  casting out demons, healing the sick, and proclaiming the Kingdom of God … at the end of the day even he decided it is best to let fools be alone with their foolishness.   Jesus doesn’t try to spend time arguing with them, he doesn’t try to convince them to see his side, and he certainly doesn’t apologize to them that they took offense.  Rather he remains undistracted.  The long awaited kingdom of God was coming; he helped whom he could but then moved on, teaching his own disciples to do the same.  If we spend time trying to win over friends and family who simply will not listen, who find it more advantageous to be against you rather than to be for you, it is simply time and energy wasted.  Let us resolve instead to remember that old adage to never argue with a fool: they would only drag us down and then beat us with experience.

Finally, there is lesson to not let the people who refuse your help keep you from the people who need your help.   Again, Jesus didn’t see his hometown as a black hole for his time and energy.  Rather than be distracted and focus his ministry there, he left his hometown and commissioned his disciples to do the work of the Kingdom, too.  His focus was on the people ready to hear the gospel, and to that end he not only met their needs himself but specifically trained others to do the same.  He warns his disciples that like his hometown not every place will welcome them, but there are many places that will and gladly so.  He tells them to make the places that desire God’s presence among them a priority, and for the others to wipe the dust of their feet against them and be done.  Let us resolve then to never obsess over our difficulties but keep our eyes always on the opportunities that God is providing.

These lessons are not only important lessons generally.  They are important to learn for us as individuals, but they are especially important for us in this particular community of faith.   Eastside Community Lutheran has some incredible opportunities for ministry in the coming years.  Everyone talks about how bad the denominations are doing, but no one ever talks about how bad.  From a certain denomination’s own statistics, 55% of their own congregations do not bring in enough funds to keep their individual church doors open, and similar situations are being reported across the board.  Between Hwy 61 and White Bear Ave, Larpenteur and Minnehaha, Eastside Community Lutheran is one of only four high-style Protestant churches.  As the denominations continue to do poorly and unfortunately close up shop, our radius of influence is only going to get bigger and bigger.  I am not joking when I say that in the next ten years Eastside could be looking at not only multiple Sunday Services, a flourishing Sunday School, and its own successful side ministries, but on top of that when the financially stable churches can no longer hold up everyone else we will see other churches following our lead and going independent.  The opportunities for a fiscally responsible, denominationally independent church that still values tradition, that is not afraid of having multiple voices in its pulpit, and is so dedicated to Christ’s gospel of love and forgiveness that it bears its wounds and scars proudly - that church has legs.  That church has street cred.   That church has incredible ministry opportunities. 

But if we are going to do that, if we are going embrace the future that God wants for Eastside Community Lutheran we as a community need to learn these lessons and learn these lessons well.  As we grow and are successful, there will be those in our hometown that will say, “Hey isn’t that Eastside Community Church?  Don’t we know who they are?”  We cannot be distracted by them.  There will be those that smugly refuse the help we offer, we mustn’t waste time on them.  Like Jesus, we mustn’t try to form community bonds with people that don’t want them formed, and most especially we must never apologize for the good that we’ve done or the gospel we’ve followed.  To do so would be to sabotage the very kingdom Christ died to establish, let us have none of it.  Let us instead focus on the kingdom and train up others to go out and announce God’s grace to the multitudes willing to listen.  Rather than be distracted by earthly things let us, as our Lord Jesus said, seek first the Kingdom and let all other things follow from there.  Amen and Amen.