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Foundry United Rev. DeeAnne Lowman, Associate Pastor |
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Take Nothin’ for the
Journey Sunday, July 9, 2006 |
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Mark 6: 1-13
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Let’s
begin our ministry together with a confession: I’ll go first. I am the difficult middle child some of you
may have heard of or been warned about. I’m sure there are others like me out
there among you all. I spent the better part of my growing up years striving
for my own identity, my own place in this world that didn’t link me with
anyone else – not Dave or Donna’s daughter, not Doug’s little sister or
Deborah’s older sister. It wasn’t so
much that I didn’t want to be connected to any of them - I just wanted to be
known for me and who I was and what I could do. This is often the lament of
some kids with sibs or well-known parents.
Sometimes people feel disempowered or demeaned when they are reminded
they are only someone’s daughter, son, sister or brother. It is
somewhat comforting to know that Jesus experienced similar familial dynamics
and the dilemma of being known by one’s own works. When Jesus returned to his hometown, he too
was subjected to some chiding by the townies there. Perhaps they thought he
had become too big for his Nazarian britches (after all, he had just come
from a nearby community where he did receive some serious accolades for all
the healing he’d provided). It started simply enough – he ran into a very
disturbed man by the sea in Gerasenes. At first folks thought the healing was
amazing, but then they chased Jesus out of town. Sensational press is not always good press.
The man who was healed was directed by Jesus to go home and tell them his
story. So
Jesus left and crossed the sea, there meeting a man whose daughter was ill
and requested Jesus’ presence to help make his daughter well. On the way to help the little girl, he was
surrounded by folks who wanted to catch a glimpse of the man whose deeds had
preceded him. During his encounter
with the crowd, Jesus felt his energy being drawn from him. As it turned out, a woman of great faith
reached for his robe – an act which would prove to involve Jesus in yet
another healing phenomenon. He finally arrived at the home of the sick child,
who appeared to have died while her father was out seeking Jesus. Jesus took her by the hand and she rose
from her illness. So when
Jesus arrived in his hometown, news of his conduct had reached those who knew
him when he was “just Joe and Mary’s son.”
He spoke in the synagogue, initially making a good impression. But he
will still “just Joe and Mary’s son” – just the son of a laborer and his much
younger wife. Folks in his hometown
weren’t at all awed by the tales of his works – they knew him when. Most of
us are not comfortable being remembered by our childhood antics or
attitudes. I remember being required
to make an argument for the death penalty as part of a class project when I
was in the 5th grade. Our
group received an A. We’d done a good
job promoting the societal benefits and rewards of capital punishment. I don’t remember feeling particularly
passionate about the issue itself, but I do remember being very proud of my
team’s achievements. Recently the state of What I
think these folks from Jesus’ hometown may have forgotten was that he was a
product of his environment. He came
from there, he learned the law there, he learned to love there, and he
learned how to live there. Jesus
didn’t just exist and wait to become the Messiah growing up; he began to grow
into his place and vocation during his time there. The community that helped raise him gave
him skills that he would need in his life work. So when they rejected him,
they rejected what he had taken with him when he left. After
he was turned away in his own hometown, the scriptures tell us that “he could
do no deed of power there…” except that his compassion would not allow him to
stop healing people. Those acts of
power could not be limited. Perhaps
the deed Mark referred to was simply the ability for Jesus to capture
people’s imaginations with his promises of God’s love and grace. Perhaps it was clear that these folks might
never hear it, so Jesus moved on.
Sometimes it is apparent that others don’t sense our passion for
ministry or life work, so being faithful means moving on. And it may mean that we need to leave
behind us the things that disconnect us from our call – things like
negativity, a sense of defeat, ridicule, and maybe the pain of not having our
gifts received well. So
Jesus moved on, inviting 12 friends to come along with him. But they weren’t going to stay with him for
long. He invited them to leave him,
going out 2 by 2. Eugene Peterson in
his interpretation of Scripture called The Message writes that
“[Jesus] gave them authority and power to deal with the evil opposition,”
perhaps the kind of opposition Jesus had just experienced in a town where
everyone knew his name. The disciples
were going out, perhaps to places where they were known, perhaps not. Jesus’
instructions were clear: except a
staff, sandals and only one tunic, they were to take nothing for the
journey. After having packed and moved
during the past two weeks, I sometimes wish I’d had that requirement place
upon me! Why a
staff and nothing else? No food and no
money– but a staff? The image of a
staff brings to mind pastoral scenes of rolling green hillsides dotted with
sheep. Perhaps Jesus was encouraging
the disciples to begin to claim a role of shepherd, a guide for the lost
sheep of God. Well, I didn’t bring a
staff with me, but I do come to you with a deep and humble desire to offer
myself as a guide to this congregation.
The staff can also be a symbol of authority, and I come as one with
authority, taking that on when I was ordained. Next -
one of my favorite instructions from Jesus:
“Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave.” While a bit amusing in it’s wording, I
think Jesus was trying to teach the disciples about presence – be with the people they were with in the
moment. Be present to them, listen to
them, don’t start thinking about your next gig until
you are done with the place you’re at.
As someone who has just left one people and has come to be among
another, I can tell you that it’s not an easy thing to do well. Since the end of May, I have felt like a
person with one part of myself in Jesus
offered a third instruction, one which most assuredly must have come from his
own experience in not being received well.
If the people you are encountering do not receive what you have to
give, shake the dust from your feet and move on. I don’t see this as Jesus telling the
disciples to say, “So there” and such.
But rather, he asked them to make good use of their time, recognizing
when their time among a certain people were done and the time had indeed come
to go and be with others who desired the words and deeds they had to share.
Perhaps it’s as simple as this: the
seeds that we plant don’t always bloom while we’re around. We don’t always have the opportunity to
reap what we have sown. It is
somewhat ironic and often uncomfortable for most clergy when this passage
comes along in the lectionary during the end of June and the beginning of
July – traditionally a time of leave-taking and new appointments among United
Methodist clergy. I have come to love
the freedom this directive offers.
Release from one appointment allows us to be accepted and received by
another. Jesus’ disciples were
released from the responsibility of taking care of folks that couldn’t
respond to their ministry, and freed to move toward those who might find
comfort and healing from them. The
symbolic act of shake dust off our feet can help us leave what needs to be
left, and move into the future. These
are the shoes I worn on my feet the last time I was in the church in I will
share with you the final prayer I left with my congregation in And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow
more and more with knowledge and
full insight
to help you to determine what is
best… -Philippians 1:9-10 (NRSV) May we
work together to determine what is best for Foundry and all the people we
serve. May we grow close in Christ, and may our time together be fruitful and
blessed. AMEN. www.foundryumc.org |
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