7 PENTECOST, PROPER IX - B - 18 MARK 6. 1-13
Rarely are people in today’s
world identified as prophets. The Church has not institutionalized the prophet
in the same way as priest or deacon. We think of prophets as distant and
unfamiliar people like a John Baptist. However, Jesus was a prophet, as well as
a priest and king. Was he the last of the prophets? Did the prophetic age end
with him?
Prophesy is naming the truth
in a given situation and explaining the logical consequences of a course of
action. God’s Word is Truth. The prophet speaks God’s word, often in a
situation where people have been unable or unwilling to face the truth.
Naming the truth, especially when people have
denied reality, challenges people to accept the truth, to acknowledge their
denial and to change their behavior. However, people can reject the truth,
usually by rejecting the bearer of the word.
That’s what happened to Jesus
in his own hometown. In that he joined the company of the prophet Ezekiel and
all of God’s prophets who preceded him who were instructed by God to deliver
the truth whether it was received or not. Meaning, their mission was to deliver
the word. The choice to receive it lies with the hearers of the word always has
and always will.
God’s truth uncovers the
uncomfortable reality about ourselves, our concepts and our institutions that
we have been unwilling to face. When faced with the truth we are faced with a
decision; we have a choice. We can choose to accept the truth and then change
the way we live, or we can reject the truth.
Jesus was laughed at
Capernaum. He is rejected in Nazareth. Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth is but a
foreshadowing of his rejection by the whole Jewish nation that will occur at
his trial before Pilate.
The people in his hometown
thought that they knew him. They knew his family and they knew him as a mere
carpenter. Sure, they had heard of what he had done in Capernaum, a mere
twenty-five miles away, and around the lakeshore.
They were both amazed and offended. Where he
got his current knowledge of God and the power to do such things was a mystery
they could not explain nor could they accept, so they rejected him by doubting
his prophetic role and even his power to heal.
Jesus was amazed at their
unbelief. Thus, Mark records that he was unable to do any miracles there, but
only to lay his hands on a few sick people who did have faith in him. It would appear that lack of faith hinders
Jesus’ power to heal. After his rejection, there was no reason for him to
remain in Nazareth.
Thus, Jesus moves on to other
towns and villages in the region in order to teach and preach the kingdom of
God to those who have ears to hear. Then, to the surprise of the 12, he sends
them out on their own, two by two. They are travel light. They are to take
poverty as their bride.
They are to accept
hospitality wherever they find it. They are to remain where they are received
and welcomed. They are to shake off the dust from their feet from the places
where they too will be rejected.
Jesus empowers them with His Spirit to preach
repentance, to cast out demons as he has done, and to anoint with oil those who
are sick and heal them. These things, which the disciples do, are all signs of
the kingdom. They are in essence carrying out Jesus’ agenda of proclaiming the
kingdom of God.
The 12 have come a long way
from the fear of perishing on the Sea of Galilee to performing a mission of
unwavering faith in the proclamation of the gospel. Amazing what this fledgling
band of disciples was able to accomplish when unhindered by distractions.
Therefore, it should be with
us, as individual Christians and corporately as the Church. For the mission has
not changed. Our mission is to accept our “prophetic” role by warning the world
that it is rapidly heading in the wrong direction and to warn the Church, when
need be, that she is in mortal danger of being transformed by the world rather
than the other way round.
I recently read a stirring article along those
same lines written by an Archbishop in Europe who bemoaned the fact that the Church
in Europe was becoming increasingly secular in nature and highly politicized.
Her leaders were more interested in politics and in being socially acceptable
rather than in proclaiming the gospel.
In the Archbishop’s opinion,
the church had become totally distracted from the divine mission, which had
been given to her. He wrote that the Church today is more interested in
pleasing men rather than God. When we do this are we not in essence rejecting
Jesus? Are we not turning away from the truth?
God’s word is truth. God’s
truth uncovers the uncomfortable reality about ourselves, our concepts and our
institutions that we have been unwilling to face. When faced with the truth we
are faced with a choice. We can choose to accept the truth and change the way
we live, or we can reject the truth.
It was the same choice those
in Nazareth were faced with when they found themselves in the presence of the
Jesus they thought they knew. It was the same choice Israel as a nation was
faced with when Pilate presented this same Jesus before them as their king. In
both instances, the people Christ came to save rejected him and in rejecting
him, they rejected the Truth of God’s Word Incarnate.
To be “devoted to God with
our whole heart” as today’s collect prays requires that we do not lose focus;
do not allow ourselves to become distracted from the “prophetic” mission of
proclaiming the truth of God’s Holy Word. The world we live in today is
becoming increasingly more secular in nature and less religious. Thus, the
temptation for the Church, the Bride of Christ, is to be transformed by a
world, which is fixated on the here and now.
Even more reason for us to remember who we are
and to whom we ultimately belong. May God grant us the grace to live our lives
in such a way that it reflects our faith and belief in Him who is, and always
will be, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. For the Church’s mission has never
been one of pleasing men, but one of pleasing God. AMEN+
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