A sermon by Associate Minister Elsa A. Peters, August 9, 2009
Mark 6:1-13
They insult him. Whoever they were in that crowd that day in Jesus’ hometown, they insult him. “Where did this man get all this?” They ask. “What is this wisdom that has been given to him?” They insist. “What deeds of power are being done by his hands!” They want to know. It’s an exclamation. Not a question. They already know the answer. This Jesus fellow works with his hands, which means he’s lower than low. They’re mocking him. He can’t do or say anything powerful. Or so they think. But, of course, the insults get worse. The mob-mentality escalates and they call him the “son of Mary.”
Ouch.
In turn, Jesus insults them. “Prophets are not without honor,” he says, “except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” After the crowd belittles his status and family of origin, Jesus spits at them for not knowing a prophet when they hear one. It’s mean. It’s insulting. But, then again, no one is really on their best behavior here.
Jesus might as well have stuck his thumbs in his ears and taunted the crowd: Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me! But, that’s not true. Words hurt. And so, Jesus reacts to the words hurled at his fragile bones by insulting the crowd just as they have insulted him.
Is this good news? Not exactly, but I like how Jesus stands up for himself. I like how human Jesus is. I also like how he can’t take his own advice. After the insults have flown, Jesus sends the disciples out into the villages to teach. He sends them two by two, but Jesus went to his hometown alone. Even if Jesus was visiting his family, “travel was dangerous.” You didn’t go alone. You traveled in pairs or in larger groups, but Jesus doesn’t follow conventional wisdom. He goes alone.
And so, he ends up in front of this crowd all alone. They hurl insults at him and there is no one to defend him. Not his mother. Not his brothers. Not his sisters. Not his friends. He’s all alone in front of that crowd with nothing to defend him but words. Jesus “could do no deed of power.” Sure. Jesus lays his hands on a few sick people and cures them, but the story tells us that’s not enough. He “could do no deed of power.”
Jesus only had his words. It’s all any of us really have. Our power is our words. There is no deed of power. Only words. We use our words as Jesus did. We teach what we know. We share our thoughts. We tell our truth. We use words. No matter how many insults are hurled at us. We only have our words and those words that we carefully choose to share our truth give us power.
I heard this power at a funeral last week. I’d read from Scripture and shared my words. The daughter had spoken. And then, Buzz, the son of the man who had died, rose from his chair and came forward. Buzz wasn’t supposed to speak. Or at least, he hadn’t been planning on it but there he was searching for words. He told us his age and that his words were about when he was a younger man. Buzz had spent the week at the family’s camp in Sebago cleaning and hauling to prepare for the summer season. He’d left before his father had arrived to go to his own home and do more yard work. Then, the phone rang. It was his father. He wanted Buzz to come back for his birthday. Besides, his father said, there’s raking to be done.
Buzz paused before he said, “You know Dad, what I really want is to hear you tell me you love me.”
His father replied, “Well, you know, the raking really needs to be done.”
“I know Dad,” said Buzz. “I know there’s raking to do but I’d much rather spend the afternoon getting to know my Dad.”
And that’s what they did. Buzz drove back to Sebago. And these two full-grown men sat by the lake and talked and talked and talked. Buzz said that that day was the first time he’d ever heard his father tell him he loved him. It was then that he turned to the open casket and said, “And we still say it. I love you Dad.”
There are no deeds of power. Only words of power. Buzz couldn’t have done anything to demonstrate his love for his father. He had only words. Three powerful words. These words have more power than any insult or any deed.
It seems unbelievable, and indeed it was for the crowd. Jesus is amazed by their unbelief after they’ve heard his words. It doesn’t say what Jesus taught in the synagogue that day. It doesn’t say what words he used but I imagine Jesus hoped to share the heartfelt truth that I heard from Buzz. I don’t know if it’s how he said it or what he said but something about Buzz’s words stirred me. They changed me so that when I got back in my car, I reached for my phone and called my dad. I told him I love him. But, whoever they were in that crowd that day in Jesus’ hometown, they didn’t want to be changed. They’re not to blame. It’s not their fault. It was just too much for them to imagine another way other than what they already know.
It’s not just this crowd in Jesus’ hometown. It’s every crowd that the disciples encounter in every place that the twelve go. Two by two, Jesus sends them out into these crowds with nothing but their words and their faith. Jesus doesn’t teach them cool tricks. He doesn’t teach them twelve to sing and dance. Jesus only gives them the power of words. With these words, he reminds them to stay in that place. No matter how uncomfortable it is to talk when it seems no one is listening. Stay until you leave, Jesus instructs. And if they really don’t hear you, Jesus tells them to shake the dust off their feet.
Shake it off, Jesus says, as a testimony against them. It’s not a curse exactly. It sounds like it but I don’t think it is. Jesus tells the disciples to leave their testimony, that is, their truth. Jesus is telling them to leave behind the most heartfelt honest to God truth that they have. If they don’t hear it? Oh well. Shake it off. Shake off the words that you have shared with them. Shake off all of those words you thought they didn’t hear. Let the words stay after you leave. Let the words have their power. Because they will. More than insults. More than deeds. Words have the power to change hearts. Words could change your heart.