4^th August 2009

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley (Sunday 5 July 2009)

Lessons: Jeremiah 9:23,24; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-13

Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country and among his own kin and in his own house.' (Mark 6:4 RSV)

Jesus has just performed three spectacular miracles: a deranged man is calmed, a dead girl is revived, a chronically ill woman is cured. Against all expectations three people who are thought to be 'beyond help' are healed and accepted. The crowds are astonished, the recipients overjoyed.

As we hear these stories it hard to believe that anybody could fail to see the presence of God in these extraordinary actions. It comes as a surprise to learn that Jesus isn't accepted even by his own townsfolk.

We're not surprised by the earlier reactions of religious and political leaders (3:6). What would you expect? They're bound to be wary of a 'Teacher' who is undermining their authority. But ordinary people like us?
How could they fail to see the presence of God in him? It doesn't make sense!

It doesn't make sense until we realise how resistant we all are to the unexpected. We try to make life manageable by fitting new experiences into old ways of thinking. The people of Jesus' town were no different. They were looking for a prophet who would bring the Kingdom of God on earth.

Long-suffering Jews would triumph and their oppressors vanquished.

Although Jesus had some of the qualities for which they waited, he didn't fit their picture of the righteous conqueror. He was an 'ordinary bloke' - one of them!

Surely the Messiah wouldn't come from such ordinary stock? 'Their very familiarity with him is a hindrance to knowing him truly, for it makes it (harder) for them to see through the veil of his ordinariness.' (Cranfield on Mark.) Their rejection of Jesus is typical of what often happens: that 'a prophet is not without honour except in his own country' (v4).
Familiarity breeds contempt.

Their rejection has Jesus 'shaking his head in disbelief' (v6), but it does not shake his resolve! He continues to teach with authority and to cure the ills of 'a few sick people' (v5). He 'calls' the 12 disciples and sends them out under his authority to overcome 'demonic forces' (v7) and 'unclean spirits' (v13) which afflict our lives in the world. They are to declare the truly evangelical word of hope: that God's 'steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth' (Jeremiah 9:24) has come among us in Christ. In him is the sign to all humanity of the beginning of the end of everything that dehumanises life.

How are they to go about this enormous task? At the 'team meeting' a very strange 'strategy plan' is laid out. Disciples are to travel light and accept hospitality but move on if the locals are not inclined to listen.
No five-star accommodation or business suits - just the bare necessities to sustain them.

Many groups have followed this advice literally. Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses still spread their message in twos. 'Faith' missions have a simple life-style and rely on God to provide food, lodging and money. It is important to realise that in Israel at the time it was possible to follow these conditions. Although they can't be transplanted rigidly to every other social and cultural situation, they have been a driving force behind the astonishing spread of Christianity around the world.

There are vital things to be learned about the Church's missionary vocation. Here we find the pattern of authentic 'mission in Christ's way': the shared nature of the calling; the urgency of the preaching, teaching and healing; the prospect of rejection; and lack of concern about results.

* Disciples of Jesus don't 'go it alone'. We are called by Christ to 'a closer walk with God' (anthem) that is bracing, risky and often unpopular.
Apart from being called into communion with the one who embodies God's love and our true humanity, we couldn't undertake this task. Nor is this a task for individual missionaries. Evangelism belongs to the whole Church.

* Disciples are not to settle down, but to look for new opportunities to speak and act. They don't go with propaganda or the latest PR techniques to obtain 'market advantage' over competitors. They don't have money to 'buy support' or 'curry favour'. They simply go with Jesus' authority to announce that God's reign over sin, affliction and death on earth has begun. * Disciples 'must declare the unpalatable word of repentance (v12) - a word that every person hates, but needs to hear' (W Clarnette, Take and Read: The Year of Mark p35). The Gospel is not preached if it gives false comfort or does not expose the dark forces ('unclean spirits') which dehumanise our life-together!

* Thus the Church must count on rejection, not only in places like Egypt and the Sudan where Christians are repressed, but in Western countries.
Jesus is far more realistic than us. There's no guarantee of numerical success or public approval. Often the message will be largely unwelcome.

* That means that we shouldn't take rejection too seriously. We should simply 'shake the dust off our feet in protest' (v11) and move on. We mustn't waste time pleading with the stubborn or using communication techniques to convince them. Simply speak the truth, heal affliction, promote justice and let God take care of the results! We are not to rely on our power to 'get results' but on the power of the crucified Christ (as Paul says) to stiffen our resolve against strident opposition - without being anxious about our success or failure. The outcome is not up to us. We have more than enough to do in seeking to be a people of faith, hope and love.

How hard it is for us to hear this today! Surrounded by the success and popularity of those who use PR tools to promote themselves, we are tempted to use them for good to spread the Gospel. This isn't confined to crusading tele-evangelists who think they hold the key to revival. PR consultants are also hired by progressive churches and market-driven ministers to sell their 'image' and grow their brand.

Against this, Mark urges us to see that the Word wins its own way in the world. Here and there people are changed, healed or forgiven! Injustice is exposed! Human dignity is restored! For people to hear this Word of hope, it must be proclaimed in word-and-deed. The Church is called to be an evangelistic community concerned that the world be humanised in the image of Christ.

There is to be no compulsion, arm-twisting or histrionics. Success doesn't happen by using mind control techniques or tapping in to what people want. The message makes its own way in the world, being accepted or rejected as folk hear it proclaimed and see it enacted. Bishop Newbigin put it well:

"Success in the sense of growth in the number of committed Christians is not in our hands. It is the work of God the Holy Spirit to call men and women to faith in Jesus, and the Spirit does so in ways that are often mysterious and beyond any possibility of manipulation or even of comprehension by us. What is required of us is faithfulness in word and deed, at whatever cost: faithfulness in action for truth, for justice, for mercy, for compassion; faithfulness in speaking the name of Jesus when the time is right, bearing witness, by explicit word as occasion arises, to God whose we are and whom we serve. There are situations where the deed is easy and word is costly. Whether in word or in deed, what is required in every situation is that we be faithful to him..." (Mission in Christ's Way, p14)

For the Lord who was rejected and crucified without honour has been raised to honour by the God of life.

Therefore, we should relax. The success of Christ's mission doesn't depend on us. But we also should be more urgent. So many people have not yet heard the Good News. Our enthusiasm for preaching the Gospel should grow even as our desire to calculate our success or failure decreases.

In seeking to be true to God's mission in our day, the question is whether the Gospel has become too familiar in our churches and society. Have we become too settled to re-ignite the pioneering spirit of earlier times? Do we see in Jesus the embodiment of the incomparable 'humanity of God' or merely another spiritual teacher? Will evangelists have to 'shake the dust off their feet' because we have treated Christ with 'familiarity that breeds contempt'?

Whatever may be the future of mission, this short story brings hope and courage. Because the One who embodied the presence of God was rejected and crucified by clerics, politicians, ordinary folk and disciples yet triumphed over the powers of evil, we are urged to proclaim God's goodness and grace and work for justice and mercy while letting God take care of the results!

May it not be said of us that Jesus is without honour among his own people – our fragile community of disciples called into existence by him to be a sign of hope for our strife-torn world.