This text is one of the ones that you hear and think that you know
what it is all about. You hear the story of the rejection of Jesus'
teachings by his home town crowd and hear how he then goes out to do
his work in the towns around his home town and sends out his
disciples to do the same with no complaint, just the comment that
prophets are always rejected at home.
It seems pretty simple, until we pay attention to the details. As my
grandma would say the devil is in the details. This time though it
really isn't the devil, but a hint, a tiny picture of how God deals
with us. The whole battle between predestination theories (those who
think God determines everything before we are born), and those who
are complete free will advocates gets a little kick in this passage.
Of course there is the third road in this battle for all the
Methodist out there, we have free will and predestination – God
just knows what we are going to choose and works around that. But
back to the text.
Mark tells us that Jesus could “do no deed of power there, except
that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he
was amazed at their unbelief.” So what does that mean? Does God's
power depend on our belief? I don't think so. There are stories of
God healing unbelievers who become believers. Mark also tells us in
verse 7 that he gave them authority over all unclean spirits and
later on in verse 13 he tells of all the demons that were cast out.
They did not need faith for God to have power over them. God simply
has the power and authority to do what ever God wants, so why did he
not do the “great works? What is Jesus trying to tell us here?
We are told that Jesus did perform a few healings in the same breathe
that we are told he could do no deed of power. What were the deeds
of power then? After raising a child from her death bed, and raising
Lazarus from his tomb were even the disciples expecting Jesus to walk
around pulling people back from the brink of death or even death and
everything else was just small potatoes?
Maybe we get that way too. Maybe like Mark we get so used to the way
things work for us that we forget to appreciate or even see the
miracles we are surrounded with each day. We live in a privileged
society where many of us have homes. We may not get to eat gourmet
food but we have food. Our children do not need to worry about clean
water and shoes, but worry about who to text on their smart phones.
We are so used to living in our privilege that we don't recognize
miracles when we see them. A perfect sunset, a safe trip home from
the store, the smile of an elderly relative, the story of the person
sitting next to us at work, on the bus, or even in church.
I think Jesus' warning here is about becoming so familiar so
comfortable with him that we lose our faith. Verse 6 he tells us
that he was amazed at their unbelief. We have made Jesus very
personal in our culture and sometimes we forget, or do not know how
to deal with the pure power of God. We are uncomfortable with the
God who can calm a horrible storm, but in doing so creates a lot of
hard work for us to row to the other side, or the God who can raise
the dead but doesn't solve their problems, or a God who controls
demons. We like the personal God who cares about us, who provides
for us, and can cure our ailments. We like the God who comforts and
does not challenge. We like to continue living in the level of
privilege we are used to without questioning it. We want our God to
solve all our problems with his miracles. We want a pure escape
button. But God does not work that way – what would we learn from
it if he did. When we are challenged like Jesus challenged those in
his own community to look, to repent, to choose a new path we are
uncomfortable. When we are challenged to step out of our comfort
zone, to consider the needs and justice of our society we can become
uncomfortable. When we read about Jesus bucking social norms we
have to ask ourselves what would he buck today? The treatment of
Latinos by many of our governments in the south west? The denial of
civil rights to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters? What
about the race divide between black and whites that still exists
although it is routinely denied? Would Jesus challenge us on these
issues. I believe so.
Sometimes we are so uncomfortable that we doubt God or God's
presence. We loose our faith, or are so afraid of loosing our faith
that we block out the modern day applications, we don't question or
even think critically about our faith – trying to protect it. But
that does not protect it, that simply leaves room for doubt.
I think the challenge for us here is to not forget that God is truly
in control, yet we have free will and free choice. To remember that
when we are challenged by God's word we should not run or scream back
that the deliverer must be wrong because it does not conform to our
expectations of God, but listen to the challenge with faith.
Consider the challenges brought to you in and out of the church and
stop assuming you know the answers. Stop jumping to your normal
conclusion and leave room for questions, leave room for your faith
and for God to show you a new truth, a new idea, a new way. Leave
room for God to work. If we choose to continue shutting down all
that we find challenging like the people in Nazareth did then we will
find the same unhappy ending – Jesus unable to do any great acts
and leaving to work in the surrounding area. Of course God can work
anywhere, with or without your consent, but I like to think from this
passage, God desires our consent and we get a lot more out of it when
we lay our assumptions
aside and leave room for Jesus to do his great acts.
What are your challenges? What is Jesus challenging us to do today?
How do you feel to have free will and know that it is a gift from
God? What can you do to make space for God?
No comments:
Post a Comment