WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
July 5th 2009
Communion Meditation
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Who is This?”
Mark 6:1-13

Jesus could do no deeds of power! It is the only time in his entire ministry where he is unable to do deeds of power. We should be shocked. Jesus is God in the flesh and is unable to do deeds of power. What does this say about God’s power? It is nothing less than a scandal.
What are we supposed to do with Jesus’ lack of power in his hometown? The heart of this trouble is actually two things. The first has to do with familiarity and the second has to do with the nature of God. Let us start with the nature of God.
The God we know in Jesus is not powerless. However, the nature of God’s power is unique. God’s love is not something which God forces upon anyone. Anything or anyone which portrays God’s love as forceful, coercive, or demanding is misguided and disingenuous. Instead, the love of God always comes as an invitation. We are invited to accept, to follow, and to participate in God’s new reality. But we are never coerced by God’s love. It is for this reason that Jesus can do no deeds of power, except for a few minor healings. The invitation of Jesus offered to his hometown has been denied.
The denial of Jesus by his hometown is fascinating. Before coming home, Jesus has been healing and teaching in synagogues. He has drawn huge crowds preaching the good news. Jesus was even able to go into Gentile territory, foreign lands, and bring healing to one thought beyond all hope of salvation. But in his hometown, he could do no deeds of power. While he has faced rejection before, the resistance of his own people is new, and disturbing.
It is the Sabbath. As was his custom, Jesus is in the synagogue and he is teaching. At the conclusion of his teaching the crowd soundly rejects his message by attacking the messenger. If they can discredit the messenger, the message can be ignored. It is an age old tactic that is being perfected by the likes of MSNBC and Fox News. Who is this? Who does he think he is?
Where did this man get this? What is the wisdom he has been given? What deeds of power are done in his hand? Astounded at the truth Jesus has spoken, they seek to discredit him. Isn’t this guy just a carpenter? And he is just like us. Nothing is more offensive than when one of our own speaking an uncomfortable truth or ‘airing dirty laundry.’ When it is someone from the outside they are easily dismissed but when it is somebody from the neighborhood it is easy to get offended. But this story is more than just about a local boy that has made good. It is more about the problem of familiarity.
In Jesus hometown the difficulty of doing deeds of power is the problem of familiarity. Gathered in the synagogue on that day are people that think they know Jesus well. He grew up in the midst and labored among them. His family lives next door. These are Jesus’ people. And that is the problem.
While Jesus has been traveling, sharing the good news of the Gospel, healing and calling others to follow, his people were not making the journey with him. They saw Jesus fixed at a point in time. His people had not grown with him along the journey. So when he comes home and shares the same message that has been drawing crowds elsewhere, Jesus faces utter rejection. Why couldn’t he just be like he used to be? He was such a nice boy with a steady income and now here he is causing all sorts of trouble. The heart of the problem is assumed familiarity. When this assumption proves false it opens up the flood gates of resistance and keeps Jesus from deeds of power.
This day of rejection, where Jesus can do no deeds of power, is a vital lesson to the disciples. On the heels of the hometown rejection, Jesus calls the disciples to go and do deeds of power. Go, two by two, taking only your faith and relying on the hospitality and generosity of others. And when, notice that it is when not if, you are rejected do not become enraged or embittered or seek revenge. Let it go, shake the dust off your feet and move on. Leave it alone and move on. Having been rejected by his own people and facing the same inclination, Jesus knows that his followers must learn this lesson well. What better way to learn it than to go out and rely on the generosity and hospitality of others.
For those of us who have grown up in the faith community, of which I count myself in this number, we are at risk for the same assumed familiarity that caused Jesus to be rejected. We have grown up with Jesus. We know his family; they taught us Sunday school and sang in the choir. We are his people and that places us at great risk of forgetting the sorts of trouble this carpenter can cause. Yet, too often it is the community of faith, the church, which stands squarely in the way of Jesus doing deeds of power. So we must figure out a way to overcome our assumed familiarity of this local boy made big.
So, unlike in the past, I actually have a suggestion on how we might do this. To overcome this familiarity, to find out who this local boy is, we are going to have to figure out what it means to rely on the generosity and hospitality of others. To find out what this local boy has been up to, we must move out of our places of comfort. Give up the extra staff, and bag, and tunics and move into unfamiliar territory. Where did this man get this? What is the wisdom he has been given? What deeds of power are done in his hand? If we haven’t been moved to ask “Who is this?” recently, then we might have become too familiar with this local boy who is God among us. Amen? Amen.