Reflection
This Sunday's Gospel has two separate story lines, and wise preachers may well choose to focus on one or the other, as the connection between the two is not readily apparent. However, I have been known to strain a text from time to time, and I am always curious about why Mark runs these two stories together and why the people selecting lectionary pericopes kept them together. So, here goes.
Common wisdom about the rejection at Nazareth would say that "familiarity breeds contempt." The home town folks remember Jesus when. . . before he was a rising phenomenon. They know the real Jesus, warts and all, and there is no obvious reason for all of the excitement around him. I think more is going on. Jesus'world was very structured and stratified. Notice what is said about him: son of Mary, not Joseph as custom would dictate. Isn't that a way to raise questions about his birth and standing? A carpenter or builder is a member of the artisan class, but in the layers of that society that was just one level above the expendables. He certainly wasn't one of those who were educated well; he wasn't a military leader or a merchant; he wasn't even a peasant who produced food for the populace. The people didn't dispute his ability to do mighty works, they just wanted to know who he thought he was.
That brings me to the fishermen and tax collectors and other n'er-do-wells that Jesus now decides to send out with the Gospel into the world. If this group was qualified to share the good news and heal people and cast out demons, then certainly most of the people in our congregations are more than ready to take up the task. I have often heard someone respond to the invitation to service with words like, "but I'm just a . . ." Fill in the blank however you would like - housewife, janitor, lay person, beginner, kid.
It seems to me that these two stories come together with our own story precisely because it wasn't Jesus'social status that determined his purpose and it also wasn't the disciple's qualifications that made them effective. The Nazareth rejection reminds us that doing God's work does not always go smoothly, even for Jesus, but when the people are able to see Jesus as the one chosen by God to bring life and power into the world, great things happened. The disciples, too, were properly prepared for towns that wouldn't have them but when they were welcomed as strangers, yet children of God they brought unbelievable transformation with them.
God calls all of us, with all our worldly limitations, to be the agents and conduits of grace for all his children. On this weekend, when many will pay homage to our independence, we should also proclaim our utter dependence on God's love and our interdependence with each other as we receive and share God's good news.
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