Mark 6:1-13 (7th Sunday after Pentecost) – July 7th, 2024

Introduction

I’m going to start a little differently this week. I’m going to start with the personal and then expand to the Gospel narrative. Yes, I am reading my story onto Jesus’ narrative because I want to illustrate something.

Seminary Homecoming

When I made the decision to go to seminary, there was not a doubt in my mind that I needed to go to the Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia. Even though I grew up on that campus, when my father was the President of the seminary and my mother was the registrar, when I made that decision to go to seminary, I knew it had to be in my home.

I would have gotten a perfectly good education at other institutions. But with where I was emotionally, mentally, and not yet in recovery, something was drawing me to go home.

Now, I will say first off, that it was a very good education and all-in-all, it was a very good experience.

But it was hard. When news first got out that I was coming to seminary, one of the professors who saw me grow up with his kids said to my mom (who was the registrar at the time), “Micah should go anywhere else but here.”

He didn’t mean it to be mean, he just knew that there were going to be many challenges with me not only coming to my home city, but living on the campus where I grew up for my entire life.

And he was right. There were many challenges. Frequently there were awkward moments where professors would pause on the first day of a class and just stare at me and say, “I can’t believe that you’re sitting in my class right now.” With a look of astonishment and confusion on their face.

Many of these professors lived next door or across a parking lot from me. They were more like aunts and uncles in some ways. They would come over to our house to for dinners and presentations and check-in just like family would do at a reunion or a holiday meal. “How is school going? What plays are you in this year? Are you still playing baseball?”

Many of these professors saw me running around the campus in diapers or saw me throwing tennis balls against the library wall as I pretended to play baseball. Some of them had children my age and would host me for sleepovers and parties.

They saw me grow up. Learning, growing, making mistakes, making big mistakes, and then they saw me leave and go off to college in North Carolina.

They had a pretty good idea of who I was when I left.

But then I returned. And I was different. Still Micah, but different. And not only that but now we were supposed to have a completely different professional relationship as student and teacher when they had known me intimately for 18 years.

It was a blessing and curse to return to Philadelphia for seminary. It was absolutely needed for my health and early sobriety. But it was tremendously difficult to return to my hometown and ask to be treated differently.

It’s difficult for anyone to be seen as changed. To be seen differently, when you return to your hometown or somewhere familiar.

Gospel Narrative

Jesus returns to his hometown in Nazareth and begins teaching in the local synagogue. The people that are gathered are amazed by his teachings and his perspective but all of a sudden someone recognizes him.

“Hey, isn’t he that carpenter? Isn’t he the kid with the other siblings? Oh, that’s Mary’s boy. He used to hang around the synagogue way more than the other kids. Yeah, he was always a little odd.”

Immediately upon recognizing him, his teachings are invalidated. And this may be a devastating moment for Jesus. Returning home, hoping to feel unconditional support and love. After all that he has already done to this point: the healings and miracles, calming a storm (the great leviathan), going toe-to-toe with Satan in the wilderness, walking many miles with crowds upon crowds following him…You’d think that there’d be some level of respect. But instead, being rejected and disregarded because they knew where he came from.

Now that may be what Jesus is feeling. But what if it’s not quite that sinister? Afterall, they saw him running around and playing as a boy. They saw him make mistakes. They saw him learning carpentry. Maybe someone, a teacher of the faith was in the crowd saying, “He should go anywhere but here.”

Gospel and Personal

My professors weren’t trying to be mean. Nor do I think were the people of Jesus’ hometown. It’s incredibly difficult to remove the long history with someone and treat them as different than who you’ve always known them to be. That takes time. Far longer than one home visit.

Maybe we can have some grace for that. Grace for Jesus who doesn’t feel seen. And grace for the hometown who just can’t quite see him as different than who he was.

Preaching Possibilities

But the Gospel text today gives us three gifts or lessons to hold onto as we hear about Jesus’ struggle in returning home.

First: We’re Not Alone

The first is that we can know that it is okay when we struggle to return home. We are not unique in our struggle when hoping to be seen as different or changed. We are not unique when we slip back into those old patterns of communication (or miscommunication). We are not alone when we hope to find support but instead find pushback or rejection. This does not make us unwanted, unlovable, or unworthy. Even the son God had difficulty returning to his hometown. And so, we are not alone in those challenges.

Second: Grounded in Ourselves

The second gift and lesson is that Jesus tells us to be grounded in who we are even when we are disregarded or rejected.

How many of us have gone to our hometowns for Thanksgiving or holidays and have struggled to be authentically true to ourselves when we are around others who used to know us?

Or how many of us have been to high school reunions and struggled to convey that you are not the same person that you once were?

How many of us have had to justify our happiness or careers to others?

‘Oh, you’re a teacher? Isn’t that really challenging work?’ ‘Oh, you work in finance? Boring right?’

Personally, I’ve gotten, “Oh, you’re a pastor? Like you work in a church? So, you just pray all day?”

Even though we may get questions or comments that qualify our choices, our lifestyles, or our success, Jesus reminds us to be grounded in who we are. Jesus leaves his hometown but immediately returns to the work that he was called to. He immediately begins teaching and preaching again. He maintains and even grows his relationship with his disciples. He grounds himself in his authentic self and his identity and continues the work of God.

Even when we feel awkward or inadequate in our hometowns, we too can be grounded in the ways that we have grown as human beings. The ways that we have changed and learned. We can be confident in our vocations, in our relationships, and in our identity.

Jesus tells the disciples to travel lightly. All they need for the journey is themselves with the Word of God that reminds them that they are beloved and called to do amazing things in this life. We too are called for this. All we need is ourselves, our true authentic self, and the loving Word of God to ground us wherever we go.

Third: A Gift to See Others

The third gift and lesson from this text is the most challenging, but also one of the most important.

Jesus’ being rejected from his hometown, gave him even more reason to be open and accepting of others. Seeing people change and seeing their true authentic selves. Embracing them as they were.

Jesus would welcome tax collectors and sinners. Jesus would welcome Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus welcomed fishermen and tentmakers. And with each of them, he opened up opportunities for them to live in new vocations and identities. Even though he knew where they came from, all that they had done, Jesus opened up a world of possibility for them and allowed them to explore who they were meant to be.

Peter the fishermen would become the first Pope of the Christian Church. Paul the tentmaker and persecutor of Christians would be the greatest evangelist to the Gentiles. Matthew the tax collector gets associated as the author of a Gospel.  

Who we were does not dictate who we are or who we will become.

And the same is true for others. Just because we knew who someone was in the past, does not mean that we know everything about them now. Other people can change and grow and live into wonderful new identities. But we have to be willing to leave space in our hearts and minds to experience that growth. If we make-up in our minds that someone will always be how we knew them to be, then we will never be able to see their growth or new identity in the future.

Do we leave space for children of this congregation to come back and express everything they have learned and live into the fullness of their authentic selves?

Do we leave space for family members or old friends to have changed and are we able to see that change in them?

Because we experienced rejection in our lives means that we are better equipped to ensure that others returning to our space do not receive rejection from us.

My wife, Pastor Sarah, has said to me many times “Often times, people who have been refused a seat at the table end up throwing the most welcoming and hospitable feasts.”

And isn’t that exactly what Jesus does for us. Not only having been rejected in his hometown but being rejected as the Son of God and crucified for being who he truly was. And yet, what table is more welcoming than the one that Jesus sets for us, where all are welcome, and all are asked to be their true authentic selves.