Getting Mad at Jesus

The 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B




Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, "Look, we are your bone and flesh. 2 For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The LORD said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel." 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years. 6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, "You will not come in here, even the blind and the lame will turn you back"-- thinking, "David cannot come in here." 7 Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David. 8 David had said on that day, "Whoever would strike down the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, those whom David hates." Therefore it is said, "The blind and the lame shall not come into the house." 9 David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inward. 10 And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him. (2 Samuel 5:1-10 NRSV)



He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. (Mark 6:1-13 NRSV)





“GETTING MAD AT JESUS”



We picture Jesus in different ways. You might have the Holman Hunt painting in mind with Jesus knocking at the doors of our souls. You might have the Good Shepherd rescuing the sheep or Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps it is of the feeding of the multitudes or of the baby Jesus in the manger. When I was in seminary, the assignment from one of the professors for a class was to find a picture of Jesus we liked. Most of the class liked one that was popular a few years ago, the laughing Jesus. No one had a picture of Jesus making people angry. And very few of our pictures of Jesus are that of the kid next door.

That is the picture in the Gospel reading this morning. Jesus went to his hometown with the disciples following him. He began to teach in the synagogue on the Sabbath. The people were astounded. But then the questions arise. Isn’t he from around here? Isn’t his family our neighbors? How did he get this way? What starts out as amazement and admiration ends up as being offended by him. Or, perhaps to put it another way, “This is just the kid next door, how did he get to be so great?”



Jesus replies with a proverb: “Prophets have honor, except in their hometowns and with their family.” Jesus was teaching, acting as prophets do, telling the people what God is saying to them. There is something about being one of them, though, that they can’t get past so as to see that Jesus knows more than they do. It is like the consultant who comes into a church and says the same things that the leaders have been telling the people for years. But suddenly they listen to the consultant. Jesus is telling them the truth, but he is from there. They can’t see past that, and so miss what he is saying.

There are times in life when we can’t see what we have and take that for granted as Gina Bridgeman talks about a time when they visited Phoenix’s WaterWorks at Arizona Falls on a hot, hot Saturday and enjoyed the spray from the artificial water falls. Then she recalled how they had just been at San Diego, staying near the ocean and on some of the days did not even go into the water. She was amazed at how easy it is to take God’s gifts for granted. Blessed are those who get the second chance. The people in Nazareth missed the chance to hear Jesus. It wasn’t that the crowd was too large for them to hear him or that they were not there on the right day, it was that they rejected him and what he said.

The other part of the Gospel reading is that Jesus sent out the disciples to proclaim the good news. They offered authority over unclean spirits and directed people to turn from their ways and repent. There is something interesting in the directions he gives. What they were to take along on the journey was to be simple and when they entered a house they were to stay until they left. And if the people do not welcome them they were to simply leave. The instructions are not to argue or bully people into agreement with them, but if they refuse to hear, to leave them alone. But even in this there is something surprising. It is that some of the people who hear the proclamation will reject it. It will not be welcome. It will not be good news to them. If the Kingdom of God comes to them, they will not want to have a part in it. And it makes a little bit of sense if you think your life is just fine and doesn’t need anything else. To accept the good news means that some part of what you had was not good. To accept the good news means that you are going to live differently. Some people won’t take the better thing that is offered, even though it is better; that is the part that doesn’t make sense. Some people can’t take that kind of challenge to their thinking or new way of life.

Some leaders are popular, just like King David in the Old Testament reading. He has been successful and the people proclaim him king. We like winners. Sometimes we don’t bother to look very deeply at them. It is an odd part of human behavior. The scariest part of all are the studies that say that people like to hear good things, even when they know it is a lie. They want people to tell them what they want to hear. That is the opposite of a prophet. A prophet is to speak for God. A prophet is to tell the truth, even if unpleasant. We have to learn to hear the truth even when it isn’t what we want to hear, wherever it comes from, even the kid next door.



We need to hear Jesus again, not as someone so familiar to us that we stop listening to him. We need to embrace the good news of the gospel, not just only the parts we like. Only then will we hear the good news, only then can we respond in genuine faith. It is always good when good news finds us and can lead us into doing something better.



The Gospel is truthful when it points out that even in Jesus’ day there were those who did not listen to him, who were angry with him and ignored him. And when his message went out, there were those who did not listen to it. Jesus compares himself to a prophet and that is what he is. He has a bigger purpose than to tell people what they want to hear. A prophet tells people the truth of God. Sometimes it is the news that things are not right. Other times it is the good news that God has a better way than how we are living now. Either way, let us hear it, let us believe it, let us welcome it, let us live by it.



+++++