5 July
Reading
Ezekiel 2.1-5
The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. When I saw this, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking. 1He said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. 2And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me. 3He said to me, Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day. 4The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ 5Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.
Gospel
Mark 6.1-13
1Jesus came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. 2On 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! 3Is 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 offence at him. 4Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’ 5And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11If 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.’ 12So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Sermon
My sermons about whole passages.
Usually also context – before and after
Today I am concentrating on just one word: “They took offence at him.”
Context still important: gospel reading preceded by Nature Miracles
Stilling of storm
Gerasene demoniac
Haemorrhaging woman
Healing of Jairus’s daughter
Against this background of miracles, including raising of the dead: talitha cum in Aram.
Jesus arrives back in home town
Would have thought great welcome
Celebrating notoriety of local man
But quite opposite
Leaves home as young craftsman - tekton
Arrives back as Rabbi surrounded by disciples
One minute – fixing broken farm implements
Next – speaking with authority in synagogue
They recognised great things were being done through him
Astounded at his teaching
Recognised his wisdom but where did he get it?
Recognised his deeds of power being done through his hands but how was this possible?
Why did they name him as ‘son of Mary?’ No Jewish man would be called son of his mother.
Why did they take offence, and not welcome their famous son home or ask him to perform miracles in their sight?
Taking offence quite a strong term.
Greek: skandalon – that at which one stumbles or takes offence – they were scandalised at him.
Originally skandalon part of a trap to which bait is attached – a snare
Same word – skandalon – appears in Matt 16 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."
So there is severity in skandalon – stumbling block, cause of sin, offence.
They were worried his words and deeds would snare them, cause them to sin, trip them up, hinder them.
Did not want to be challenged: shaken out of comfort zone.
What about this reaction? Expected? Strange?
Which caused me to wonder – is Jesus so familiar to us, he ceases to challenge, to trip us up, or scandalise?
This prophet had no honour in his own country
Expected him to behave as a joiner. To them he would always be a working man.
He worked in Nazareth as a tekton for many years
Did not start ministry until age 30
He was dead only 3 years later
Are we not ourselves so often guilty of judging others by their
Accent
Background/upbringing
Colour
BNP chief branded Archbishop of York as an ambitious African and anti-British. Extreme? Yes. But do we all not judge people by their outward appearance?
Should we not be more scandalised by the teaching of Christ?
Find it more extreme and challenging?
Find the Way narrower and harder than we do?
Paul thought so. In Galatians 5:11 he challenges those who want to restrict the Christian message to a branch of Judaism. Those were the preachers who required the early Christians to be circumcised.
To them, he refers to the cross as an offence – skandalon. To preach that one should follow the law rather than obey the truth is to make the cross of Christ a stumbling block or an offence. Something that leads others into error, rather than being the means of salvation.
The people of Nazareth who rejected Christ’s teaching did so through sheer familiarity
What they were seeing and hearing could not possibly be true – so it must be an offence to all right thinking people
Rejection had a much more devastating effect
Power of Christ was limited
He could do no mighty works in Nazareth.
The atmosphere was wrong.
Why? There was no faith.
For us, the opposite is the case
Sheer familiarity and ease of our faith is the stumbling block
Christ in our lives does not jolt us awake
We are not scandalised by what he asks of us
Perhaps we are travelling the wide path – for few find the narrow way that leads to salvation
So our faith is not challenged, and our lack of faith limits God’s ability to work his power in our lives.
Just after Christ’s rejection in his own country comes a contrasting situation
Disciples sent out on a mission
Took no money, no change of clothing, no suitcase, no credit cards, no mobile phone, nothing to support themselves on their journey
Yet their faith worked miracles
The lack of any support was no stumbling block to them – because they put their faith in God rather than in themselves
As we heard in the OT reading – Ezekiel encountered God and fell on his face. But God told him to have faith and put his trust in the Lord:
1He said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. 2And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me.
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