Have you ever been to a job interview? They are nervy occasions, one’s where you step forward with trepidation: will they see my potential, will I be able to say what I want to say, and do I have what they want for this job? We might get that phone call or a letter saying that they’d welcome us, and when can you start? Wow! It isn’t so prevalent these days, but you might get a letter saying that you weren’t selected – often now, there is nothing, no letter whatsoever. Rejection is so hard. When setback occurs, we can feel deflated, crushed, wounded even – can we bounce back?
In our readings today, we will hear of such rejection, but we are also given an example of how they persevere, encouraging others to be empowered. Empowerment isn’t having all of the latest gadgetry and tools, but that inner feeling of “I can do this” because someone is walking alongside us.
Our reading is from the Gospel of Mark (6:1-13). Personally, I love Mark for his immediacy: everything has to happen now! Although, I am learning that I can’t live my life like that. Mark’s Gospel also doesn’t conclude with the aftermath following the resurrection – if you accept that the ending we can read in our Bibles was added many years later. There’s a dynamic spark in the text, which suggests that Jesus saw heaven here and now, where he was, where the people were. What do you think of that? Heaven here and now, not something to wait until we die.
Nazareth, the starting place
We might envisage Nazareth to be a bustling town, whereas historians speak of it as a few dwellings. The work of Joseph would have been found in nearby Sepphoris, a huge Roman construction programme, which was around 4 miles north of Nazareth. Sepphoris was deemed to be the ‘ornament of all Galilee’. It was chosen by Herod Antipas as his regional capital. It had an exceptionally strong fortress, and its citizens were very much in support of the Roman rulers, and against the Jews. I wonder how Joseph felt working for the Romans: it might have paid well but their morals weren’t aligned to his. Could Joseph really wish that his application for work would be turned down?
The synagogue we read about may well have been someone’s house rather than a palatial building we can imagine. Jesus has just healed a lass, and the people are, no surprise, amazed. Healing was quite a common with wanderers visiting places. The way Jesus healed might have been very different: more speaking about our ways, our inner thoughts than any healing potion.
The people’s astonishment didn’t last long. They started to scoff at his perceived ability, his implied wisdom. They weren’t criticising what he had done, but his lineage: he was the son of Mary. Just a moment: in the Bible, we often get to hear that individuals were descendants of someone, where that someone was male. Here, clearly, unequivocally, Jesus is known as the ‘’son of Mary. Had Joseph died already? Why had this link with Joseph, usually so important, not been stated? In Luke’s account, written much later and with a lot of the information gleaned from Mark’s Gospel, Jesus was said to be the son of Joseph. Mark, the first of the Gospel writers, is trying to say something important, possibly glossed over later.
I can also imagine the family photograph, if that were possible back then. They could have stored in on a heavenly cloud… You would have the parents in the middle, and then the rest of the family all around. Hold it, I thought Jesus was an immaculately conceived child, and here were siblings: brothers James, Joseph, Judas or Joses, and Simon – and he also has sisters, albeit sadly not named. That would have made quite a photograph. This verse also has caused much consternation in some elements of the Church. How do you feel about that?
Jesus declares that a “prophet is not honoured in his hometown, amongst his relatives and even his own family”. Ouch. His work has caused ruptures across the fabric of the family.
Being sent out
Not discouraged – I think might have been – Jesus goes onwards, visiting groups of people and calls out 12 disciples. No walking along the shore here with your wet sandals, the important message here is to seek and find out 12 people who have the gumption to go out and do God’s work amongst the people. They haven’t attended a certain university or college, and don’t have a raft of qualifications. Moreover, they are a bunch of ditherers. I could have fitted in there very well indeed.
They are told not to take anything with them, no iPad or Tablet – that’s either a reference to Moses or the Scottish sugary variant – no stash of cash, no extra sweater for those cold evenings, just a stick and a pair of your favourite sandals. What are they to do?
Go where the people are. Go where the people are.
They are to be dynamic, not static. They are not pseudo-warriors, an army of urban guerrillas or insurgents, hiding in the undergrowth. They aren’t to move stealthily from place to place under the cover of darkness. They are to live where they can find a place to sleep. and to depart from there if they are not wanted. There’s no curse to be given to those people who decline their presence – just move onwards. I can resonate with this quite strongly. Ministers are sent where the people are, to live in accommodation which isn’t theirs. They aren’t to remain there for yonks, but also move on periodically. But not all of us are called to be ministers. However, I do feel very strongly that this being ‘sent out where the people are’ is one for all of us.
Wherever we live, whether it is in Bearsden, Wishaw, East Kilbride, Strathaven, Milngavie, north or south of the Clyde, Brydekirk, we can go where the people are. We are local experts in where the people congregate. We don’t need any special equipment, there’s no magic here. We live and breathe, in amongst the people, God’s love. When people ask of our faith we can answer that particular question; there’s no compulsion to wave a banner in front of their face. If they don’t agree: show love, not hatred. Engage with them where they are perhaps, might be one way forward. Listen to what they have to say: it may well correspond with what we are feeling!
Division within society often occurs because we “listen to respond”, whereas we might wish to “listen to understand” the other person. A very not often used phrase to describe this could be… “be the salt for your chips, and not for the slug”…I can see why it isn’t used that often…
So, when you hear that phrase “Go where the people are”, what do you hear? And what does the Church here in Strathclyde hear?
Conclusion
So, we have 12 disciples selected not upon their qualifications, just willingness to go out where the people are.
I’d like to invite us to think where this might take us. In Scotland, we are moving towards being One Circuit. Pulling together our resources, our capabilities, our talents. There will be difficulties ahead, but we might well approach this as per the 12 being sent out. We could look upon the next few years as one where we travel light(er). We leave behind the heavy loads we have carried so carefully over the past few years/decades – delete as applicable. We discern what things we actually need, to tackle what we have to do, and trust in God.
By reminding ourselves that through prayer we don’t seek for the latest material item, or a particular event to occur which favour us, but through prayer we can look for our own inward transformation, to be more like Jesus, to know the mind of God even. Equipped with this, we are empowered to move forward – yes, not exactly sure of what the future entails or who we might bump up against, but we have what we need to tackle those issues. We use the wisdom that God has already given us, to go where the people are. They may well not be in the church, especially at 11am on a Sunday.
Jesus turned the attention of the disciples away from the synagogue and towards the spread of urban civilisation they might have ignored. He showed them people who they might not, by choice, mix with. But they are God’s people, aren’t they.
There’s a quote I’d like to leave you with, which we ask of the people where they are:
“Can we, the church, be with you and will you be with us? Will you allow us to sit at your table? Will you welcome us into your world? Will you allow us to learn about you – your joys, sorrows, aspirations, and gifts? And who knows, maybe in the process we will discover the Christ in each other.”
Weird Church, Estock and Nixon, 2016
What do you think?
I really enjoyed the dialogue