Meditation on Mark 6:1–13
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown, NY
Pastor Karen Crawford
July 7, 2024
(art by stushie, used with permission)
I had this funny thought yesterday. What if I had stayed in York, Pennsylvania, and never accepted that first call to ministry in rural Minnesota?
My ministry journey would have been completely changed. I might never have ended up here!
In Minnesota, I was welcomed with open arms. I immediately had a confirmation class of 5 students—all girls. I had so many weddings, as people had been waiting for years for a called pastor to marry them in the church. Babies needed baptizing—more than any of us expected. People wanted and needed pastoral care—and I did many home visits, driving out to the farms and to members in town and the nursing home. I led an ecumenical Bible study at a senior living community.
I served the people with energy, intelligence, imagination and love—just as I had promised to do at my ordination and installation.
If I had stayed in York, PA, where I had raised my three boys, people in the community would have already known me as the religion reporter for the York Daily Record/Sunday News. While I maintained good relationships with my sources, would they have accepted me as a minister, after years in journalism and teaching before that?
But I never had the opportunity to serve as a minister in York, PA. I experienced a kind of rejection from my home presbytery. The EP told me, while I was meeting with the Committee on Preparation for ministry, that I wasn’t going to find a job when I graduated. If I did find one, it would take two years or more, and I would probably have to work another job, too, and I wouldn’t have benefits, which my family needed. Additionally, it was a conservative presbytery based in Lancaster County, where most churches wanted a young, male pastor, preferably with 2 young children, another on the way, and a stay-at-home spouse who could teach Sunday School and make casseroles for potlucks.
When I told her I was ready to accept a full call to a wonderful church in Minnesota, she was angry! She said that I would regret it. To the leader of my first presbytery, I wasn’t good enough.
I never did regret my decision, though I was homesick, at times, and it wasn’t easy.
It was out of our comfort zone, but it was also an adventure.
Jesus is taking risks and stepping out of his comfort zone in our reading in Mark chapter 6, though we wouldn’t normally assume that it would be risky for Jesus to return to his hometown.
This is his first time home with his family since chapter 3, when the crowds are following him around and demanding his healing power so much that he and his disciples cannot even eat! When his family hears what he is doing and how some people are saying, “He has gone out of his mind,” they go “out to restrain him.” When the crowd tells Jesus that his family has come, he famously looks around and says, “Who are my mother and my brothers?…Here are my mother and brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
It took a lot of guts for Jesus to come home after that! Now, he is teaching in the synagogue and people are astounded. They take “offense.” The Greek word is skandalizo, which means “to stumble, to take offense.” [1] They are thinking, “Who cares about what he says and does? He cannot be worthy of respecting or following.” [2]
What is interesting to consider is why his family and community may have been upset with him, other than their unbelief. The reason may be closer to home. Theologian Matthew Skinner says, “When the crowd refers to him without referring to his father, they may be emphasizing that this grown son has left a widowed mother and siblings to fend for themselves while he travels around Galilee leading a movement.” [3]
They identify Jesus by his former occupation—the family business, which he never talks about and never does. We never hear, in the gospels, how Jesus is still working as a carpenter after he begins his public ministry.
“Is not this the carpenter,” they ask now, “the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?”
Notice they didn’t bother to name his sisters? That always bugs me! But this gives us an even clearer picture of Nazareth, a town of probably 400 in Jesus’s time. Everybody knows everybody, and they never forget one of their own, who has turned his back on his family and hometown.
So, if you haven’t wondered, yet, are you wondering now why Jesus ever went back to Nazareth?
His reaction might help us understand. First, he isn’t surprised. It’s inevitable, he says. “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown and among their own kin and in their own house.” But then he tries to do some of the deeds of power he had been doing for the first five chapters of Mark. He still cares about his community! He hasn’t forgotten them! Their negative reaction hasn’t stolen his compassion for people in need. But he is only able to lay “hands on a few sick people and cure them.”
This does catch him by surprise. He is “amazed at their unbelief,” which prevents him from healing all the people who are sick and suffering.
This brings us to a key point. Friends, the power of the Spirit works WITH your faith in Christ. Both are needed. Your faith AND the power of the Spirit.
That leads us to another key point—what happens after the rejection? And what should we do, when we are rejected?
Jesus goes out among the villages teaching. He KEEPS going. One rejection doesn’t null and void his anointing from God. Then he calls the 12, regathers them, as if his rejection at Nazareth has taken the wind out of their sails or distracted them. Jesus brings them back, equips them with his authority (exousia! The power of God!) and begins to send them out, two by two, for encouragement, comfort, and support, and to do the ministry he wants them to do.
He doesn’t want them to bring any extra stuff, beyond what is necessary for the mission. Sandals. A staff for walking in rugged areas. No money. No food. No bag with extra supplies. He wants them completely dependent on those who may or may not welcome them into their homes when they come as strangers knocking on doors.
He has already given them an example to follow when he was rejected in his hometown, of all places. The pairs of disciples obey—going out of their comfort zones, without Jesus. They go in his name and proclaim repentance, heal the sick, cast out demons. They go with realistic expectations—knowing that they may not always be welcome and won’t be able to do deeds of power if the people have no faith. And they know that they may be rejected by the people who know them the best.
The Holy Spirit is speaking to us now, motivating us as disciples of Jesus Christ that one failure, one rejection, is only a bump in the road. It’s no cause for alarm! It shouldn’t slow us down, discourage us, or cause us to question our mission—or the loving purposes of God.
The Holy Spirit leads us on, propels us forward, to witness to our faith with Christ’s authority. Exousia! and equip more disciples, in Jesus’ name.
I am so glad that I said yes to the call to Minnesota—and that would lead me on this path, where I ended up here, with another call to serve people, whom I love!!!!
God is calling you, too, to take a risk and offer all your gifts and talents, for the sake of the Lord and Christ’s Church.
Before I could accept that first call to ministry, I had to leave behind the identities I used to have—some that made me so proud. I loved being the religion reporter for the York Daily Record! I had worked hard as a freelance writer and teacher for two years before that position finally opened.
Maybe you have been pigeon-holed into one kind of service or ministry, something you are good at and have done for a long time or stopped doing because you grew weary of it. Maybe it’s your family and close friends who only see you one way, as Jesus’ family and community only saw him as a carpenter.
Don’t be afraid of rejection by the people who know you, or think they know you, best.
You are capable of much more that what you have ever done. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!
Or perhaps it’s you that’s holding you back—because you aren’t ready to let go of a rejection or bad experience that you once had. That’s hard! None of us want to be hurt while we are pouring out our hearts into loving service for the Lord. I can’t make anything in the past go away, but I know the One who can help you forgive—yourself and others—and move on to the new and exciting adventure God has planned for you!
Maybe you lack confidence that what you know, all your skills and abilities, what you have, and all that you are, at this moment, in Jesus Christ, are truly ENOUGH for what the Lord is calling YOU to do.
Will you pray with me?
Holy God, thank you for the example of Jesus and the disciples knowing even in the face of rejection that they were good enough, strong enough, kind enough, and competent enough. Thank you for calling me enough, too. Help us to pay attention to all the prophetic voices around us, even those we think we know best and perhaps might dismiss because we know them. Teach us to notice the gifts for ministry that our brothers and sisters possess—and encourage them to live into their gifts. Build up our faith. Keep us going on adventures and doing the loving, healing acts that you want us to do, with the Spirit’s help. Amen.
[1] Matthew L. Skinner, Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Teaching, Year B, Vol. 3 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021), 140-142.
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