Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel Reading: Mark 6:1-6 **************************************** Introduction to the Celebration When we assemble each

week on Sunday, we are continuing an earlier tradition of God's people who met on Saturday the Sabbath. For the Jews, the Sabbath was, and is, the day to rejoice in the goodness of God in creating the universe, and our human family. The first Christians moved the celebration to Sunday as this day was seen as the day of resurrection: God's great act of restoring and renewing the creation in Jesus. But whether it is celebrating the creation of all by God, or the renewal of all in Christ, the celebrations have some common elements: the people are to recall God's love in a meal and in reading the scriptures. For the Jews, the meal takes place in their homes on Friday evenings and they gather on Saturday to hear the Law and pray. We listen to the scriptures first, what we call the New Law, and then have our meal together here. Today we recall that Jesus entered the assembly on the Sabbath in his home town; we believe that he is here among us in this assembly today. Let us recall his presence, and pray that he may find us a community of faith. Readings: This incident reports what happened when Jesus returned home to Nazareth for the first time after beginning his public ministry and having much success all around Galilee. It continues to deal with the topic of faith and obstacles to it. As in Luke's account, the beginning is quite promising. Jesus amazes them by his teaching in the synagogue but their amazement quickly turns to resistance as their supposed knowledge of him convinces them that he could not possibly be anyone special. The reference to his brothers is usually understood in the Catholic tradition as meaning his kin or cousins. In Greek Orthodox circles, there is a tradition that Joseph had children by an earlier marriage and these are Jesus' stepbrothers. The lack of faith that Jesus encounters leads the evangelist to comment that he could do no miracle there and that he was amazed at their lack of faith. Reflection: Ezekiel and Paul both provide us with a valuable lesson in discipleship in these readings. Their work for God brings them into situations that they would not choose for themselves and appears on occasions to meet with failure. However, they have both learned that if they keep their focus on the Lord of the work then they need have no worries about their work for the Lord. All their experiences can be of service to him if undergone in a spirit of humble faith. Similarly, it is the lack of just such a humble faith that prohibits the spread of the kingdom in Nazareth. In this short unit of text, Mark summarises several themes that he has already preached in his gospel: the question of discipleship and faith; Jesus as teacher; Jesus as miracle worker/healer; and Jesus as the prophet. Now his gospel reaches a climactic moment. At the end of all his teaching and miracles in Galilee we have a snapshot of reaction to him: his

home town, Nazareth, rejects him. This rejection by his own people, his own people in the sense of those he grew up with, those who knew him and his family, presages the greater rejection that comes at the crucifixion. Underlying the whole scene is the question of what is it to know Jesus and accept him, and this question is framed in terms of faith. They cannot accept this individual as a prophet even if they are amazed at him, and their rejection is seen as unbelief. The gospel passage for this Sunday is St Marks version of Jesus return to his home town of Nazareth, accompanied by his disciples. He began to teach in Nazareth, and many were astonished by what they saw in him. They wondered where all this wisdom had come from. What they saw was very different from what others had seen. This man was one of them, in the deepest sense; they knew him and his family. The people of the town would not accept him; even though they had heard of his outstanding accomplishments in other places, they could not see what made him so special. The story of what happened to Jesus when he decided to return to his town is a familiar story, one that happens to all of us: we achieve wonderful things far away from home - in another city, or perhaps in some other part of the world, where we are not well known; then the time comes when we know we must return to our own country and teach there, and we find that people at home do not see us in the same way. As you reflect on this passage, you may find yourself identifying with the people who rejected Jesus because he was so well known to them. Or you may prefer to identify with Jesus, remembering times when you or others had an experience like his. If you are taking this approach you might like to read it as a necessary journey of returning to reality. Feel free, also, to read the story symbolically, taking going home to mean the journey to the deepest truth of ourselves.

Homily notes 1. Who are we following when we say we are 'Christians'? The question seems so obvious that most of us think it a silly question even to ask: it's obviously 'Jesus', isn't it? But the question is not silly, nor is the answer obvious, because who Jesus is and what he means to us is far from obvious. Indeed, it is because it is anything but obvious that there have been so many disputes down the centuries among Christians, and there is a whole branch of Christian theology called 'christology'. 2. Let us begin by noting that most people like 'to keep it simple' and that means they imagine there should be a simple answer to the question 'who is Jesus?' but the reality is that life is complex, and the more any issue involves human beings, the more complex life becomes. Everyone knows that her/his human relationships are complex how many of us can say 'I know myself!' so why think that understanding Jesus is easy? 3. The situation recorded in today's gospel shows a reaction that must have been widespread: the local people have Jesus in one box in their imaginations: he is the guy from down the road they know him, his brothers and sisters, and his background. For anyone who comes from their town they have a box for what they expect for and from that person: fine to get him to do a job for you, fine to go to the well with his sisters, fine to engage with them socially. That's all there is to them:

4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

another family, just like us, and they should not think of themselves as anything special. So if Jesus stands up and presents himself as a leader, that is just not on! On the other hand, they have heard him in the synagogue: he comes across as one filled with wisdom, he is a teacher like they have heard, he speaks in a way they have always imagined a prophet would speak. They have another box marked 'prophet' and he seems to fit there too! But that box comes with a label: prophets are very distant from everyday life, they are exceptional in every way, they are 'not like us'. So when these people find that Jesus ticking both the box marked 'prophet' and ticking the box marked 'ordinary bloke' / 'regular guy' /'one of our own,' they cannot cope with this complexity. So, since they are more sure that he is the guy down the road, they reject him as a prophet. 4. Faith is the ability to imagine that God's goodness is greater and closer than the bits-and-pieces around us and the ups-and downs of life. In this case, faith was the ability to imagine that God was so close that Jesus was both the guy from down the road and the great prophet and the wise teacher and more besides. But the group could not make that leap of imagination and Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith. Would we have been among that group that could not imagine that God's goodness was that close? Surely not! After all, we are Christians, who publicly declare our faith in Jesus each week in the creed. But we have problems of our own in imagining the goodness of God coming close to us in Jesus. For many people, it is fine to think of Jesus as a wise teacher a proclaimer of great religious or moral truths and as such one who should inspire us to high ideals. This is all true, but is there a label on that box which says: 'Not needed on a day-today basis in life'?

********************* Stories:

Anecdotes: # 1: Rev. Deacon Prophet: There is the story about a bishop who was interviewing a senior seminarian before his ordination as deacon, and asked him where he would like to be assigned as a deacon for pastoral training. The seminarian said, somewhat boldly, "Oh, my bishop, anywhere but Indiranagar!" "Why not there," the bishop asked? "You know," the seminarian answered, "Thats my hometown -- and we all know that a prophet is not without honor except in his native place. The bishop replied, "Don't worry my friend! Nobody in your hometown is going to confuse you with a prophet." # 2: Dont allow rejection to derail your dreams: Brilliant British Theologian G.K. Chesterton could not read until he was eight years old. A teacher said if his head were opened they would probably find a lump of fat where there was supposed to be a brain. That teacher was wrong. Einsteins parents were informed by a teacher that he would never amount to anything. For The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter received seven rejection slips before finding a publisher. Richard Bach got twenty rejection slips before Jonathan Livingston Seagull was published. Dr. Seuss, one of the most popular childrens authors of all time, got more than two dozen rejection slips before The Cat in the Hat made it to print. Ruth Graham felt an uncontrollable urge to run out of the meeting the first time she heard Billy preach. She was not under conviction. She was put off by his preaching style.

Billy had to improve his preaching before Ruth would become his wife. Todays gospel tells us how Jesus encountered rejection with prophetic courage. # 3: Good news to the poor! But are we poor? Mother Teresa thinks so. There was a beautiful article about her in Time magazine. She was asked about the materialism of the West. "The more you have, the more you are occupied," she contended, "but the less you have the freer you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is a joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. This is the only fan in the whole house...and it is for the guests. But we are happy. She continued, "I find the rich poorer. Sometimes they are lonelier inside...The hunger for love is much more difficult to fill than the hunger for bread...The real poor know what is joy." When asked about her plans for the future, she replied, "I just take one day. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not come. We have only today to love Jesus." Is there anyone in this room as rich as Mother Teresa? Life Messages: Life messages: 1) Let us face rejection with prophetic courage and optimism. The story of Jesus' rejection in his own town is a story that we can identify with, because it is a story that has happened to most of us. We might have felt the pain of rejection experienced in hurts, wounds, betrayal, divorce, abandonment, violated trust, trauma, neglect or various forms of abuse. What about rejection by those closest to us? Often our friends, families, or childhood companions fail to listen to, and refuse to accept, the words of grace, love and encouragement that we offer to them, because they are too familiar with us. Hence, they are unable to see us as God's appointed instruments, the agents of God's healing and saving grace. Let us check also the other side of the coin. How often do we discount Gods agents through prejudice? How often do we fail to see Gods image in them because of our own hardheartedness? We must realize that God's power is always available to transform even the most unlikely people. 2) We need to handle rejection in the right spirit: a) We can handle rejection with respect for ourselves and respect for others. Our first reaction to rejection is often anger at ourselves for assuming we deserve what we have gotten and bitterness toward others who do the rejecting. In the face of rejection, we would be wise to follow the advice of St. Paul who said, Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down on your anger. b) We need to avoid self-defeating assumptions. One rejection need not be an indictment on ones life. Rejection is not synonymous with continuous failure. c) We need to avoid magnifying the rejection. Rejection need not be a forecast of our future. We must avoid making rejection a self-fulfilling prophecy. d) We must avoid allowing rejection to derail our dreams, but instead, keep coming back. e) We need to learn from our rejections. We are not perfect and we do not always get it right, but we need to keep coming back until we do get it right. Every rejection can be a lesson if we stay open to new possibilities and new opportunities. What can I do differently? How can I improve? What needs can I meet? These are the questions we need to ask if we are never to let a trouble go to waste. 3) Let us acknowledge the prophets of Gods goodness in our midst. God is present giving us His message through both our nearest and dearest and our priests, bosses, neighbors and coworkers. Since God uses these people as His prophets to convey His message to us, it is our duty to acknowledge and honor them. Let us express our appreciation today for our families spouses for each other, parents and children for each other. A word of appreciation for the lady who cooks the dinner, for the neighbor who

is always ready to share our happiness and sorrow, for the friends who have given us time, support and attention during a recent bereavement or a tragedy in our life all Gods messengers of love and light -- is are our proper responses to them for their service and to Him for His mercy. Let us not take this active presence of God among us for granted, and let us not ignore Gods direction, help and support in our lives coming to us through His words in the Bible and the advice and example of others. 4) We must have the prophetic courage of our convictions. By our baptism, God calls us to share in Jesus prophetic mission. The task of a prophet is to speak Gods truth. We must never be afraid of this call. We may rely on Jesus to supply us with the courage to oppose the many evils in our society. By legalizing abortion in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the killing of over thirty million unborn children in thirtyone years and it is tolerating the brutal execution of 4400 defenseless babies every day by abortion. Our liberal television and movie conglomerates systematically poison the minds of the young as well as the old by the excessive importance given to perverted sex and unnecessary violence. Many well-known corporate sponsors support more than 75,000 U. S. websites of pornographic material, making it easy for people to become addicts, perverts and sex abusers. Our society tells youngsters that promiscuous sex, drugs and alcohol are means by which they express their individuality. It is here that our country needs Christians with the prophetic courage of their convictions to fight against such moral evils. 5) We need to speak the truth of Christ without being hypocritical or disrespectful. We must never remain silent in the face of evil for fear of being thought "politically incorrect." Jesus was not against conflict if it promoted truth. He taught us to give respect and freedom without condoning or encouraging sinful behavior. Love does not tolerate destructive behavior but, nevertheless, it sometimes causes pain just as a surgeon must sometimes hurt in order to heal. We can be kind, charitable, and honest and forgiving and still speak our own convictions as Jesus did in the synagogue. Jokes of the week: # 1: Rejection resulting in the resignation: There was a feud between the Pastor and the Choir Director of a Southern Baptist parish. The first hint of trouble came when the Pastor preached on Dedicating oneself to service and the Choir Director chose to sing: "I Shall Not Be Moved". Trying to believe it was a coincidence, the Pastor put the incident behind him. The next Sunday he preached on giving. Afterwards, the choir squirmed as the director led them in the hymn: "Jesus Paid It All" By this time, the Pastor was losing his temper. Sunday morning attendance swelled as the tension between the two began public. A large crowd showed up the next week to hear his sermon on the sin of gossiping. Would you believe the Choir Director selected: "I Love To Tell the Story." There was no turning back. The following Sunday the Pastor told the congregation that unless something changed he was considering resignation. The entire church gasped when the Choir Director led them in: Why Not Tonight. Truthfully, no one was surprised when the Pastor resigned a week later, explaining that Jesus had led him there and Jesus was leading him away. The Choir Director could not resist singing: "What a Friend We Have In Jesus." # 2: Rejection at the Pearly Gate, too: A cab driver reaches the Pearly Gates and announces his presence to St. Peter, who looks him up in his Big Book. Upon reading the entry for the cabby, St. Peter invites him to grab a silk robe and a golden staff and to proceed into Heaven. A preacher is next in line behind the cabby and has been watching

these proceedings with interest. He announces himself to St. Peter. Upon scanning the preacher's entry in the Big Book, St. Peter furrows his brow and says, "Okay, we'll let you in, but take that cotton robe and wooden staff." The preacher is astonished and replies, "But I am a man of the cloth. You gave that cab driver a gold staff and a silk robe. Surely, I rate higher than a cabby." St. Peter responded matter-of- factly: "Here we are interested in results. When you preached, people slept. When the cabby drove his taxi, people prayed." L/12.

Picture yourself starting a brand new project. You might want to call it mission. In a parish where most of the communicants were government workers, civilian and military, I was always hearing the word, mission. I had understood mission in a religious context. I learned that mission could have a broader meaning. Life is mission. Business is mission. Career is mission. Mission is a good word. It suggests vision that is supported by good planning. Define your mission clearly. State its purpose briefly. Write the rules for implementing it. That will be your business plan. That makes you mission ready. The Gospel is about mission. St. Mark has a way of zeroing in on the basics. He's very brief and to the point. Let's get the picture. Jesus sets up a "pilot test" project. He wants to test how well his brand new on-the-job trainees can take instructions and make them work. In this Gospel we see him giving them a lesson on some very basic matters. I will use three key words to highlight his work plan: Excess, Time and Respond. In the simplest terms, the basics are: avoid Excesses, use Time wisely, and Respond, don't react, to each new challenge. I suggest that these basics will work for you too, any time and any place... There are two types of travelers. There are those that travel light; and, there are those who pack for self-preservation. Do you take a small bag with the basic essentials and figure you'll pick stuff up as you go? Or do you cram everything you can into every corner of an extra-large expandable bag, making sure that whatever comes your way on your trip, you are prepared? Parents traveling with small children embody both extremes. They bring enough "kid gear," emergency medicines, food and drink boxes, stuffed animals, and beloved story-books to keep the children satisfied for weeks. But they're lucky if they get a toothbrush and a change of socks for themselves. It is the Boy Scouts' motto of "Be Prepared" vs. the new airline mantra of "you pay for every pound." Once you are beyond the "traveling with small children" phase of your life, it is tempting to look at all the "stuff" parents bring along as just so much junk. But, ironically, it is those protective parents who might best embody the supplications of Jesus and the spartan traveling supplies of Jesus' disciples. No, the twelve apostles did not bring "Dora, the Explorer" downloads. No, there were no fruit snacks and water bottles. But . . . Yes, like parents, they did set out to travel without focusing on their own needs and provisions. In today's text we learn how the disciples, in accordance with Jesus' own directives, took basically nothing as a "back-up" for themselves...

________________________ Pridefulness - Not Needing God Atlas was condemned to carry the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. That was as harsh a punishment as the ancient Greek mind could conjure up. Today, it seems, we have volunteered to play the role of Atlas. We have not offended God, we have dismissed him, told him we were grown up enough not to need his help any more, and offered to carry the weight of the entire world on our shoulders. The question is, when it gets too heavy for us, when there are questions too hard for human knowledge to answer and problems that take more time to solve than any of us have, will we be too proud to admit that we have made a mistake in wanting to carry this world alone? Rabbi Harold Kushner __________________________ Switching Tracks Sometimes the best thing we can do is to move on to another field. Paul Harvey tells the story of Joe, who was born into a family of Sicilian immigrants, a family who had a 300-year history as fishermen. Joe's dad was a fisherman. His brothers were fishermen. But Joe was made sick by the smell of raw fish and the motion of a rocking boat. In a family where the only acceptable way to earn a living was by fishing, Joe was a failure. His dad used to refer to his son as "good for nothing." Joe believed his dad. He believed that his attempts at other types of work were an admission of failure, but he just couldn't stand the smell of the fishing business. One thing that Joe could do was to play baseball. Giving up a field where he could not succeed, Joe DiMaggio moved to another field and became one of the great successes of baseball. David G. Rogne, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost _________________________ Call to Repentance and Change Erwin M. Soukup has compiled what he terms "The Seven Steps to Stagnation": 1. We've never done it that way before. 2. We're not ready for that. 3. We are doing all right without trying that. 4. We tried it once before. 5. We don't have money for that. 6. That's not our job. 7. Something like that can't work. Soukup admits that "there's probably an eighth step, but we've never looked it up before." Martin E. Marty, "Context," April 15, 1985, p. 5.

__________________________ Ignoring the Play When I was in elementary school, I remember when all the kids in the neighborhood got together and put on a show. We rigged up a curtain of sorts by hanging an old bedspread in a screened porch, and arranged folding chairs for the audience. Then we practiced a small play, and added in a few musical solos, for which I played the piano. (Because we couldn't move the piano closer to the play, I had to play it very loud, and even then it was barely audible.) As I remember it, it was a prodigious feat for little kids like us. We invited all our mothers to come to our performance. (That was back in the days when housewives were not an endangered species and most mothers were home all day.) Although we did not charge admission, we went through the motions of collecting tickets and ushering our guests to their seats. Our audience was charmed by how cute that was. Then we put on our play. We put a lot of work into our play. We had to invent everything from scratch and improvise sets and costumes from things our mothers reluctantly loaned us, and yet they didn't pay attention! They sat there and gossiped with each other, commenting on whether this kid was a natural singer or that kid was terminally shy. At the end, they retained nothing of the plot or the story of our play; they just told us how cute we were. Cute! The word stung! We wanted them to take us seriously, as if we were adults putting on a play. But they were so well acquainted with us that all they saw were cute little kids, and no play at all. Well, that is pretty much what happened to Jesus in today's reading. Ken Collins, No Honor in His Own Country ____________________________________________ The Object of Envy Is Trapped In his story "Abel Sanchez," writer Miguel de Unamuno nicely highlights the nature of envy and why it that the envied person is often trapped. In this retelling of the Cain and Abel story from Genesis 4, the Cain character is played by a skilled surgeon who has for years secretly envied his friend, Abel Sanchez, a skilled artist. At one point in the story, the doctor is scrutinizing one of Abel's paintings. This particular painting is a depiction of the Cain and Abel story itself from the Bible. At first, the doctor is convinced that the face of Cain in the painting is modeled on his own face. And he becomes furious! How dare Abel Sanchez use HIM as a model for envy? The gall! The nerve! The implied accusation! But then, upon closer inspection, the doctor decides it's not his face after all. Does this defuse his anger, however? By no means! Instead the surgeon becomes irate that Abel Sanchez did NOT deign to use him in one of his famous paintings! How dare Abel NOT use his face! De Unamuno's point is clear: when you are the object of envy, you cannot do a blessed thing to make the situation any better. Try to be extra kind to the one who envies you, and this kindness will get written off as condescension and charity. Try to rise above things by ignoring the one torn up with envy and you will be written off as arrogant and rude, thereby

merely confirming the envier's low opinion of you. Neither approach nor avoidance can help the envied one. It's difficult to know how much of a role envy plays in Mark 6 but surely the sneering attitude of Jesus' fellow townsfolk revealed at least a smidgen of envy-driven sentiments. Maybe this had something to do with his inability/unwillingness to do miracles there. He was doomed no matter what he did. Do more miracles, and the people write him off as a showboat (and/or as someone drawing off power from dubious sources). If he refused to do miracles, maybe a few would say, "What now?! We're not good enough for you, not WORTHY of your wonderworking power!?" Perhaps the only thing left to do was leave town and go to other villages, from which Jesus sent forth his disciples-cum-apostles to do wonderful work in places where it could be unalloyedly appreciated. Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations _______________________________ A Reputation Is Hard to Shake Do you remember the stupid stuff you did when you were a kid? I'm not talking about wetting the bed or spilling your milk; I mean the things that you did in public, the things that were known in the community and, perhaps, even gave you a reputation. Maybe you were arrested for some prank, or you were kicked off the football team for drinking, or maybe, on a dare, you streaked the high school lunchroom. Whatever. The point is, a reputation is a hard thing to shake. Even as a fully grown adult, when you go back home, the people still whisper: "There's Bill Smith, he got busted for 'dining and dashing' back in '72." No wonder so many people move away from their hometown when they grow up! It's less humbling that way. In high school, I was known as "The Class Clown." Now there's a shock! I was forever cutting up in class, telling jokes, making smart comments. When I arrived in biology class on the first day, the teacher took role, and when she came to my name, she said "Steve, I've heard about you, and you've got one chance. If you smart off in my class, you're out of here." Well, I lasted about a week. When Mrs. McMartin asked if someone could define the word "dilute" I said that it was a city on the shore of Lake Superior. Hello, study hall! But as my life began to change, some people wouldn't let me change. I came to faith in Christ and got serious about ministry, but people still saw me as a clown. I decided to go to seminary and they whispered "That's Steve Molin, he was tossed off the college hockey team in '68." When I got ordained, some supposed that I would show up as Guido Sarducci of the Saturday Night Live skit. Is it any wonder then that my first ministry job was in Rochester, some 70 miles from home? Or that my next call was to Sioux Falls, 250 miles from here. Or that next, I traveled 1600 miles away to serve in Salem, Oregon. In Salem, they loved me. In Sioux Falls, they took me seriously. But seven years ago, I came back home, and I can't tell you how many times I have run into people from my high school who have said "Really? Steve Molin? A Lutheran pastor?" As I said, it's hard to shake a reputation.

Steven Molin, An Expert Is Someone 300 Miles Away From Home! _______________________________ Glued to Our Faults

James S. Hewett once gave an apt example of people not getting the respect they deserve. Especially young people. He tells about his son, who was using one of those super-adhesive glues on a model airplane he was building. "In less than three minutes," says James Hewett, "his right index finger was bonded to a shiny blue wing of his DC-10. He tried to free it. He tugged it, pulled it, waved it frantically, but he couldn't budge his finger free." Soon, they located a solvent that did the job and ended their moment of crisis. Then James Hewitt writes this: "Last night I remembered that scene when I visited a new family in our neighborhood. The father of the family introduced his children: 'This is Pete. He's the clumsy one of the lot.' 'That's Kathy coming in with mud on her shoes. She's the sloppy one.' 'As always, Mike is last. He'll be late for his own funeral, I promise you.'" James Hewett goes on to say, "The dad did a thorough job of gluing his children to their faults and mistakes. People do it to us all the time. They remind us of our failures, our errors, our sins, and they won't let us live them down. Like my son trying frantically to free his finger from the plane, there are people who try, sometimes desperately, to free themselves from their past. They would love a chance to begin again. When we don't let people forget their past, when we don't forgive, we glue them to their mistakes and refuse to see them as more than something they have done. However, when we forgive, we gently pry the doer of the hurtful deed from the deed itself, and we say that the past is just that--the past--over and done with . . ." King Duncan, ______________________________________________ Real Evangelism If we are going to be effective in reaching people for Christ we are going to have to start showing people that we really care. Evangelism and missions must be relational in nature. There is no record of Jesus walking up to someone out of the clear blue sky and saying: I am the Messiah and then him beginning to show his care for them. No, he showed his care for them first and then he revealed himself to them. A story is told about a man who was on a luxury liner and suddenly he falls overboard. He can't swim and in desperation he begins calling for help. Now it just so happens that there several would be rescuers on deck who witnessed the incident. The first man was a MORALIST. When he saw the man fall overboard he immediately reached into his briefcase and pulled out a book on how to swim. He now tossed it to him and he yelled: Now brother, you read that and just follow the instructions and you will be all right. The man next to him happened to be an IDEALIST...