The Call of the Disciple

Sermon for July 5, 2015

Ezekiel 2:1-5 and          Mark 6:1-13

 He said to me: O mortal,^[a] stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. ² And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me. ³ He said to me, Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation^[b] of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day. ⁴ The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord God.” ⁵ Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

Mark 6:1-13

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^[a] and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense^[b] 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.

“The Call of the Disciple”

“Hometown Boy Makes Good”!  We have seen those headlines in newspapers all across the country from small town to big cities at some time or other.  Usually in small towns it is a bit more news worthy because everyone in town knows the story of the hometown boy.  Their kids went to school with him, or they played on the same team together, they sang in the choir or chorus together.  You might hear things like I was a friend of his older/younger brother or sister.  I stayed at their house one night and met him. He used to sell burgers at the corner drive in.  Oh, his parents were great friends of mine!  You know the stories – it has happened here!

And yet there are those pockets of envy and those mistakes that come looming out of the woodwork too.  Who does he think he is, I remember the time he skipped school?  Wonder why he thinks he is so smart, he only got a C in that Chemistry class?  Why is everyone so excited about him all he ever did was sit in his room and write.  He didn’t even know how to work the new Play Station!

I can remember when I was considering ordination in the PCUSA.  I had to have a long chat with my mentor, who is also a Mom and a Pastor about how my family would receive the news.  They knew me too well!  Our children had grown up with a Mom who was a pharmacist.  Although church had always been an important part of our life as a family – it was a huge leap into the role of pastor.  I wondered if the words I spoke from the pulpit would resonate with the person they had known as “mom”.  It was something that I did not take lightly and spent lots of time struggling with as I made my decisions along my journey.

Well, you can sort of get the gist of what it meant for Jesus to come back home and preach in the synagogue.  Scripture says “many who heard him were astounded!” And yet quickly there were those who said, just who does he think he is.  He is just a carpenter.  His brothers and sisters are still right here.  Casting aspersions, casting doubt, trying to reconcile their own memories of Jesus’ ordinariness with the extraordinary things they are witnessing.  There is something in their culture that convinces them that if their honor of Jesus increases then their own honor must decrease.  After all they know the story of Jesus’ birth.  His mother was pregnant before she was married.  They call Jesus, “the son of Mary” suggesting that there is no certainty of his father.  Jesus realizes their scorn and their closed hearts.  Mark says Jesus could do no deeds of power.   Then Mark backs down a little by saying “ well he could only heal a few sick” because of people’s unbelieving.   Scripture says Jesus was “amazed at their unbelief.”      

According to Mark, as Jesus moves on to other villages, he calls the twelve together and engages them in the spreading of the good news.  The mission of God the father was the important call on the life of Jesus and Jesus would not see it stifled just because people would not accept the truth from him.  And so the 12 are invested with power to cure the sick and authority over unclean spirits.  They are sent out 2 by 2 and given instructions that sound a little strange to our ears. 

But Jesus is not guaranteeing them success.  Jesus kind of says, it will not all go well.  Be prepared for that.  Only stay where you are welcomed and only stay as long as you are welcomed.  In other words you will not be welcome everywhere. 

Ezekiel was sent to those who had rebelled – for more than one generation! “ they and their ancestors have transgressed against me.  The descendents are impudent and stubborn”  That sounds like a group of people you would want to serve and witness to, doesn’t it!  But God says,  “I am sending you to them, tell them what I have told you, and “whether they hear or refuse to hear, they will know a prophet has been among them.”  Doesn’t sound like a call to success does it?  But it is a call to faithfulness! 

In so many ways these scriptures, from Ezekiel and from Mark, speak of failure. 

Part of what I hear in all of this is that we are called to be  successful we are called to be faithful --  to the message and the work.  We are not called to base our success on how many hear us, we are not to base our success on how many attend our services, we are not to base our success on how many miracles are preformed – our success is to be found in being faithful to that mission that God sets before us – to go out and proclaim the gospel of repentance, of love and of reconciliation.  We will be given power based on the way it can best be used to glorify God, but our call, as disciples of Jesus is to keep the message moving forward.  Some will not hear, some will not welcome us, but that is the story of Jesus too.  Our task, our call as disciples is to keep on loving, keep on sharing, keep on offering a place for healing and reconciliation and expect God to do the work of redemption.  Our call is to be faithful! 

It may be that our own families will not hear and receive the gospel message from our mouths, because so many did not receive the message from the mouth of Jesus.  Some did, some were amazed, others could not get past the ordinariness of the person who was speaking, they could not put aside the familiarity and the previously held convictions of who or what Jesus was.  We might even do that ourselves sometimes.  Who are those in our midst that we might not listen to because we know them too well? Are we making judgments based on the ordinary person we think we know rather than listening for how God might use that person.  Are we prophets in our own land, like Ezekiel, like Jesus, and no one is listening?

As disciples, we are called to be faithful in our listening for God and in our telling God’s story.  We cannot base our faithfulness on the results of who or how many listen and hear – that work belongs to God.  Each person will account for their own listening and telling – so keep on being a disciples, be faithful in the work we are called to do.  Go out, take the good news, live the good news, respond to the welcome of others and listen for God at work.  Be hearers and doers of God’s word! For even as God told Ezekiel, “Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”

As we come to table this morning, we remember that Jesus is the host.  Jesus the one who was shunned in his own hometown.  And yet the message spread – 2 X 2 as disciples took the good news out to ever increasing areas.  Come therefore in humility, come therefore as disciples, come and bring your failures and your times of being unwelcomed --- come and recommit to being faithful in bearing the Good News to all.