by Fr. Bill Garrison
Mark 6:1-13
Jesus came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 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! Is 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 offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 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.” So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Happy Fourth to you this morning. We can’t help but think of our country this morning and I want to start off by telling a story. I know that a joke is often expected but today it’s a story. I am going to read it to you if you don’t mind.
I was at the corner grocery store buying some potatoes. I noticed a small boy, ragged but clean, hungrily appraising a basket of freshly picked green peas.
I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller, the store owner, and the ragged boy next to me.
“Hello Barry, how are you today?”
“H’lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Them peas sure look good!”
“They are good, Barry. How’s your Ma?”
“Fine. Gittin’ stronger alla’ time.”
“Good. Anything I can help you with?”
“No, Sir… jus’ admirin’ them peas.”
“Would you like to take some home?” asked Mr. Miller.
“No, Sir. Got nuthin’ to pay for ’em with.”
“Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?”
“All I got’s my prize marble here.”
“Is that right? Let me see it.” said Miller.
“Here ’tis. She’s a dandy.”
“I can see that. Hmm mmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?” the store owner asked.
“Not zackley but almost.”
“Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble.” Mr. Miller told the boy.
“‘Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller.”
Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me.
With a smile she said, “There are two other boys like him in our community. All three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever.” “When they come back with their red marbles – and they always do – he decides he doesn’t like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, when they come on their next trip to the store.”
I left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado, but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering for marbles.
Isn’t that a great story? Here’s a man making a difference in the smallest of ways but making a huge difference in a few people’s lives.
So, as we heard this story it might be worthwhile to figure out what our relationship is to it. Am I the store owner, or the one who thinks he is wasting his time and money, or maybe I just couldn’t care less?
You see I guess there are three kinds of people when it comes to making a difference. One helps out where he can, another criticizes the lack of effectiveness and futility of the effort, and another walks on by or finds the store owner a little nuts if they think about them at all.
I think it’s fair to say Jesus was a difference maker. Don’t you think? He is the reason we have eternal life. But people found him a little crazy, and irritating too. The Pharisees and others in power found him a lot irritating and hard to understand. I can just hear them talking with one another. “What is up anyway with these ideas that if you want to be the greatest you must be the servant of all?” And we know from the rest of the story told about Jesus; being the biggest difference maker in history got him in some pretty serious trouble before it was all over with. Some loved him. A few hated him. And I am sure many couldn’t have cared less about him.
Let’s turn to today’s gospel and think about being a difference maker as we consider it. There are really two stories within the passage read this morning. One is a story concerning Jesus returning to his hometown, and the other is about people being sent out two by two to spread the gospel. Both stories have similar versions in the gospels of Matthew and Luke so I will include a little of those as we go along.
As the gospel begins Jesus has returned to his hometown, Nazareth, and gone to the synagogue on the Sabbath. We also know that he has been living in Capernaum since leaving home. Apparently word of the things he was doing and teaching had reached the hometown ears.
So, on that famous morning he stood up and began to read from the Isaiah scroll about the coming messiah. Then he looked up at the listening crowd when he finished reading and said to them that this day the prediction had been fulfilled in their hearing.
Apparently, he did a few other fascinating things there because they began to talk among themselves about him. “Who is this? Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? And aren’t these his four brothers, his mother, and his sisters? We heard about the things he was doing in Capernaum, but come on, this is Jesus. We know Jesus. He works with his hands. He may be a number of things but we don’t see him as any sort of messiah.”
And so, the gospel tells us he could do very little healing because of their unbelief, and in the gospel of Luke they got so upset with him they tried to throw him off a cliff. Here is the most important change agent in the history of the world and their reaction is to refuse to believe what they were seeing with their own eyes, or hearing with their own ears. They even got so angry with what they saw and what they understood as his come uppity attitude they tried to kill him. Welcome home Jesus.
In the second story read Jesus is sending out the disciples two by two to spread the good news. He tells them not to take anything with them, just one cape, very little in terms of clothes, a pair of sandals, no money, and no food. They were to go from village to village, from house to house, and rely on the hospitality of those they encountered for their survival.
Now what I find interesting is that Jesus knew they wouldn’t be accepted everywhere. They might be carrying the best news anyone would ever hear, news that is as life changing as news gets, but they would not always be welcomed. Doors would be slammed in their faces.
He even told them to stomp the dust from their feet in testimony against the houses that refused to welcome them and move on. Each pair a change agent, each pair sometimes rejected.
There is a lesson in all of this for us. We too carry with us the reality that is Jesus Christ. We understand the good news of his life, death, and resurrection. We live in a world that drifts further and further from the ethics of love and servanthood that Jesus taught.
We are asked to be difference makers. We are expected to go into the world and tell others the good news of the Kingdom of God; that the Kingdom of God has come near in the person of Jesus Christ. That Jesus makes a difference in every life.
No, not everybody is going to hear us. No not everybody is interested. No not everybody is even going to like us. No, we can’t change our country or the world. Some will tell us our work is futile. But like that fellow helping out those three kids with some groceries occasionally, the ones that do listen will be grateful, their lives will be enhanced, and perhaps they will join with us as we introduce Jesus Christ and preach the Kingdom of God to one person at a time.
And speaking about Mr. Miller as we did earlier, here is the rest of his story.
He passed on as all of us will, and I was standing with his wife as three young men stopped together at his casket and then left, tears in their eyes. Mrs. Miller continued to speak to me.
“Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. They told me how they appreciated the things Jim ‘traded’ them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size, they came to pay their debt.”
“We’ve never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,” she confided, “but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho.”
With loving gentleness, she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.