“He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. ²On 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! ³Is 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. ⁴Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” ⁵And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. ⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. ⁷He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁸He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; ⁹but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. ¹⁰He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. ¹¹If 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.” ¹²So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” Mark 6:1-13

“…while he is described as “a carpenter” and his mother Mary is referenced, no father is mentioned. Matthew and Luke clean this part up a bit, invoking and inserting Joseph’s name, but Mark either doesn’t know Joseph or doesn’t think he’s important. Which suggests that there may have been some whispering going on about Jesus while he grew up: Was he brought up only by his mother? Did he even have a father at home? Is there some hint of impropriety here? The point is that when the crowd places him, it’s not just sentimentality that’s operative, but the whole thing may also be a way of positioning Jesus, of putting him in his place. Which means that their reaction might not be so much of a, “Wow, look at the local boy made good!” as it is, “Well, look who’s come back, and too big for his britches to boot, but we remember where you came from, boy.”(workingpreacher.org, Something To Do, David Lose, July 2, 2012)

How does lack of faith render us powerless in the church and in our own faith lives?  How does this lack of faith manifest itself in the church?  In statements like – we don’t do it like that here, we have already done that, we already tried that and it didn’t work, we are too small, too big, too old, too tired, too busy, too burned out.  What about our personal lives – it might be feelings or statements like – I can’t do it, I don’t know enough, I don’t have the time, I am too old, too young, too tired, too burned out, too ugly, too short, to poor, to rich.  The grace that comes to us from this story is that even little faith, or what appears to be almost complete lack of faith, does not truly render Jesus powerless – Jesus is still able to work miracles – just not as many.  And, in this day and age, we must be careful that we do not assign faith to the workings of, the power of, the presence of miracles.  We put ourselves on dangerous theological grounds if we make faith a requirement for the miraculous.  For instance, we can lead people to this awkward and untrue statement: “If only you would have had more faith than _____” – you fill in the blank.  For example, if you would have had more faith, your child would not have died from cancer, or your husband would not have left you for another woman.

But, in this Gospel text, there is a sense that if more would have believed, then Jesus could have done a great deal more.  But their lack of faith only meant that Jesus could not do as much.  The implication for us is that the spiritual climate of a congregation, its openness to the power of God at work through Jesus Christ, its sense of expectancy, even within our own lives, all of this will have an impact on how much of God’s power can be accomplished, can be worked in the community, within the walls of our own church, within our individual lives.  OUR lack of faith does not render God impotent, but it will have a dampening effect – and our lack of faith generally comes out in statements like “We don’t do it that way here.”, or “We are too small.”, or “I am afraid”.  Our openness to the working of the Holy Spirit – our openness to the presence of God through the power of Jesus Christ in our church and in our lives, has an impact – a palpable impact.  This is why it makes a difference that we all take time to read the bible every day – to pray on texts, to ask God how we are being called to be servants in our churches and in our communities.  This is why it does matter that we pray for each other, that you pray for me, your pastor, that you pray for your enemies.  This is why we come to worship regularly, that we support the ministries of this church in the community, that you get involved, that you visit the sick and the shut-ins, that we get involved in bible studies and welcome the stranger, the unloved, the hard to love and those who feel like outcasts – like outsiders.  All of these things open us up, allows the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and build faith – and faith opens us up to receive what God wants to give us – both the good and the bad – both the joyous and the difficult – both the miraculous and the crosses of our lives.

Pastor Dave