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A Hometown Reaction?

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“A Hometown Reaction?”

Mark 6:1-7 (6:5) – July 7, 2024

            I have not rubbed shoulders with many VIPs – Very Important People – in my life. All of those VIPs grew up somewhere. All of those high-profile people started out as kids, and teenagers, and some grew up in small towns before they hit it big. When they went back to the old neighborhood where they grew up, how were they received? Were the older people from the neighborhood filled with awe or pride? Or, did these VIPs get disrespected?

            From what our reading tells us, the people from the old neighborhood in Nazareth did not think very much of the newly-minted Rabbi Jesus. Starting at verse 2, “On the Sabbath Jesus began to teach in the synagogue. Many people were there; and when they heard him, they were all amazed. “Where did he get all this?” they asked. “What wisdom is this that has been given him? How does he perform miracles? 3 Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters living here?” And so they rejected him.”

            The folks from the old neighborhood – from where Jesus grew up – would not see Jesus as He had become. They insisted on seeing Him as the young boy who had grown up down the block, where His extended family still lived. Nothing more. Talk about disrespect! “There is an undertone of ‘who does he think he is’ in this passage. Not the warm welcome you might expect your home crowd to give you. And yet is it not often the case that when people know you, really know you, that they can be quick to believe the gossipmongers?” [1]

            When our Lord Jesus went home, things did not go well for Him, as we see here. How many of us wish to “go home,” wherever “home” is for you?

            Of course, a great deal depends on our family of origin and the situation of our growing up, the neighborhood where we were born, even how long we lived there. Did our family move from place to place several times during the time we were children? What about the place were we were born – was it in a large town, or a little village, or on the wrong side of the tracks?

            And, what about where you were in the birth order in your family? Some families have definite birth orders, while other family structures are more lackadaisical and some even haphazard. How many of us do not get respect from brothers or sisters or family elders simply because of place in our family “pecking order?” Certainly, Jesus got this kind of attitude when he went home and preached in Nazareth. [2]

Mark’s Gospel clearly says that a number of townsfolk took offense at Jesus. Some commentaries particularly mention this word. In Greek, it is “skandalon,” from which we get the word “scandal.” Can you imagine being scandalized by a young man from your hometown or neighborhood actually preaching, teaching, and even doing miracles? I cannot imagine it. It’s a little beyond me, but Mark says it’s so, right here in chapter 6.           

            Jesus said to them, “Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and by their relatives and their family.” 5 He was not able to perform any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 Jesus was greatly surprised, because the people did not have faith.

            Jesus realizes that His teaching, preaching and miracles would not always be well-received. But, this is still the beginning of His ministry. Jesus is still building His team and training them for the work He knows they will have to do. Jesus knows that it will not be easy and the teaching and preaching of the disciples will not always be well-received or even welcome – although even Jesus is amazed at how hostile the crowd in Nazareth are. [3]

But, what if we took the sad situation in Nazareth – or wherever our small town or old neighborhood is – and flipped it upside down? What kinds of things might happen? Instead of some hometown boy or girl coming back and being disrespected, what might happen?

            What if you and I are more alert and more attuned to what God can do in our world than Jesus’s neighbors in Nazareth were? Can we watch for God at work in our world? How about on our block or down the street? Does God work here, today, and not just in Bible times? A pastor friend of mine (another Pastor Joe) calls these “God sightings.”

What about an older brother or sister leaving friends to take care of a younger sibling? What about some young people working on and repairing an elderly church member’s house? What about a son or daughter (or grandson or granddaughter) getting a first job at a local mission agency or food pantry, like A Great Harvest hear the Howard Street El station? I used to take the baked goods from Maier’s Bakery there for a number of months. What about a church member bringing a dinner or some take-out to a shut-in or someone recently returned from the hospital? Aren’t these all “God sightings?”  God working through ordinary people – like us?

            We can see from our Gospel reading today that the Rabbi Jesus came home, but He wasn’t “at home.” How were His friends and disciples His new “found family,” or “family of choice?” Are you – am I more comfortable with a “family of choice?” And, does God support us when we find family in unexpected places? Each of us – all of us can find family and can find “God sightings” each and every day!

            I encourage all of us to open our eyes and look for these everyday ways that God works in our lives, our homes, and our neighborhoods each day. We all have the opportunity to support “God sightings!” Plus, we all have regular opportunities to find places where you and I can get active and perform one of these “God sightings” ourselves!

Today, this week, whenever we can.

            Don’t be like the people in Nazareth, hostile and scandalized at Jesus and His ways of doing God’s work. Instead, celebrate – support – and get involved in any of the places where God is at work in our neighborhoods, today! Alleluia, amen!

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worship/weekly-worship/monthly/2024-july/sunday-7-july-2024-seventh-sunday-after-pentecost-year-b

[2] http://www.word-sunday.com/Files/b/14-b/A-14-b.html

“Going Home,” Ordinary 14B, Larry Broding’s Word-Sunday.Com: A Catholic Resource for This Sunday’s Gospel

[3] https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worship/weekly-worship/monthly/2024-july/sunday-7-july-2024-seventh-sunday-after-pentecost-year-b

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Hometown Prophet!

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“Hometown Prophet!”

Mark 6:1-6 (6:4) – July 4, 2021

            I suspect you have heard of the saying “local boy makes good.” This is an old-fashioned newspaper type of story that used to be common in print journalism. And not only print! It’s a common trope or plot line in movies and television shows, too.

            I am sure you know kids from the neighborhood who moved away after high school or college, who have become quite successful in whatever craft or trade they may have taken up. Their parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles can’t wait to boast about their young person, all grown up and doing wonderful things in the world of adults.

The Gospel reading from Mark today talks about a “local boy makes good,” too. The Rabbi Jesus and His group of disciples come into the town where Jesus grew up. And, what a complicated home-coming this is for Jesus!

Let’s imagine how a small town of today might approach this situation. “The town sign maker is yawning; he stayed up late last night finishing the banner that is now draped across the entry gate to town that says “Welcome to Nazareth, home of Jesus.” The City Council members on the front row [of the synagogue] are all abuzz. They can’t wait to show Jesus the drawings for his Ministry Center to be built on some prime real estate just south of town. They’ve made him a website and set up a blog and a twitter account for him.”[1]

But, wait a minute. That is not quite right. Mark’s Gospel reading doesn’t work that way. Sure, some of the people in Nazareth might be looking forward to having their hometown boy come back to preach in their hometown synagogue, but that is by no means the majority opinion.

            Can’t you hear the grumbling and mumbling going on? Is Jesus getting too big for His britches, putting on airs?  “Isn’t this the son of Mary sitting over there?  And aren’t those his brothers standing there, Judas, Joses, and Simon?  Aren’t those his sisters?  He is just that common kid from Nazareth.  You know, the kid who grazed our donkeys; who watered our animals, who drew water from the well for us to drink. There is nothing too special about him.” [2]

            Can you remember learning to do something you were not able to do when you were younger? I can remember teaching my children to tie their shoes, in kindergarten. One day they were struggling with that skill, and the next day, no problem! Other skills, too – like riding a bike, or driving a car, or learning to knit, or how to hit a baseball. These are things that take some time. We need to learn and grow in order to be able to accomplish these skills and abilities.

            Perhaps the townspeople in Nazareth weren’t used to that idea – the concept of learning and growing, and taking time to accomplish different skills and abilities. Mark’s Gospel clearly says that a number of townsfolk took offense at Jesus. Some commentaries particularly mention this word. In Greek, it is “skandalon,” from which we get the word “scandal.” Can you imagine being scandalized by a young man from your hometown or neighborhood actually preaching, teaching, and even doing miracles? I cannot imagine it – it’s  a little beyond me, but Mark says it’s so, right here in chapter 6.     

            Some people very much want to go home. After traveling, sometimes wandering, the concept of “home” – wherever or whatever that is – becomes  a yearning deep within the heart. One of my commentators said, “Jesus went home, but home didn’t take him in. My inclination in such a scenario would be to feel sorry for myself. Poor me, they don’t understand me, the real me, the me I have become. They still see the goofy kid I was instead of the man I have become. Because there is within us the desire to go home. Or maybe better, there is within us the desire to be home, to be welcomed home, to feel at home.”[3]

            Isn’t that a deep, heartfelt need within each of us? Don’t we all – in some sense – desire to be at home? Think of home, talk about home, wish for home, even when far, far away?

            A pastor acquaintance of mine was remembering about her family’s high school exchange student from Kenya, a number of years back. At the high school talent show, the student did not tell anyone what she was going to sing. Lo and behold, she sang “This Land Is Your Land,” using all descriptions of Kenya – far away though she was. She picked that song and believed that song was written especially for Kenya! [4]

            There are hometowns all over this country, in fact, all over this world. People sometimes have an incredible connection to their hometown. True, some people in Jesus’ hometown didn’t believe He could do all of the preaching, teaching and miracles! Instead, they remembered Jesus when he was a young child— when he hadn’t yet learned how to teach, preach, and heal people. They couldn’t believe God had given Jesus the power to speak and to heal others.

            This neighborhood, where this church sits, is diverse, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. People around here have hometowns all over this world! Not just from Chicago, or Illinois, or even the United States. We all want a country that feels like home, which means we need people, all the people – of the people, by the people, and for the people – to show us the way to go home. Show us the way to be home, a heavenly home for all God’s children. No matter where they were born. [5]

Please God, we can all have eyes open and hearts ready to receive all God has to offer us, today, including a deep, true sense of home – a heavenly home with God. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

(Thanks to Illustrated Ministries for their lesson for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost from Mark 6, from their 2020 Summer Children’s series.)

[1] “Following a Hometown Boy,” Alyce M. McKenzie, Edgy Exegesis, Patheos, 2012.

[2] “Offended by the Nice Little Kid from Nazareth,” Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington.

[3] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/your-bone-flesh/sixth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-b-lectionary-planning-notes/sixth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-b-preaching-notes

[4] Thanks to Rev. Elizabeth Mae Magill for this wonderful story!

[5] Ibid, www.umcdiscipleship.org