Sermon, Pente+6 (B)

This week we’re hearing a difficult message; a message of people rejecting Jesus. Of people rejecting healing. Of people rejecting ministry.

At first glance this doesn’t look like a happy gospel – it’s one that has left many people scratching their heads and asking “So where’s the good news?” We hear of Jesus going home, and bringing his friends with him.

He’s just left the scene of tremendous healings – physical healings as well as a few miracle cures – and astonishing teachings. Jesus has not just laid hands on people and walked away, he has taught them – your faith has made you well! Salvation is at hand! Alleluia!

So now he’s come home. He’s come back to his hometown so that he can share the good news there.

And instead of the joyous homecoming that we all might have hoped for, he is rejected. He tries to teach in the synagogue, and is criticised for who he is – regardless of his message.

The past has taken over the present: a lack of father is a scandal, an unmarried man in his 30s is a scandal, etc. They are looking for any excuse to reject him – even ones that don’t matter or don’t make sense.

Because it’s as though the people have been caught in some temporal loop, where they are stuck in one old way of thinking, and are unable to see what is happening now. These folks knew Jesus growing up, and they still see him as that child – not even as an adult, not as someone with a beautiful ministry. Certainly not as their messiah!

No, he is seen as the same powerless child that he used to be. They want to see him that way, they have to see him that way for their internal dialogue to work.

And so, as we hear in the fifth verse, “he could do no deed of power there.” Except, of course, he did – in that same verse we hear that he could do nothing, except that he DID lay hands on people and provide miraculous cures. He did what he had done before so many times, he exercised his ministry. He lived out his calling to the best of his ability, with the folks that were willing to receive it – the sick, the vulnerable, the believers.

I’d imagine that Jesus still wanted and hoped that the people would see what was new and good, just like so many others in so many towns had done before. Yet this was not to be. These folks rejected his offerings; they refused to see that things had changed; they denied the truth that –literally – stood before them.

Is it any wonder, with this blatant and hurtful rejection, that Jesus and his disciples moved on? Not like a dog with its tail between its legs; for they did not move on with shame. Rather, they chose to move forward in ministry, with intent and passion. With a desire to live out their callings more fully, in places where they would be accepted. They’re not looking for a big celebration or accolades, just acceptance of the offering, and receiving of the gifts.

And so they go – not as one group, but in pairs. They go out into the world in half a dozen different directions to do exactly the same thing as bearers of the light – preach the good news, provide the ministry of spiritual healing, empowering people to take control of their own lives, engaging people in acts of faith.

The disciples are invited to do just as Jesus has done – to seek out people who WANT to hear the good news, and not waste time on those who have heard it yet choose to reject it. They were not to get discouraged or bogged down by the people who chose to keep their hearts and minds closed to Jesus.

And that’s what ministry is: the invitation. We don’t force people to come to Jesus, but we can invite them.

And THAT is the good news of this gospel – good news that is speaking to each and every one of us. It’s inviting us to examine our own lives and ministry and to consider what’s happening there; to consider our own approach to evangelism, and be encouraged to share the Good News as we, collectively, have experienced it.

But.

Sometimes, we get stuck in the past – we’re constantly thinking about what used to be, rather than seeing what is. We’ve somehow re-written history in our minds in such a way that the past is glorified – it was always good. We’ve somehow re-written the present in our minds in such a way that nothing’s good. And so we’re stuck, in that time loop like the citizens of Jesus’ hometown. Our lives become difficult and our ministries can be ineffective because they’re out of sync; they were meant for a different time and different people, yet we continue to do the same thing now as we did then – and expect different results from what we’re getting. Being stuck is not living the faith.

Sometimes we try something and it isn’t received the way we had hoped. And we consider this to be a failure. People can be paralysed by these ‘failures,’ moving from someone who used to be open to trying new ways to share the gospel, into people who can’t even be bothered making the effort. These are folks who see everything as a sign of personal rejection and so they just stop, they give up. It’s what could have happened in today’s gospel, when we hear how amazed Jesus is at the people’s refusal to believe. Any of the disciples could have just given up. But giving up, of course, is not living the faith.

So I see Jesus challenging us today to see things in our lives where we have gotten stuck or given up. We know that re-living the past doesn’t work, it’s like only reading one chapter in a book over and over again – you’ll never know what the rest of the story is. We know that we cannot convince everyone of the healing power of coming to Christ, all we can do is invite them to join us.

But we also know that sometimes we find ourselves stuck or giving up – and part of our ministry is to break free from these trappings ourselves, and to engage in our ministry in God’s world with renewed energy.

We’re being invited to consider what our ministry is today – not what it was yesterday, but what it IS today – and to dream about what it may be tomorrow. We’re invited to think about how we are exercising that ministry in the wider community today. We’re being challenged to go out into the world and to preach the good news, by word and by example – deciding that even if people are not ready to hear it, we’re still called to deliver it. And we’re inspired to carry on.

So this gospel does give us good news, indeed. It gives us the grace to realise that our ministry is never going to be perfect; but it was never meant to be perfect. What is perfect is the message itself, because it carries the power of God. The good news is that God gives us the faith to live in the present and to celebrate our ministry here and now. The good news is that God gives the courage to be tenacious about spreading the Gospel. The good news is that God gives us the strength to move beyond the people that will reject our Christian message twelve-fold. The good news is that God is always empowering us to be Christ’s followers, Christ’s disciples, Christ’s family. Amen.