An Energizing Presence

Kate Thoresen July 5, 2009

click for printable version

Psalm 36
Mark 6:1-13

As we just sang together, we are all sent out as partners in Christ's service. Yet, as our Gospel lesson today reveals, there are times when others do not welcome the Good News. There are times of profound acceptance of Christ's life-giving message, and there are also times of rejection. How does Christ advise his followers to handle that? Let us listen now to the Word of God as it comes to us from Mark 6:1-13.

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.

This is the Gospel of our Lord.
Thanks be to you, O Christ.

Prayer:

Gracious God, with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light (Psalm 36). So by the power of your Holy Spirit, stir up our hearts and our minds and our wills. May we hear your living Word to us today and respond in faith, hope and love. Amen.

What do you suppose it was like for the disciples to walk with Jesus throughout Galilee? What do you imagine they saw, heard and felt as they traveled along those gently sloping green hills that surrounded the Sea of Galilee? Did they notice the birds twitter away in the shrubs as they passed? Did they catch the pungent smells from the sheep that grazed in the pastures? Did they kick off the dust and grit between their toes as they walked the dusty roads that connected village to village? What was it like to share meals with Jesus, taste the salt preserved fish from the Sea of Galilee, and savor the bread made from the wheat of the surrounding fields?

Did the disciples see looks of astonishment and relief on the faces of the people that encountered this very down to earth man who spoke about the Kingdom of Heaven? Would they hear Jesus laugh as he told stories and parables to teach people about the love of God?

What was it like for the disciples to see men and women and boys and girls flock to Jesus like a magnet? Surely, the disciples saw the faces of people light up in awe and gratitude when Jesus healed them. How they must have felt that contagious enthusiasm that Jesus ignited. His spirit was like an electrical current that animates life.

These must have been exhilarating times for the disciples to be with Jesus. They could see the positive power for good that radiated through him.

And yet, already, they could see the opposing forces as well. They could see how Jesus had to contend with the powers of darkness in the wilderness, confront the demonic forces that inhabited a man in the synagogue, and encounter the mounting opposition by the political and religious leaders to his ministry. They saw how his own home town refused to hear his message.

The disciples already experienced the enthusiastic acceptance of Jesus' message to turn to God and receive abundant life. But, they also saw the reality that others were not ready to see Jesus for who he really was; many resisted and even rejected his energizing presence.

What was that energizing presence all about? How might we define and describe this? Maybe we can compare this to an electrical current: unseen but powerful. For example, when you come home at night, your home or apartment is dark. But when you enter a room, you turn on the lights and see things much differently. Christ's energizing presence is like a light in the darkness.

Our human condition shows that people's lives are often short circuited, just not connecting with God. Faith is that assurance of things unseen; God's love and power are the realities that revitalize and animate our world. There are times when we experience God's love and care for us in a profound way. We somehow, by God's grace, experience that energizing presence flowing through our lives - and it doesn't stop with us - it flows out to others like an on-going loop of electrical current that is wired throughout a building.

And to continue this metaphor, Jesus sends out his disciples like they were workers with Detroit Edison when there is a violent storm and there are areas with all the power out. They work at all hours and rush to many places to bring power to darkened homes and businesses. In a similar way, Jesus commissions his followers to bring God's light and love to darkened lives.

Jesus warned his disciples, however that they would meet with times of unwelcome and discouragement as well.

In our two stories today we read about such times of rejection. When Jesus bounds into Nazareth to share God's amazing Good News, he is met with astonishment and then resistance and rejection. People question his authority. Other gospel accounts show that there is open hostility to him and his message. But Jesus is on an urgent mission. He moves on, eager to proclaim God's energizing presence to any who would listen. He also sends his own disciples out. He clues them in that there will be places and times when their message will fall on deaf ears.

They will experience both life-changing acceptance as well as destructive barriers to that same Good News. Warm welcomes, apathetic indifference, and outright hostility will be part of the whole package for those sent on this kind of mission. But Jesus urges his disciples not to get bogged down with the negativity, but to keep moving forward, just as he leaves Nazareth to continue his life changing, life-giving mission.

Why didn't everyone see and accept Jesus and his energizing presence? Why the rejection by his own people at Nazareth? Some commentators suggest that people just could not see Jesus for who he really was. They had their own ideas about what the Messiah, Israel's anointed king, should be like, and Jesus just did not fit their bill. Others were already familiar with him. They knew him from childhood and did not expect to hear anything new from him or to be changed by him. Some hearts were not ready to hear what he was really saying or offering. Others were blocked by pride; who was this carpenter's son telling them about the kingdom of God?

How does this apply to us today? These stories give us a reality check on our own sense of being sent by our Lord to continue his work. Perhaps we need to ask if our own familiarity with Jesus may block us from seeing him as he really is. Or, are we still caught by that spirit of joyous generosity that our Lord radiated and can't help but share it?

We need to keep asking, "What helps us get a fresh look and be open to his surprising, energizing presence in our lives?" Where do we encounter this amazing energy of God - this fountain of life, as Psalm 36 describes, at work in our world here today? Where is the Lord sending us? That is, where is He asking us to go out of our way for people, today?

God's energizing presence is so much more than an electrical current. It is the Holy Spirit at work among human beings like you and me: for example, in the Session , the Deacons, the VBS leaders, the Stephen ministers, the children's message givers, the music people, the greeters, the fellowship providers, the mission trip people, the worship leaders at Whitehall, the people sitting right around you. It is a personal, sacred appeal to each of us to go out and do the Lord's work today.

There are still power outages, so to speak, all around. God still needs people to connect others with the Good News of God at work in the world.

Christ still sends you out - to go out of your way to share God's energizing presence. Later, at the close of our worship service we'll sing a new hymn. As you listen to these words in which our Lord summons each of us today, notice which ones strike a chord in you:

The Summons (1)

Will you come and follow me
if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know
and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown,
in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind
if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer
in you and you in me?

Will you love the 'you' you hide
if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found
to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound
in you and you in me?

Through this ripple effect, God's energizing presence covers the earth and continues to bring new life. So, let your faith change hearts. Let your hope change lives. Let God's love continue to flow out and change the world.

And now unto God, who is able to do far more than what we can ever imagine, to God alone be the power and the glory and the honor forever and ever. Amen.

Amen.

1. Wild Goose Worship Group. A Wee Worship Book, the Iona Community, Scotland, 1989. Music reprinted with permission.

©Kate Thoresen 2009