Based on Ezekiel 2:1-5 and Mark 6:1-13, Preached at Two Rock and Tomales Presbyterian Churches on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 9 – July 7, 2024
“What a pity,” Annie Dillard wrote,
“that so hard on the heels of Christ come the Christians.”
Reading the call of the Prophet Ezekiel, makes one feel the same sort of disappointment.
The first chapter of his book starts in a stormy fashion.
Referred to constantly as, ‘Mortal,’ the major Prophet Ezekiel
seems to feel anything but Major.
His call story demonstrates that he felt, as is often the case,
ill-prepared to be a mouthpiece for God.
In like fashion, IF Christians are always being reminded
of just how ordinary and powerless we are, if we’re told constantly to be humble,
we may likely fulfill our own demoralized expectations
and NOT show up for God’s people in the way they need us to.
And boy oh boy do God’s people need us to show up for them now.
Same as it ever was, but really …
This theme continues in Mark’s gospel
where we hear of Jesus being rejected in his home town.
Maybe this is familiar territory for some of you.
How many of you grew up in this area?
Did you have to fight against your growing up reputation?
Or God-forbid, your families’ reputation?
That kind of stuff can be hard to live down.
I was talking with a couple of church members the other day …
listening to some of their recent experiences with the larger world.
They were talking about a time not too long ago when some,
presumably well-meaning young people from across the Bay
were protesting near some of our ranches.
They were animal lovers and as such felt it imperative that they make their concern
for the fair treatment of animals known to our neighbors,
whom they felt, by sheer evidence that these ranchers raise livestock,
were clearly mistreating animals.
This was concerning for the ranchers who all the sudden had flocks of people
descending on their normally quiet roads,
camped out near their driveways and making it feel almost unsafe
to go run their daily errands.
I grew up in farm country. I wasn’t raised in a farming family,
but many of my good friends when I was growing up did.
In fact, one of my nearest and dearest friends grew up on a farm
and even converted his family farm from the normal practices of the 1970s and 1980s
to a pristine organic farm … no small feat of an accomplishment …
what with all the regulatory paperwork and the need for a considerable lapse of time
for the soil to release any of the harder chemicals used in traditional pesticides.
On one occasion, Marty told me about the process of taking their cattle to be ‘harvested,’
as they had been raised for the consumption of meat eaters.
The notion of this made me uncomfortable,
which then made Marty uncomfortable,
because he knew I was a meat-eater and thus had no right
to balk at the natural order of things.
So he showed me a thing or two.
He invited me out to the farm so I could get a better understanding of the process.
I wasn’t willing to go to the slaughterhouse,
and to be clear Marty used to tease that he had to go to the local bar
on that fateful day every year too.
No one raising animals is going to like that day … even if it does bring one their livelihood.
I learned a lot that day on the farm.
Like how Marty would play classical music for the cattle while he fed them dinner.
He told me which ones were okay to feed hay to directly
and which ones I might not want to put my hand near their mouth.
In the end, I decided that if I were a cow, I’d definitely want to be one of Marty’s.
They seemed to have a pretty good life!
And as long as I plan to continue to eat beef,
I better reconcile myself to the life cycle of cattle raised for producing beef.
What’s all this got to do with our Scripture passages for today?
Well, I hope it gives an example of how we might learn
to stretch past our initial perspectives.
We have to do this today.
We can’t rest on our laurels and expect things to go well.
If we’ve had successes, we aren’t guaranteed more;
and if we’ve had failures, we aren’t doomed to repeat them.
That is, unless we decide to close ourselves off from learning and growing.
The people in Jesus’ hometown thought they knew him because they watched him grow up.
This makes sense. He’s a known entity to them.
But no one, not even a mother and father can fully see their young ones in all their fullness.
So much growing happens inwardly.
In the botanical world a great deal of activity happens
before a seed even breaks through the soil into the sunlight.
So, we can know our people,
but we’d be wise to give them ample room to show up in new ways.
This is the case in our marital relationships and our long-term friendship too.
Just because someone always does that thing,
doesn’t mean they’re going to do it again.
I mean if you’re convinced that this is how it is going to go,
then whether it does or not, that is probably what you’re going to see.
But is that fair to the person in front of you?
Would you want that done to you?
Now when we get to the larger world, ya know like at the grocery store,
and we see the old Republican guy wearing a Make America Great Again hat;
or the young woman wearing a Title IX Rules tee shirt,
it might be a little more challenging to give the benefit of the doubt
if we don’t like the message the person is wearing.
But you know what … we just might not know the whole story.
In fact, it’s an absolute given that we don’t know the whole story …
we don’t even know their name, for God’s sake!
Are we willing to ask?
Can we offer even just a smile, whether we like the message they are wearing or not?
I think the end of Mark’s gospel lesson today is fascinating.
After being rejected by the hometown crowd,
Jesus persists with his mission.
The text says that “he was amazed at their unbelief.”
He knew how much growing he’d done.
He knew what God’s Spirit had endowed him with.
Why couldn’t they see it?
Well, if they were that short-sighted, that was none of his business.
He’d get on with the task ahead … which was a task to share God’s love …
with every last person willing to receive it.
He was smart, Jesus … ya know,
He knew he couldn’t accomplish the task on his own.
So he gathered his friends and sent them out two-by-two
to the mission fields all around them.
I like that.
You have a friend and an accountability partner if you go out two-by-two.
If one of you ‘chickens out’ with that guy in the hat or that gal in the tee shirt,
then maybe your friend can make the approach.
And what are you supposed to say?
What does Jesus want us to do?
Well the text says to go out, taking nothing except a staff;
no bread, no money in our belts; and only wear sandals and one tunic.
(Now you know … ‘clothes-horse’ that I am … I don’t like that one AT ALL)!
What’s the point of not coming prepared with a change of clothes?
Well, I think it is so that we stay focused on the task at hand
and NOT get distracted with who we are and how we show up
but keep fixed on WHO GOD IS and what God’s message is.
And what is that message?
It’s sharing God’s love. God’s providence. God’s message of redemption and grace.
For everyone.
Every. Last. One. Of. Us.
The Ezekiel text is telling too.
We in the Church might feel like the Prophet:
Too fearful, too weak, or too in shock to stand up on our own two feet,
and thus powerless to do much of anything.
Evangelism is a hard one for most Christians.
We live in a pluralistic world and so we don’t want to offend.
I had to conquer that one when I served as a Hospital Chaplain.
About half of the patients I went to see when I did my daily rounds
wanted nothing to do with me.
Those folks either didn’t want to hear from some ‘Bible-thumping-Jesus-lover,’
or they didn’t want to see the ‘Grim-Reaper.’
Heck, I wouldn’t want to visit with either of those types either, so I understood.
But you can share God’s love, Jesus’ grace with anyone
and you don’t have to name what you’re doing.
You just do it.
And, God will be pleased.
The person in front of you will appreciate the kindness.
And you might feel pretty okay too.
What if the person doesn’t receive your kindness,
… the love of God as you attempt to express it?
Both biblical texts today stress the same thing.
Don’t be attached to the outcome of your ‘mission.’
Just stay true to the call.
God goes with us.
Send us Out God … with your love and grace.
We know how much our world needs to hear from You.
Amen.
