"Appearance on the Mountain in Galilee"- Duccio di Buoninsegna (1308-11)
“Where did this man get all this? …Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?…..and they took offense at him….And Jesus could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.”
Jesus had come home to Nazareth.
On this day he was teaching in the synagogue, only to be met with derision by the very people who had known him from childhood.
After this day, according to Mark’s account, Jesus never set foot in a synagogue again.
Ouch!
Here we are, gathered in our equivalent of the synagogue, and we gather here each week to learn from Jesus.
We know who Jesus is—the Son of God as well as the son of Mary.
We know the teachings of Jesus—we study scripture and revere God’s holy word.
We know that God’s power working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
So — if Jesus showed up in our midst—we would be in good shape! Jesus would be amazed and pleased by our belief.
He would want to come back and teach here again. He would do great deeds of power in our midst. Maybe he would want to make St Peter’s his headquarters!
But I wonder—if Jesus really did drop in for a visit, would he want to come back? And would he really be able to do deeds of power in our midst?
We are familiar with Jesus. We are comfortable with Jesus. We know Jesus.
But we, as the gathered, because we know Jesus so well, can become indifferent to his wisdom.
Sort of like hearing that story that your grandmother told for the millionth time—and you know it by heart. And you just kind of tune her out when she tells it again.
That’s the first pitfall of knowing Jesus so well—we’re may longer be really listening to what Jesus is trying to tell us.
And here’s the second pitfall.
We, the privileged, run the risk of having been so subtly corrupted by the belief in our own power and so reliant on ourselves, that we no longer see the need for the intervention of God’s power in our lives.
With all sincerity, we might be tempted to say to Jesus,
“Lord, we’ve got this! Thanks for dropping by, but we’ve got this thing covered. We’ve got wisdom and we have got power. Some other place needs you more than we do, so you can go on and not worry with us.”
And Jesus would be amazed.
And would keep on going, leaving us to follow the devices and desires of our own hearts, as the prayer book puts it so poetically.
Hopefully, since we’re the Church, we want Jesus to stick around.
And we’ve got some help from what comes next in the gospel.
Thankfully, when Jesus instructs his disciples on what to look for when he sends them out two by two, he tells them how to decide whether or not they should stay in a place. So if we pay attention to those instructions, we’ll know what Jesus is looking for when he shows up to be with us!
Jesus said, “Look guys, when you get to the place you’re going, pick a place and stay put. Be consistent, so that people who come looking for you will know where to find you.”
Now as a place that Jesus might decide to park his staff for a while, we would want to be consistently the kind of place that when people come by, they know how we steadily show God’s presence out in the community, especially to the least of these.
Jesus has got, as does God, a special place in his heart for those scripture refers to as the lease of these.
Do we consciously treat those who come for food, or any other kind of help, with the same respect and dignity with which we treat each other?
Remember, Jesus said that when you do it to the least of these, you do it to me. So the way we treat the least of these who may come to our building for whatever reason is the way we would want to treat Jesus if he showed up.
Main point—do people come here knowing that they will consistently find Jesus in our midst, here with us?
Second, we want to be a place of welcome.
Welcome is essential! Jesus says to find the place that has open doors, open hearts, open minds, and the desire for something new, and the courage to welcome the stranger. When a stranger shows up for worship, is that person welcomed into our midst as if he or she were Jesus dropping in for a visit?
Third, are we people who are ready to listen?
A sure sign that Jesus would know that we are listening is if he finds that we are willing to change, to grow, and to expand beyond the boundaries that the world and others have set for us, and that we end up setting for ourselves.
Would we tear down those boundaries for him?
I hope that if Jesus came here, his welcome would never run out. I hope we’d never put our hands over our ears and wish we didn’t have to hear “Love your neighbor as yourselves” one more time when we heard Jesus teaching us.
Because unfortunately, the price for staying stuck in what’s comfortable might be that Jesus would decide to shake the dust off his feet as he headed out the door, and we’d be left to survive on our own power, which will always come to an end, and never, ever, be enough.
As you know, I will be gone for the next several weeks.
For the next two Sundays, The Rev. Luis Garcia, from the Dominican Republic, will be here. And on the first Sunday of August, the Rev Tom Hayes will be here. Welcome them as you would welcome Jesus himself. Listen to every preacher as you would listen to Jesus if he were here teaching in this synagogue.
In August, I’ll be spending two weeks in Guatemala working on Spanish with the teacher that Bishop Goff recommended. For ten years, I’ve been saying I’m going to learn Spanish. But I’ve never done it. And last year, I started feeling that pressure that only God can provide, pushing me to act on what has only been a “someday” sort of idea until now.
So how am I going to use what I learn?
I don’t know yet.
I just know that I’m being sent out to travel light and to learn.
When I get back, we’ll discern how we as the church can broaden our ministry and welcome by speaking and worshiping and serving in more than just “our” comfortable language.
And now, the Lord is speaking to us, just as God spoke to Ezekiel way back in the Old Testament.
Are you listening?
The Lord said to Ezekiel,
“O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you.”
O St Peter’s, may we stand on our feet, ready to listen to what God has to say, ready to welcome the stranger, and ready to go where God will send us.
And may we always, at home or on the move, be people who speak one universal language, God’s language—the language of love.
Amen.