Rabbi Rejected

He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On 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! Is 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. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he 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. Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If 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.” So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Mark

Introduction

This morning we have an appropriate scripture this morning, for it ends with the church being sent into the world to do the works of Jesus dependent upon the hospitality of the community. Our Red Bird missionaries will be taking a bit more than Jesus instructed his apostles, but none the less we will be housed in what is not ours and fed by others. Let’s unpack this scripture this morning and see what we can learn.

Exegesis

On the surface these two scriptures do not seem to be related: Jesus rejection and his sending out of the 12. But if you put them in context of the story Mark is telling, they make sense. Last week we discussed Jesus as a miracle worker in the healing of the woman with the issue of blood and the raising of Jairus daughter. These are two miracles in a series of five Mark tells us about after Jesus has started his ministry upon return from the wilderness of temptation. it has now become time from him to deliver his message to his home town Nazareth. What happens here is in stark contrast to the successes he has encountered so far in his ministry.

In Nazareth this Rabbi is rejected, familiarity has breed contempt. But why? At first they marvel that Jesus the carpenter, the man who made his living for his family with his hands, has done these great deeds of power and has taught with authority that no other Rabbi seems to posses. But once they marvel at the hoe town boy done good, they are offended by him. The Greek word translated as offense is the Greek word our word scandal comes from.

It is hard to return home. it reminds me of the story of Janis Joplin, leaving Port Arthur taxis as an odd outcast who returns 10 years later as a wealthy, successful, counter culture icon. As one writer put it,

Advertisement📷

pinterest.com

Jefferson High School Class Reunion, 1970

Just weeks before her untimely and tragic death, Janis Joplin’s last journey back to her native Port Arthur, Texas included a highly publicized appearance at her 10 year high school reunion that saw the 27-year-old singer in the very unique position of having defied the odds, leaving small town life as an unwanted outcast and returning as a wealthy counterculture icon.

You May Also Like…

Top 5 Rock Band Trios

“Janis’ classmates may have expected the same outwardly insecure girl who left them a decade before, but when she came swanning in surrounded by paparazzi and radiating confidence and success and looking every bit the rockstar she was, her graduating class was shocked to see that the girl they teased mercilessly didn’t just overcome their torment – she became everything they were too afraid to be.”

Now, I am not comparing Janis to Jesus here, but I am comparing the cultures in a way. Jesus wasn’t supposed to come back a success outside of the way he had been raised. People that worked with their hands were not suppossed to get above their raising. If they did, it was a huge scandal. Besides, Jesus was Mary’s son and he should be taking care of her, a widow! Who does he thing he is? For Janis, much the same. Who does she think she is? Why should she be so successful when I was popular and had more goin for me? Janis, and Jesus, for that matter, have stepped outside the bounds of their honor rating.

In Jesus day honor was a limited good. if somone gained, somone else lost. If someone gained, someone else lost. To be recognized in his own town for his prophetic wisdom and his holy man’s deeds of power meant that honor due to other persons and other families in Nazareth was diminished. Claims to more than one’s appointed share of honor determined by birth thus threatened others and would eventually trigger attempts to cut the claimant down to size.

Today we would call that jealousy, it was jealousy that Janis encountered.

The day before his return to Nazareth the people were in awe of Jesus today at home, Jesus is amazed by the lack of unbelief. It wasn’t that he was unable to perform any miracles. God’s power in no way is dependent on us. It was that nobody approached him because there was no belief, only jealousy. I am sure the few sick people he cured there approach d him to be cured.

In fact they insulted him, by identifying him through his Mother rather than his Father! A man’s identity was never in his mother or his wife, it was always the other way around! And we see once again, in Jesus own words that even his own family was scandalized by him. “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and int heir own house.

Now abruptly, Mark changes the focus of the story, without any transition, to the sending of the 12 in pairs. He gives them instruction, especially if they are rejected. he says to “shake the dust off your feet of that town.” it was customary for Jews to shake the dirt off their feet when they returned to Israel from gentile territory. The apostles were not goin into Gentile territory, so shaking the dust off your feet in a Jewish village would be a great insult! I wonder if Jesus did that when he left Nazareth.

Mark ends this story with the comment that they were successful in Jesus name.

Application

For Mark’s audience, persecuted Christians by Nero in Rome, this was a message of great hope. Even after all Jesus had done he is still rejected by those who knew him best. Jesus gives instructions to the church of how to handle rejection. The apostles were ultimately successful because they persevered in the delivery of Jesus’ message. If a town didn't receive it, they moved on till they found one that did.

Port Arthur didn’t work for Janis Joplin, San Francisco did. You could say that Janis broke a glass ceiling. The church has to break a “stained glass curtain.”

The stained glass curtain, is a curtain that keeps us contained, that keeps the church from being all that it can be. Jesus sends the disciples out into a world where they will be rejected, but they will also be welcomed too! They become an extension of jesus work in the world. As one commentator put it:

“They go as the voice and action of Christ. Jesus will not do it all. He sends out disciples to help make ministry happen. They go in his name, preach what he taught, and work by his power. He does not send them out hat-in-hand to beg for a positive response but with divine authority to call others to repentance.”

We are empowered by Christ to bring his message into an unbelieving world. Unfortunately we forget that empowerment part. We say we’re too old, too young, too busy, not equipped and on and on. The stained glass curtain. We forget that in our weakness we are made strong! it is God who equips, makes the time. Abraham said he was too old and Jeremiah said he was too young! The excuses never change. We are Kings and Queens of excuses. The we get jealous, “well why is that church down the street so big and we aren’t? what have they got we haven’t got?” We get confused and equate success with size. Don’t get me wrong, If a church isn’t growing its dying! But size isn’t always a measure of success.

Jesus instructed us to go into the world and make disciples, but wait. If you have noticed I have used the word apostles a lot this morning for a reason. Apostle simply means sent forth, like an ambassador. We are not truly disciples unless we are sent forth. We sent forth 30 people this morning.

Out of Jesus rejection came a breakthrough. The glass ceiling, the stained glass curtain, whatever you want to call it, the church broke out, and empowered by Jesus they made ministry happen. They didn’t dwell on what they didn’t have, they were empowered by a force they didn’t understand at the time. It was the power of the resurrection. the power of the in braking Kingdom of God. They were ambassadors of the Kingdom of God into the Kingdom of the world.

The day before that fateful encounter, Antoinette Marie Tuff was deep into a Bible study series about making God the immovable anchor in her life.

In times of storms, in the midst of hardship and pain, she was being asked to seek her God for the stability, guidance and security she needed.

At 47, Tuff had arguably already seen her share of hardship: the trials of caring for a disabled child, a business failure leading to bankruptcy and finally, just last year, the dissolution of her 27-year marriage.

Then without warning Tuesday, Tuff found herself in the middle of another faith test. Would the deeply religious woman be able to stand? If she made it through, would she have a testimony?

Face to face with the 20-yearold “baby” she would soon learn was Michael Hill, Tuff dug in deep, praying to the one who’d seen her through financial struggles, an ill son and a failed marriage.

“God, what do I do?” she prayed to herself, recounting the ordeal to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week. “What do I say?”

Michael Hill had stormed the Ronald McNair Discovery Learning Academy armed with an AK-47 “type” semi-automatic rifle and pockets full of ammunition.

He’d stopped taking his medicines for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

He wanted to die, he told Tuff. No one loved him.

Tuff could relate. She had felt the same way just a year ago.

“I love you, baby,” she told him.

You see, our success lies in Jesus. Just when we think we cannot go further because of rejection, failure, tragedy, lack of resources, you name it. All things are possible through the Rabbi who was rejected.

Related Media

Related Sermons