“…and they took offense at him…”

This Gospel passage from Mark 6:1-13 is included in the revised common lectionary provided by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. The text is from the NRSV. You can hear a recording of this passage here.

Reading the Gospel aloud invites the audience to experience human encounters with the divine as revealed in the Bible. We can leave interpretation and meaning to members of the clergy and other scholars. What we are most interested in as lay readers is the human experience found in the narrative.

First Impressions

This reading has three distinct sections:

1. Homecoming with its initial rising expectations.
2. Rejection and realization that sometimes change and progress require the leaving of home. Those who know you as one thing often have difficulty seeing you as something different and new. They see you through their own and same old paradigms and can’t let them go.
3. Renewal with an energized sense of purpose. A realization that you have to make your own way in the world. The past may be sweet but it can be ultimately constraining.

Where is your hometown? 

For many people, their hometown is where their sense of identity and belonging begins. Origin myths reside in their hometown. Key milestones in their lives have been celebrated there. Hometowns may be where their “stuff” is. They may feel longing and nostalgia associated with their hometown. It may be a safe place to return to, a place where friends and family are still to be found, a place where they are recognized and feel understood.

Others may not have had a happy childhood. They may continue to have difficult lives. Their hometown may be where old “ghosts” reside. They may feel as if their true selves were constricted and never recognized in their hometown – that they were never given their due — and that they had no choice but to leave.  Many do leave and never look back.

We may feel a rush of emotion and be glad upon seeing old friends from our hometown again after long absences. But then, we may quickly realize why it is we haven’t sought them out in a long time or why it is they may not seem as glad to see us we are to see them.  We change.  We no longer play the roles assigned to us by others long ago.

When I go “home”, I almost invariably and quickly find myself stretched out on the floor taking a nap. It may be that I am only too glad to embrace the old comforts, to surrender to old family dynamics and let others make all the decisions or hope others will wait on me.  It is easy to slip into a passive state.  But soon it’s time to re-enter the real world; to reactivate ourselves and reclaim our lives in the present.

In this passage, his hometown may initially beckon Jesus, but his old acquaintances seem to fall short of expectations. He has family there and is clearly well known.  He is allowed to teach in the synagogue. But rather than being warmly embraced by his neighbors, he’s quickly rejected. To his neighbors, he seems changed and to have forgotten who he is. “Is this not the carpenter?” He’s amazed by their unbelief.

Actions speak louder than words

I think the passage also dramatizes the importance of combining speaking, hearing and listening with ACTION.  It is important not only to hear what Jesus is saying, but to recognize what he is doing and to see what he does next.  Jesus teaches in the Synagogue and listeners hear him but do not respond. He has no power there.  Even the aphoristic, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown…” seems to have no effect.  Nothing he says does seems to matter. It is only when Jesus becomes active — goes out into the villages and issues a call to action to his disciples — that things begin to happen.

Faith and power

Jesus has no recognized power in his hometown (he does manage to cure a few sick people!) He is amazed by their unbelief. Jesus and his disciples must actively go out into the villages around them to realize and exercise any power.

The reading makes clear that transformative power is only present where faith is present.  We move through the world sowing faith and finding where faith has taken root.  That is where were the power of the holy spirit is to be found.

We need to go “about among the villages” to find ourselves and realize our full potential and it is better to do this two by two.

 Text Analysis

First impressions of any reading from the Gospels are not based on an interpretation of the text. They result from speaking the words we are given in the text.  We take them at face value.  We’re not surmising that the neighbors of Jesus fail to recognize his new calling.  We’re told so, “Is this not the carpenter?”  If you read those words aloud, you can see them looking at each other and hear the disbelief in their voices…along with a rising sarcasm.

As Lay Readers, we analyze the text for key word choices.  Again, not so much to unlock meaning, but to unlock the emotion of those participating in the events recounted and the experience of that emotion.  “Hometown” is such a word.  Hometown is the first key word in this passage. The Bible does not say Nazareth.  It says, hometown.  And with it comes all the emotions described above.  Even the sounds of the letters in hometown are warm and inviting, the “m” and “n” sounds resonate and drift into lasting memories.  Don’t miss or skip quickly past that word.

The neighbors in the Synagogue listen to Jesus and heard what he is saying but also remark upon his deeds, what he has done by his hands.  Or do they really heard him?  Do they really appreciate what has been done by his own hand?  Or does their unbelief make that impossible?  But I think the fact that speaking is inexorably linked with doing:  teaching, healing is purposeful.

Unbelief a word for the dead.  It is worn as a hood that covers your eyes and obscures every vital thing surrounding you or renders it invisible. It is a heavy word. Unbelief is a place to become mired in.

Repent.  Jesus is not discouraged.  He immediately goes out into the surrounding villages to teach. He sends his disciples out with clear instructions. “Repent” is active.  We are asked to DO SOMETHING.  Jesus recovers his power through active engagement.

The disciples may still be rejected.  But he saves them from the loneliness of rejection by sending them off two by two.  He instructs them to brush rejection off and go on to the next household. The only profit all those who will not listen will gain from the disciples and their attention is the dust on their feet. They reject the opportunity to be anointed with oil fail to see the demons cast out and the sick cured. It is their choice and their loss.

Reading this passage aloud

In this reading we want to make a clear demarcation between the three sections. The homecoming is warm and hopeful.  The resistance is short, hard and cold. The recovery is swift, deliberate and hopeful, gaining in momentum.  Each of these is reflected in the voice we choose to use.

Find the key words and give them time to resonate with the congregation or other listeners.  We are inviting the audience to enter into a shared experience.

Rather than the anchor or headline of the reading, “A prophet is not with honor….” is a throw-away line. “Oh, well…”, you can almost hear Jesus sigh. He is not angry, he is not offended.  There is really nothing to be said, there is only something to be done.

Then there is a rush of activity and a sense of movement.  The instructions to the disciples are clear, crisp and purposeful.  Repentance, the casting out of demons and the curing of the sick is a purely human endeavor. We don’t need clothes, props or technology. All we need is a staff and an ally in faith. We do not venture forth alone but in twos. If there is no one else, let your staff be your comfort.

Do we really feel most at home when we are doing what it is we are called to do? Is that our hometown?

What do you hear in this Gospel passage?