At home and abroad, Jesus and his disciples encounter resistance as they seek to proclaim God's word and relieve affliction.

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.

Grace to you and peace in the name of our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen

Yesterday Angie and I took Steve to the Fourth of July parade in George…it was wonderful, all of his favorite things passed right in front of him while he gorged himself with tootsie rolls and smarties. Angie and I had our chairs set up on the sidewalk and Steve sat down below us on the curb. There was a little girl, a year or two older than Steve sitting just down from him and Angie and I watched as Steve kept scooting himself closer and closer until he was right up against her…that’s when she would look at him with this look that said, “who are you?” and then scoot away. It took a few times for Steve to get the picture…it didn’t really seem to phase him too much, but as a parent, my heart broke for him a little bit. It was his first taste of rejection…we’ve all experienced rejection in one way or another in our lives and so we all know how painful it can be.

Jesus did too. As we see in our Gospel lesson this morning, he was rejected by his own people, his own home town, his own family. I want to read verses two and three of our Gospel lesson again, this time from a translation called, the Message, which really seems to get to the heart of what’s going on in this story,

On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. "We had no idea he was this good!" they said. "How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?" 3But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "[wait a second] He's just a carpenter—Mary's boy. We've known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?"

This weekend, as American citizens, we celebrate our freedom…we give thanks that we live in a “land of opportunity” where anyone can be anything they want to be…or at least we are free to try to be whatever we want to be. Regardless of how you feel about Barack Obama, and his politics he’s living proof of that. In America an African American man, raised by a single mother can be president of the United States! But it wasn’t like that in Jesus’ time. In his time, no one grew up believing that they could be whatever they wanted to be…that would have been a silly thought to them…in his time, you simply were what you were, and that was it. So, if your Dad was a carpenter, you would be a carpenter, and though you might dream of being something else, you wouldn’t do it.

That’s why the people of Jesus’ home town reacted to him by saying, “Who does he think he is?” They heard his teaching and were amazed they saw the works of power that he did with hands…the thing that caused them to stumble was that they knew he was just a carpenter, they knew his family—they were standing right there among them. In their minds Jesus didn’t have any business doing the things that he was doing…he had forgotten his place in the world. As far as they were concerned Jesus was too ordinary to be anything special…and for that reason they rejected him.

I don’t care if you are the son of God, that hurts…this experience must have been incredibly painful for Jesus. This story reminds us that though Jesus was the son of God, God-in-the-flesh. He was also super-ordinary in many ways…he grew up in a regular small town, he had a regular family, and a regular job…and yes, he had regular feelings…he was vulnerable, just like you and me, to the pain caused by rejection.

In the next part of our Gospel lesson, as you heard, Jesus sends his disciples out two by two to preach, teach, and heal…talk about ordinary! These disciples were as ordinary as they come. Their ordinariness has been all to evident in the Gospel of Mark up to this point…in fact, if we would have read the whole Gospel of Mark up to this point when the disciples get sent out by Jesus, we would really have to question his judgment! They haven’t been the picture of faithfulness up to this point…in fact, they haven’t done much of anything to indicate that they have much faith at all. They’ve misunderstood the parables and showed a great lack of faith in the middle of a storm at sea. It makes you want to ask, “Uh, Jesus are you sure about this…are you sure you want to entrust your message and your ministry to these guys? Are you sure you want them out there representing you, representing God!?”

“Yep, I’m sure.” Jesus would respond.

“But Jesus, are you sure it’s a good idea to send out this less-than-stellar-group with nothing but a staff…no bread, no bag, no money in their belts!?”

“Yep, I’m sure.”

As these disciples go out two-by-two they have a whole lot going against them, but let’s focus on what they do have…first of all, in spite of all of their short-comings, they were sent by Christ himself. Second, though they didn’t have any money, a bag, or bread…they were given the authority to cast out demons and to preach God’s Word, and the power to heal. Finally, they went out knowing that this was going to be the hardest thing they’ve ever done…Jesus made it clear to them that not everyone was going to welcome them with open arms…they would be turned away and treated unkindly by many, but after having been in Jesus’ hometown that day, they knew that they had a Lord who knew what it was like to suffer rejection, and so they were not alone.

It’s easy to look down on those folks in Jesus’ hometown for the way they disbelieved, the way they rejected the Son of God…but by doing that we would be forgetting that, like those folks in Nazareth, and like the disciples, we also do our share of disbelieving.

Sometimes we have a hard time believing that God is able to do powerful things with us—as individuals—and with our community…we feel like we’re too common, to regular to do or to be anything special…you know, too sinful to be sent.

But the truth is, that we are sent... despite our ordinariness, despite our sin, and all our shortcomings, all the things that we have against us, Jesus wants us to represent him in this world…he has given us the authority to speak his Word…he wants us to live his Good news…“Are you sure!?” you might ask.

“Yep, I’m sure.”

Despite our ordinariness, we are his chosen ones, we are called, and his grace is sufficient for us…as we go out, to speak and live his Word in this world we will experience rejection…but just like those disciples who went out two by two, we know that our Lord knows the pain of rejection, and so we are not alone.

Amen