In Jesus Holy Name July 7, 2024
Text: Mark 6:1a, 2b (Luke 4:29–30) Pentecost VII Redeemer
“Family Relations and Stressful Dinners”
Do you remember the story of Br’er Rabbit? The Uncle Remus folk tale is an African American trickster story about the exploits of Brer Rabbit & Brer Fox. Here is the short version. Wily Fox played a trick on Br’er Rabbit.
The fox made a doll out of tar and stuck it on the side of the road. When Rabbit saw the tar baby, he thought it was a person and stopped to visit. It was a one-sided conversation. The tar baby’s silence bothered the rabbit. He couldn’t stand to be next to someone and not communicate with them. So in his frustration he hit the tar baby and his hand stuck to it. He hit the tar baby again with the other hand and, you guessed it, the other hand got stuck.
“That’s how it is with difficult relatives.” When family dinners come around we know that some difficult relatives will be present and stuck with them Some one described their Mother-in-law as “A cactus wearing a silk shirt.” She looks nice. Everyone thinks she’s the greatest, but get close to her and she is prickly, dry, and her comments often hurt.”
It’s like being crammed and jammed elevator. People thrust together by chance on a short journey, saying as little as possible. The only difference is you’ll eventually get off the elevator and never see these folks again—not so with the difficult relative. Family reunions, Christmas, Thanksgiving, weddings, funerals—they’ll be there and everyone is on edge. (from Max Lucado Daily Devotion)
Country singer, Billy Currington, recorded a song a few years ago, “People Are Crazy,” with the lyrics, “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.” The family of Jesus thought He was crazy. They were stuck with Him.
Jesus has become well known in Galilee. His miracles have preceded his visit
to His hometown. He visited the synagogue that He attended during His childhood. His family is present. He was initially welcomed eagerly by the people of Nazareth as one who had developed a reputation as an interesting rabbi, a great teacher.
The rumors had spread to Nazareth of the mighty works He had done in the region of Galilee, particularly in and around Capernaum, Peter and John’s home town where they had a family fishing business. These rumors told of miraculous works Jesus had accomplished. His reputation increased their curiosity that day Jesus appeared as the guest rabbi.
When the Sabbath arrived, it was appropriate for the local Synagogue ruler to offer this “religious celebrity” time to read the scriptures and make comments on the text. The people were proud that this hometown boy had done well—until they heard what he said. They decided He was crazy.
Luke tells us the passage Jesus read was from Isaiah chapter 61. When he finished, Jesus sat down and said: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your midst.” They got the message. They understood that He was saying: “Right now, right here in your presence, this text is fulfilled in Me. I am the promised Anointed One of Israel. I am the Messiah, the one to fulfill prophecy, “the light of the world.”
Their response? “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Translation? This is no Messiah! He’s just like us! He’s the plumber’s kid from down the street. He’s the accountant on the third floor. He’s the construction worker who used to date my sister. God doesn’t speak through familiar people. (Max Lucado Daily Devotion)
One minute he was a hero, the next a heretic. Look at what happened next. “They got up, forced Jesus out of town, and took him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built. They planned to throw him off the edge, but Jesus walked through the crowd and went on his way” (Luke 4:29–30).
Quoting Jesus’ hometown critics, Mark wrote, “Jesus is just the son of a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters are here with us” (Mark 6:3). Who does He think He is? He was claiming that He was the long expected Messiah. But even His family did not believe Him. “God is great, beer is good, and some people like Jesus are crazy.”
That’s what the family thought. That’s what the hometown folks thought. When Jesus was on the cross, only His mother was there. He was buried by “non-members of His family.” (Leonard Sweet Jesus: A Theography p. 181)
If your aunt doesn’t like your career, you could change jobs a dozen times and still never satisfy her. If your sister is always complaining about what you got and she didn’t, you could give her everything and she still may not change.
It’s a game with unfair rules and fatal finishes. Rejection is painful. If you talk long enough to any of our Hmong members who are new Christians, they will tell you that they understand rejection because of their faith in Jesus. Last year, our Hmong Vicar, Tou Lee and his family moved back to Minnesota.
He will attend our Lutheran College there because he wants to become a Pastor. He also told me that many of his family members here in Fresno were making life difficult because he and his family had rejected the “old Hmong beliefs”. There is no neutrality. You’re either with Jesus, for Him, or you’re against Him. To follow Jesus makes you a servant who seeks to love God and neighbor.
Not everyone in Jesus’ world gave him a warm welcome. Not everyone received him with grace. And many didn’t just ignore him, they rejected him. Isaiah prophesied that He would be: “ despised and rejected by men” (Isa. 53:3).
John summarized the rejection of Jesus with these words: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:10-11).
We all want to be understood. Every one of us has a craving, a longing, a yearning to be accepted. We hope for somebody, anybody, in our family to truly, fully, completely understand us; to give us the benefit of the doubt; to put the best construction on who we are and what we say and what we believe. Jesus is not the exception to the rule. He wanted His family and friends to believe in the power of His miracles and His words for the sake of their eternal salvation. If you have been rejected because of your faith in Jesus; well He understands.
Nazareth should have had the town band leading a parade, with decorated fire trucks and the homecoming queen and court riding decorated donkeys. Jesus in Nazareth was the same Jesus who had taught a great crowd on the Sea of Galilee. He had calmed a storm; had driven out demons and healed a woman of a hemorrhage. He had raised a dead man's daughter. They knew the stories and now, Jesus was coming home.
The parade did not happened. What did happen was this: Jesus was asked to say a few words at the local synagogue. He did so, and gladly. Jesus told the people He was the promised Messiah, the long-awaited Savior; the deliverer from sin, death, and devil. He would have implied that He was God's Son who had come to seek and save the lost; to bring hope and healing; to rescue souls from sin and the damnation which their broken commandments demanded.
It wasn't the first time Jesus had been misunderstood. It certainly would not be the last. Jesus came to fulfill His Father's plan to save us from our sins. Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for our souls; but people don't want to hear that.
Many people don’t want to admit they are helpless before the Law of God. They don't want to confess that if they are going to be saved, that salvation must be built completely and totally upon the work Jesus completed upon the cross and guaranteed by His empty tomb. Sure, folks are glad to accept Jesus as a teacher, a great philosopher, but to quit trusting in themselves for acceptance before God, well many are not ready to transfer their trust in a prophet 2000 years ago.
And yet, this transference of God’s holiness in Jesus is given to each one who grabs onto the tassels of robes of Jesus, the woman who could not be healed by human doctors, found healing, health and life when she touched to the robes of Jesus. (Read Romans 5:1-2,6)
“on the cross Jesus took upon Himself every sin that you and I would ever commit. He took upon Himself the accusation of Satan against the whole human race. He paid the penalty for our broken commandments that make us subject to decay and death. In fact satan fought Jesus on the cross all the way until the end. For “those who passed by blasphemed Him wagging their fingers and heads say: You who destroy the temple and built in three days save Yourself if you are the son of God, come down from the cross.”
The voice of the tempter was not hard for Jesus to hear…”if you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Jesus took upon Himself the wrath of God against human unholiness. Jesus became sin personified. He who had no sin. He who was absolute righteousness because absolute sin…” so that all who wrap the linen shroud of Jesus, left in the empty tomb, around themselves will be forgiven and given the gift of eternal life.
(Sweet. Jesus: A Theography p.244)
To be your Savior from sin is why Jesus was born into this world. To be your Savior from your broken commandments is why He lived a perfect life. To be your Savior from the devil's temptations is why He rejected every shortcut, every sidetrack that Satan proposed. To be your Savior, so you might be accepted into heaven, Jesus put up with ignorance, opposition, and misunderstanding, even from His own family, far beyond anything we have experienced.
(sermon Mark 6 Ken Klaus)
To recognize Jesus as both our Creator of the Universe and our Savior is to acknowledge that He is sovereign and supreme in the universe. To accept Him as Savior is to accept His gift of salvation offered on the cross. His death on the cross is a reminder of the two lost souls in the Garden of Eden. God had to make coats of skins to clothe the nakedness of Adam and Eve. The making of coats out of animal skins required death and the shedding of their blood. “For without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness.”
Moses told the children of Israel, You must place the blood of the lambs on the door frames of your homes to protect you when the death angel comes to Egypt. So the blood of Jesus, on the cross covers our sins, so that God now sees “each believer holy in His sight, free from accusation.” (Colossians 1:22)
If rejection is to be our lot, so be it. I am gladly stuck with Jesus.
