Just Jesus”
Mark 6:1-4
August 4, 2002
You know the definition of a “church expert?”
Answer: Anybody that lives more than 45 miles away from your church!
Strange the way distance creates expertise and influence. Acc’d to that definition by the way, I’m no expert…I just live a few miles from here. But, do you know what I mean? A church looking to grow, expand programs, deal with conflict, etc. brings in a dynamic outside speaker or resource person and you’d think Jesus himself had returned!
This reality can make it tough on people like Kathy and me to do our work. I remember a time I was planning a weekend at our retreat facility known as Akita…it was a weekend for our own members and I was the advertised leader. The week before the retreat I got a call from a person with some questions about the weekend one of which went like this: “That seems like a lot of money for a weekend retreat…it might be different if there was going to be a really dynamic, outside speaker, but it’s just you leading it, right?” I informed this person that in case she was wondering, no offense had been taken!
Maybe you get this at home yourself sometimes. Conversation after dinner goes into a topic you think you have some knowledge about and you begin carefully imparting that knowledge. You think you’re doing quite well and even impressing yourself a bit until the awkward silence is broken by one of your kids who says “What do YOU know about that stuff?”
It’s scary to think about how many lessons of life and faith we miss because we don’t listen to those we know best the way we listen to dynamic, outside speakers! We’re too close…we know each other too well…we aren’t experts…we are just dad; just mom; just a brother; just a sister; just a friend; just a neighbor… We’re not experts…this reality is particularly strong when it comes to matters of faith!
That’s why the folks in Nazareth couldn’t hear Jesus…he was…just Jesus… He was no expert…he was just a carpenter…just Mary’s boy…just a kid from up the street…they know his brothers and sisters…he was just Jesus…
In Luke’s version, they tried to throw him off a cliff. Somehow he gave them the slip, but to them…he was…just Jesus…
Who is it for you, that makes you like the folks in Nazareth? Who is the prophet from your hometown…the one with whom you’re too close to view them as an expert…the ones you know so well that certainly they have nothing to teach you?
· Just mom…
· Just Uncle Ken …
· Just crazy Kathy from up the street…
· Just a kid…
The lesson for Nazareth is the lesson for us…they had everything they needed right there in their midst and so do you here at St. John’s UCC, Columbus, Ohio…you have just Jesus in your midst…in one another.
The trick is to learn from the good people of Nazareth by being willing to learn from one another.
What keeps us from honoring our hometown prophets…the people we live with, work with, play with, eat with, and worship with? What makes us say, “Ahhh, it’s…
· Just mom…
· Just Uncle Ken …
· Just crazy Kathy from up the street…
· Just a kid…
What keeps us from learning from one another, and what can we do about it?
First is we’re just too close…we need to step back…
When I was 14 my dad and I took a trip to Fort Sill, OK where my brother was in basic training for the Army. Along the way we decided to stop in St. Louis to see the sights and take in a hockey game. I remember still being 60 miles outside of town, but the faint image of the Gateway Arch was clear in the distance. I remember the wonder and the awe that that monument to human determination created in me and the spectacle it was even from a long distance. We drove over the Mississippi as the huge arch cast a shadow across the black water and we pulled off to take a closer look. I remember walking through the park and becoming dizzy as I gazed up along the 60 stories of the arch and could see the tiny little windows at the top. We walked closer and closer to the base where we could enter the underground museum and ride in those funny little round cars that take you all the way to the top. And I remember that the closer we got to the arch, the less impressive it became to me. In fact, standing right next to one end, it looked like any other building…made from steel and no windows. Up close, the Gateway Arch is no big deal. But, when you step back and have the perspective of the entire structure it is breathtaking.
To see one another in all our wonder, beauty, and depth we need to step back…get a new perspective… see the big picture. Right now your pastor is taking time to step back. She’s taking time to get perspective on the marvelous ministry St. John’s UCC will do in the coming year. Her view of the big picture will enhance her appreciation for each of you and when she returns she will be better prepared to see each of you as an expert in the mission and ministry of this place.
Perhaps you can do the same by stepping back to see what a gift are those closest to you…the ones sitting on your left and on your right…to see them as the prophets that they are in your life. STEP BACK.
Sit down…
There’s another thing that keeps us from honoring our hometown prophets…the thing that makes us want to throw them off a cliff…
· Just mom…
· Just Uncle Ken…
· Just crazy Kathy from up the street…
· Just a kid…
That is we just don’t like what they’re saying! This was certainly the case in Nazareth that day. Everything seemed to be going fine…Jesus had come home…big crowd around him, invited to read the scripture, but then…he made the fatal mistake: he gave a sermon! They liked the reading and the preaching…but they couldn’t take the application…it was a radical message from an everyday guy…just Jesus.
· turn cheek, accept everyone, even the Gentiles.
· Who was this person that pardoned prostitutes, touched lepers, loved tax collectors and
· said all you really need to do is “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself?”
Radical stuff…especially from just Jesus. They just didn’t like what he was saying…
(Pause)
At a time when I was struggling with the reality of being a pastor in my home town, my mentor in ministry said to me:
“When you throw a rock in a pigpen, the pig that squeals got hit?”
When someone we know, someone close to us, has a message for us, and that message
· makes us start to squeal because we don’t like it…
· when we dismiss the hometown prophets in our lives…just mom, Ken, Kathy, kid
· when we want to throw someone off a cliff because we don’t like what they say…
· that’s the moment we are called to pause…to sit down because we just got hit with a rock and the one that threw it might just be the savior…Just Jesus!
The truth will make you mad before it sets you free!
What truth is being spoken to you here at St. John’s UCC—your hometown church? What message do you need to hear from someone right here in your own sanctuary?
Does it have to do with giving to the Organ Renovation fund? Affirm music?
Does it have to do with exploring new, innovative ministry for your children?
Does it have to do with forming a long-range vision and mission?
Does it have to do with finding and calling new leadership?
Does it have to do with your own faithfulness and your living out Christ’s call?
Only you can answer…but only if you have the courage and wisdom to sit down and really hear the message for you…not just from outside experts, but just mom, Uncle Ken, crazy Kathy, and even just a kid.
There’s a final earplug keeping us from recognizing the everyday prophets in our lives and the word of God they may be trying to deliver.
Telegraph Job Applicant…
Before computers, walkie-talkies, and telephones was the telegraph machine.
The first way to communicate over long distances…a series and sequence of clicks known as Morse Code.
· A young man answered an ad in the paper for a job as a telegraph operator…
o He went to the address in the ad, stepped inside, signed his name at the bottom of a list of other applicants and took his seat.
§ It was a busy office filled with people and lots of noise.
· After a few minutes, the young man stood up, walked through a door into an inner office and closed the door behind him.
o The other applicants looked puzzled and thought certainly the young man would be removed from the list for skipping his turn…had a good laugh about it.
· A few more minutes went by…that same door swung open and the young man reappeared with an older, distinguished looking gentleman who announced: “All those interested in the job as telegraph operator, attention please. Thank you for coming in, but the job has been filled. This young man is our new telegraph operator.”
o Well…needless to say the other applicants were not to pleased. One of them stood forward and declared: “That’s not fair…you haven’t even spoken to us. We were here before this young man and he was waiting for hardly a moment. Why does he get the job.”
· The distinguished gentlemen replied kindly, “While you were sitting here waiting, I was repeatedly tapping out a message over the speaker in Morse Code. That message was, ‘If you hear and understand this message, please come into the inner office, the job is yours.’ This young man heard the message…you did not.”
We need to listen up! After we step back and sit down…then we’re ready to listen up! Not physically up, but spiritually in such a way that we’re able to hear a message, no matter how faint and regardless of whom the source may be…
In this information age, where we receive 10,000 messages a day…from email, voicemail, US mail, television, radio, theaters…and from those we pass on the street; it’s more essential than ever that we pay attention…listen up.
Listen up, so that you may look beyond the messenger to hear the message no matter how unlikely the source…Christ lives in those unlikely places…in mom, Uncle Ken, crazy Kathy, and even in kids…
Who are the common, everyday Prophets in your life?
· I know one…for me…close with this…
When she… mix up which friends were with who…just mom
Forget where she left the vacuum…just mom
Rattle through our names…just mom
Have us sit at the piano and sing…just mom
Stop the family dinner to thank God…just mom
Now, when she…calls for the 4th time…just Alzheimers
Forgets the salad with cherry tomatos… just Alzheimers
Tells me for the 3rd time about the sermon… just Alzheimers
Searches the roll for my name…I say…it’s just me…JUST JOHN
By definition my mom is NOT an expert…lives to close…
But she knows Jesus…JUST Jesus
Even though she’s losing her memory…she’s NOT losing her faith…
She’s forgetting the salad with cherry tomatoes…not love in Christ…
That’s HOW she loves me…JUST ME…JUST JOHN.
Who am I not to listen?
Step back (get new perspective)…
sit down (even when you don’t like what’s being said)…
listen up (in a noisy world)…
So that the people of St. John’s UCC in downtown Columbus, Ohio don’t make the same mistake as the people of Nazareth.
