4th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 9
Mark. 6:1-13
"My Grace is Sufficient"
6:1 ¶ He went away from there and came to his own country; and his disciples followed him.
2 And on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands!
3 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.
4 And Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house."
5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them.
6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.
7 ¶ And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;
9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.
10 And he said to them, "Where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.
11 And if any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them."
12 So they went out and preached that men should repent.
13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Do you know what a paradox is? Our lessons today concern the idea of a paradox in Christian living, a paradox of values, and a paradox of expectations. According to the dictionary a paradox is: a statement that seems to contradict itself but expresses an element of truth.
For example this is a paradox: Make haste slowly. It is a paradox because it seems to contradict itself. How can you go quickly slowly? But even if this seems to contradict itself, there is truth in that statement because sometimes in order to accomplish something quickly, you need to go slowly.
We live with things, ideas and values being in paradox to each other. A statement in our lesson from 2 Corinthians is also a paradox, it says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." How can a person have power when he or she is weak? According to our human standards, this is a paradox.
But as we study our 3 lessons this morning, we will see an element of truth to this statement about power in weakness.
Ezekiel lived with this paradox. He was called by God to be a prophet. to the nation of Israel, to a people who God said had rebelled against him, who would probably not even listen to this new prophet. Our text says when God called Ezekiel he was to stand upon his feet before God, the spirit of God entered him and set him on his feet. Ezekiel in his human weakness was given power by God to be a prophet to the rebellious nation of Israel. Ezekiel was given power in his human weakness to speak the word of God to a stubborn people, a sinning people, a people who had turned away from God.
’For my power is made perfect in weakness." In Ezekiel weakness God’ s power became perfect. Out of the weakness of this human being, God gave him strength to speak to a nation, to speak about the love of God for his chosen people. But notice even after the call, the results of this prophet’s work was not going to be successful. God told Ezekiel that the people may even refuse to listen to him, but God would be with him even in this weakness because God wanted the people to know a prophet would be among them. In weakness, Ezekiel brought the word of God to the nation of Israel even though they did not want to listen.
A pastor tells this story about the a man in his life. He says, "My grandfather was a humble country preacher and the best Christian I have ever known--poised, patient, unselfish, kind to a fault, courageous in his witness to pure religion, heroic in his championship of freedom, uncomplaining in adversity, gentle with friends and foes alike. Years after his death whenever I encountered people who had been his parishioners, I was aware of a strange light in their eyes and a warmth in their voice as they spoke of him."
Here was a man, who was not especially strong, who was not rich, who was not successful by accumulating power, fame and glory, but here was a man of faith, a man who knew how to live, because he had a secret quality about him, he had something that made him special, it was Jesus Christ. This humble country preacher, was not world famous, he was not written up in who’s who, but his whole life gave meaning and purpose to the faith he believe in, the God that he worshiped.
He lived in the weakness of God and in that weakness he became strong. He lived in the paradox of live.
There is a paradox between the demands of our world, and the demands of our God. Our world calls us to be strong, to succeed, to be upward mobile, but our God calls us to surrender, to be dependent on him, to worry about our neighbor, to treat others with kindness, humility and honesty.
Yes, this a paradox that has been around for a long, long time.
Jesus was a paradox to the people in his time.
His live style, his birth, this death was a paradoxical statement of how God’s power would be manifested on this earth. Jesus himself appeared "weak to many of his contemporaries. They were expecting a kind of Superman. They anticipated spectacular signs and unmistakable evidence of his divinity. They saw only a carpenter’s son, a local boy, a prophet without honor. Yet all the power of God came to expression in that "weakness".
The weakness of God proved mightier than the strength of men. .
Jesus didn’t fit the image people had of the Messiah. They expected a mighty king after the fashion of king David. A man who would led a mighty army, a man who would make this small nation of Israel strong and powerful. They hey expected a man who would throw out the Romans, who would show them mighty signs from God as Moses did.
But they got a babe born in a stable, a carpenter’s son who for approximately 30 years didn’t even make a stir among the people. When Jesus did finally go about his ministry, he walked, he lived with outcasts, he ate with sinners, he made enemies of the priests and the rulers.
He had a band of only twelve men who were uneducated fisherman, or tax collectors, or religious radicals. He didn’t say anything to the Romans but talked to the house of Israel. He didn’t do great at signs, he healed people, he forgave sins, he made wine, he calmed the sea.
He talked about the love the Father had for his children, and he said he was the Son of God. Jesus died because he didn’t fit the expectation or did not have the value system the people of Israel expected. Jesus came as a servant to men.He came to show that God didn’t want men of superhuman ability, but he wanted men who would believe in God’s power for their lives. He showed that god wanted people who would live in this paradox. He showed that when you are weak, believing in Godf and not self, then you are really strong.
Jesus lived the ultimate paradox.
For as Paul says: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Jesus lived the paradox and Paul understood it and wrote to his followers to follow it. God’s grace is all we need in live to get by. Not wealth, not fame, not fortune, but God’s undeserved grace. Grace that was give by the paradox of the cross, for out of death came life.
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale July 1, 2003
