Ordinary People – Extraordinary Christ
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
July 23, 2006
The races are on. In just a few short months, we will go to the polls to elect 435 members of Congress and a third of our Senators. From now until November, we will be bombarded by political messages and promises. We’ll be told by each particular candidate that he or she wants to go to Washington D.C. to represent average Americans.
Candidates from both political parties will tell us what average Americans looks like, acts like, and how they spend their money. They will tell us what the average American wants in our government and what issues are important to us. They will go on and tell us why they will represent the average American better than their opponent.
This will all be buttressed by polls designed to reveal what average Americans think on subjects ranging from social issues to economic issues to religious issues. Average Americans will be asked their views on foreign and domestic policy, on their hopes and dreams for their children, and on their opinion of public education. On and on the questions will go, as they attempt to define you and me.
Churches do the same thing. Back in 1993, I remember reading a book titled, “Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary” (Lee Strobel. 1993. Zondervan: Grand Rapids). It was written by a fellow named Lee Strobel who was then the Teaching Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. They were looking for the average person who did not have a church home, in order to determine what would attract them to Willow Creek, or any church for that matter.
Actually, we do know who the average American is. According to Kevin O’Keefe, author of “The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation’s Most Ordinary Citizen,” the average American is thirty-six years old, has nine friends, drinks the milk in the bottom of the bowl after his cereal is gone, eats twenty-five pounds of candy a year, knows the names of the Three Stooges, attends church at least once a month, and goes to bed before midnight
The average American is Robert Burns. He is a real person. Burns lives on the outskirts of Hartford, Connecticut. He is a maintenance man by occupation, stands five foot, eight inches tall, and weighs 185 pounds. He and his wife have three children. If he were given a choice, he would prefer smooth peanut butter over chunky.
Chapter six of the Gospel of Mark gives a portrait of a very busy Jesus. He begins the chapter in his hometown of Nazareth where he ran into some trouble. The people there had known him since he had been a kid. They knew his family. He was such an ordinary kid from such an ordinary family. They wondered where he got off thinking that he was special. So he wasn’t able to do great works there, although he was able to heal a few people. After that, he left on a preaching and teaching tour around the Galilee.
Next, he sent his disciples out two-by-two. He gave them authority and power to deal with the troubles they would experience.
Shortly after that, chapter six gives the account of the beheading of John the Baptist. John had the uncanny ability to offend people with his preaching. They finally brought his nagging and preaching to an end with his execution.
Then the disciples of Jesus came back reporting all that they had accomplished on their mission. By then, Jesus knew that they needed a time to rest, relax, and recover. So they got into a boat and crossed the Sea of Galilee to a place where they thought they could be alone.
But their plans were discovered, and when they pulled their boat up on the shore, they discovered a huge crowd had beaten them to the place. When the people got hungry, Jesus fed them, all five thousand of them.
Jesus then sent the disciples across the lake once more, telling them that he would catch up with them after he had dismissed the crowd. Later, they saw him walking out to them on the water.
When they reached the shore, there were the crowds, waiting for them again. Jesus had compassion on them and spent all the time that was needed to heal them.
All of these people, who raced around the lake, were the ordinary folks of his day. They were a whole lot like us. They worked hard, loved their families, wanted the best for them, and did their best to live up to their religious faith. They had their questions. They had their opinions. They had their dreams. They were just everyday, ordinary people trying to live as best they could.
When Jesus and his disciples tried to get away to the other side of the lake for awhile, the people got wind of it and flocked to them like teenagers rushing out to get the new John Mayer CD. They were there when Jesus landed and they greeted him like he was a rock star.
“The Message” says that when Jesus saw them, his heart broke. The Good News Bible says that his heart was filled with pity. The New Revised Standard Version and the New International version both say that he had compassion on them. My understanding is that the original Greek word which was used there could be translated, “…moved in his bowls.”
Before we all get grossed out here, let’s remember the original context. The bowls were believed to be the source of kindness and pity. So Jesus isn’t getting sick to his stomach. Instead he is being moved to deep compassion. In other words, Jesus feels it in his gut. He is overcome with an intense feeling of compassion because they are wandering through life like sheep without a shepherd. His feelings of compassion and concern for them come from the depth of his being. He isn’t just thinking about them. He is feeling for them…in his heart…in his gut.
He’s having these feelings for the average guy because they were the ones who were out there that day. Generally, Jesus saved his sharpest rebukes for the elites of the culture.
When a sinful woman came into the Pharisee’s house where Jesus was eating (Luke 7:36ff), she washed his feet with her tears and anointed them with expensive ointment. Jesus chastised the Pharisee because he had not shown proper hospitality as this sinner had done.
On another occasion, he confronted a group of Pharisees with, “Woe to you Pharisees…you tithe…and neglect justice and the love of God (Luke 11:42). “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees…” (Luke 12:1). He called a rich man a fool for storing up treasures on earth (Luke 12:13 ff).
“How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God,” he said (Mark 10:24). “Whoever wants to become great among you must become your servant (Mark 10:43).
Generally, when there is a crowd around Jesus, they are the everyday people, the people who have their share of sins, those who are on the outside looking in, and those who are sick, who are poor, and who are afraid. So when these crowds of average Galileans came, he was touched to his soul for them.
He speaks not only to the average Galilean, but also the average American. What can we say about his feelings and actions for ordinary, everyday people like Robert Burns; people like you and me? One of the complaints about the church that we often hear today is that it doesn’t have a message for real people. But it does because Jesus does. Here is the message Jesus has for everyday, average people.
Jesus cares. He has compassion for average folks. He is moved deep in his bowls for our struggles. He knows the pain of the U.S. automaker who has lost his or her job through corporate downsizing. He knows and cares about the woman who has lost her husband of many years through death. He cares about the adult couple who are finding themselves caring for an aging parent with Alzheimer’s Disease. He knows and cares about the teenager who is trying to cope with emotions and hormones and the struggles of growing up. He has compassion for those who are lost. He cares for those who suffer physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He cares about all three hundred million Americans just like he cared for the crowd that met him on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus teaches. He knows the lessons that average folks need to learn. He teaches so that we don’t wander off in the wrong direction with no hope of finding our way home. He teaches us so that we don’t wander around like sheep without a shepherd.
His teaching tends to be more difficult to accept than his caring. After all, his teaching is aimed at changing our lives, our habits, and even our thoughts. Go through the four Gospels and you discover very hard sayings about things such as wealth, divorce, anger, lust, adultery, and greed. He tells us that we are supposed to love our enemies and even pray for them. Ever thought about that in relation to Osama bin Laden? He commands us to care for the poor, to be peacemakers, to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, to carry the extra burden. Those are all difficult lessons to be sure, but they are aimed at ordinary people like us.
Jesus cares and teaches. He also heals. There are many in this congregation this morning who have faced devastating loss: jobs, relationships, illnesses, the death of someone close to you. Some of you have experienced the spiritual wilderness. Some have suffered from depression. Drug or alcohol addiction has been an issue for some of you. Now, I don’t have anyone specific in mind when I lay this out. I just know that when any group of size gets together, those problems are there.
But I know that many of you have been healed. You have been healed of grief, of loneliness, and of sorrow. You have seen relationships healed. You have had your dry, dead spiritual lives reborn. You have overcome destructive lifestyles. You know first-hand how Jesus heals those who come to him with their deepest needs.
Jesus cares. Jesus teaches. Jesus heals. This all adds up to – Jesus loves. It is easy for average people to be overlooked. We’re not famous. We’re not rich. We don’t participate in outrageous behavior to bring attention on ourselves. A lot of times, society doesn’t pay all that much attention to us.
We may be overlooked by others, but not by Jesus. Whether you are a mechanic, a salesman, a teacher, a farmer, a banker, a lawyer, a doctor, a factory worker, a stay-at-home-mom, a student, a small business owner, or even a local church preacher…there is nothing at all wrong with being average or ordinary. No matter what, we are in the presence of an extraordinary God.
