WHAT IF THE PEOPLE OF NAZARETH WERE RIGHT?
(Preached on Sunday, July 9, 2006)
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? -Mark 6:3
Several years ago, Allan Story, a young pastor from South Africa, led a large conference of U.S. pastors in closing worship. Pastor Storey stood before the group, handed out the bulletins, and walked everybody through the service. Then, at the end of the instructions, he said quietly, A One more thing as we begin our service. Could I just say, as a visitor to your country from another place, that I wish you would consider removing the American flag from your sanctuary? I was shocked when I entered this church today and found your country= s flag so prominently positioned near the altar. That would not happen in my church. My church law forbids us to have flags and other secular political paraphernalia in our services. I wish you would think about this and how this flag clashes with the symbols of our faith. Of course, I am from South Africa. And we= ve learned the hard way, about the difference between the ways of God and the ways of the world.@
That group of U. S. pastors sat there in awkward silence and then went on with the service. What do you think about that? Does the American flag have a place in our Christian sanctuary?
We struggle every day with following Jesus. We struggle every day with knowing what is God= s will and what is our will. We struggle every day with understanding what God says is the right way to live and what the society, our nation, and our own hearts say is the way to live. It is not an easy call to make.
Jesus warned his followers of that truth.
I wonder if it was something like what Pastor Storey said that Jesus said in Nazareth? Mark tells us Jesus came home after doing many wonderful and amazing things around the Sea of Galilee area. On the Sabbath he went to synagogue and, as a visiting Rabbi, was invited to speak. Mark does not tell us what he said, only that those who heard it were amazed at it. It was obviously new, probably radical, and clearly different from the messages they were used to hearing. It did not sit well with them and they were upset by what they heard. They A took offence@ at him, or in the Greek, they were A scandalized.@ After all, they had seen this kid grow up, he had repaired their doors, and door frames, and done other carpentry for them, they knew his family, his roots. Who did he think he was to offer these new ideas about God and God= s forgiveness and unconditional love?
Now the traditional interpretation of this passage is that the people of Nazareth knew Jesus too well, or at least, they thought they did.
The traditional approach would be to suggest that if the people of Nazareth had really understood who stood before them they would have rolled out the red carpet and treated him a whole lot better.
But what if the people of Nazareth were right about Jesus?
What if Jesus was a human being just like you and me?
What if Jesus was not some god-like creature, some deity in human form, some demi-god? [Now, before you take out your cell phones and dial up the thought police, or walk out because of my blasphemy, hear me out.] Remember I said A what if?@ Remember also, we are engaging in the exercising of our imaginations this summer and let me admit this is probably the most A far out there@ exercises I have offered. But just go with me for a little bit and let= s see what the implications of that A what if?@ might be for us.
In truth, it really is not as outrageous as it sounds to us initially.
First, traditional theology about the nature of Jesus has always said that to have a proper understanding of his nature one must begin with the understanding that he was fully human in every aspect C he felt everything, experienced everything, hunger, thirst, pain, grief, joy, etc., as any one of us. Including his death on the cross. It was real, total, complete. It was not faked. His spirit did not leave before the suffering and pain of death.
In addition to this, in the past 60 years biblical scholarship has taken great strides in sifting the gospel evidence with other evidence from non-biblical writings recently discovered and archeological evidence to better help us understand the life of Jesus, the Man from Nazareth. What these scholars have helped us to understand is the real power of the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus understood the universe to be ablaze with the glory of God.
That included human beings. He understood all human beings, not just himself, to be children of God, with a divine spark, an intimate connection to God.
For Jesus God was a God of mercy and love C a love extravagant beyond measure, infinitely tenderhearted, and far more ready to forgive and celebrate than to judge. As such, God never turned away from any human being, no matter what their sin, and God did everything possible to help and A recover@ those who were lost.
Jesus taught that human beings, God= s children, could pattern their lives after that behavior of a loving God.
That was a radical message, for it challenged the existing order of the day C in fact, the order of every day. For kingdoms and empires and principalities and powers and hierarchies of all sort establish order in such a way that preserve the place, privilege and power of the elite at the expense of the masses. The message of Jesus was that all people were equally children of God and had direct access to the grace, love and mercy of God. As a result there were not those who were A in@ and those who were A out@ and no one was ever so bad to be beyond the reach of God= s love.
This message and the actions of Jesus got him killed.
His death created a crisis for those who had taken his message and teachings to heart. Did this mean the end of all he had taught? Gradually they came to understand that it did not mean the end for his teachings and message were more powerful than that and they could not end with his death. They had embraced his teachings and they began to understand their radical power for living their own lives. As they did, they came to speak of Jesus being alive in them, in their midst, in the world. They spoke of resurrection.
But then something happened over time. Not his original followers, but those who followed them, began to focus on Jesus, and not on his teachings. They began to reflect about what resurrection might mean for their lives, especially for their lives beyond death. That became the focus of their message and their worship. And Jesus became deified, worshiped as God, and the emphasis of the message became a belief in him, not his teachings about the power for living this life. Instead the focus was on life beyond death.
Gradually his teachings became less important. In fact, it became easy to ignore them, after all, they were exceedingly radical and difficult to practice. A Love your enemy.@ A Turn the other cheek.@ A The first shall be last and the last shall be first.@ A The greatest of all shall be servant of all.@ A Forgive those who hurt you.@ A How hard for those with wealth to enter the Kingdom of God.@
So, we really don= t try any longer to live up to, or live out in our own lives, the life and teachings of Jesus.
After all, he was God, we are not. It was easy for him, not easy for us.
But what if the people of Nazareth were right about him?
What if, he really was fully human, just like us?
Except, that he understood how we are all connected, intimately connected, with God and therefore, we all can, if we nurture that divine spark that resides within us, live life just as he did.
Then his teachings are vitally important.
They are the power for real and abundant life.
It is as we embrace them and practice them in our own lives that we will experience the power of resurrection, the presence of God, and the presence of Christ in our lives. And so we see, after his rejection in Nazareth, Jesus begin to spread his teachings by sending his disciples out on internships, that is, practicing his way of life by spreading his way of life.
Jesus proclaimed that God= s way of life was possible on earth here and now. He healed and fed people as signs of that reality. He reached out to include all those the world said were lost, outcast, beyond redemption and he reached out to include the poor and the needy as full members in God= s family.
And then, it is as if he says, A I= ve enjoyed doing the work of God, demonstrating the reality of God= s way of living as possible here and now. Now, you try it for yourselves. I= ll commission you as my disciples, my representatives to do my work in the world.@
That= s you. That= s all of us.
That= s what it really means to follow Jesus.