"Mary's Son"

Mark 16:1-13

A Prophet Without Honor

1Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph,[a] Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith.
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil[b] spirits.
8These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them."
12They went out and preached that people should repent. 13They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

If I had to pick a favourite gospel of the Bible it would have to be Mark. I wish I could give some profound reason for that. Perhaps I could say that I like Mark the best because it’s said to have been written first and it’s suggested that Matthew and Luke used Mark in the writing of their gospels. That sounds smart and like I’ve put a lot thought into that answer. Honestly though I think the truth is much simpler. It’s the shortest and most direct of four gospels!

It’s generally agreed that Mark was writing for a Roman audience. That meant there was no need to refer to scriptures, Jewish history or to establish that Jesus was descendant from King David. Mark could be practical and talk about what Jesus did, who He spoke to and what miracles He performed. By focussing his gospel on the acts of Jesus, Mark is describing Him in a servant role. Mark 10:45 says: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The book of Mark gives us a clue as to how Jesus served others. Within Matthew, Mark, Luke and John the word ‘gospel’ meaning ‘good news’ used is the most in Mark. Not just by a little bit; it’s used a total of twelve times through the four gospels and eight times of those times are in Mark. He is definitely keen to impress upon us that Jesus’ work was to tell people the good news.

Those are important points for people who wish to be more like Jesus. Jesus was a man of action. We should be people of action. Jesus was also a servant and again we should aim to serve by continuing His work and spreading His good news.

Looking at today’s passage we hear about Jesus travelling to his home town. Once He arrives, He gets to work, teaching in the synagogue, spreading the ‘good news’ and preforming miracles. The response of His friends, family and neighbours initially is pride but shortly they take offence and criticise Him.

Now remember this is Jesus’ home town. I would’ve thought that they’d be welcoming him with open arms and be so proud that ‘their Jesus’ was teaching and healing people. At this point Jesus had crowds following Him so his fame was spreading. If this was in Australia today and Jesus was an Aussie in America making a name for himself, the Australian press would be all over him. Think of Nicole Kidman aka ‘our Nicole’. We can’t get enough of her. She even had paparazzi camped out the front of her house the week before her wedding, all because the public feel that we ‘own’ her and are proud of her. Now go back and look at Jesus’ home town. They take a completely different attitude. They don’t want to hear what He has to say.

Mark mentions that the crowd describe Jesus as ‘Mary’s son’ and James, Joseph, Judas and Simon’s brother. They even mention that His sisters are present. The crowd doesn’t want to listen to Him because He was the child they knew when He was “this big” and He was the young man who entered the family business and became a carpenter. Jesus had the same background and experiences that they had, so what made Him so special that He could teach them something about God? In thinking this way they missed their opportunity to hear the good news that God was trying to tell them through Jesus.

So when might we have missed what God was trying to tell us through someone? That ‘someone’ could be someone close to us. Or perhaps it could be someone unexpected. Jesus was just ‘Mary’s son’ to the people of Nazareth. I don’t think that the people were looking at Jesus in that way because they had a fondness for ‘the good old days’. I’m inclined to think that they didn’t like what Jesus was saying and this was an excuse not to listen. Who in our lives have we done this to? What message have we missed by doing this? God continually tells us that He loves us and wants to be in our lives but are we listening?

It’s good to know that despite us trying to ignore Him, God will keep trying to get the message through when we need to hear it. Not only that but he’ll really push it down our throats if that’s what is required! All we have to do is be willing to listen. This happened to me one Sunday last year. I was rostered on to the sound desk at both of Pilgrim’s two services so I went to both services. The sermon was on forgiveness which was something I needed to hear at that point. Because I was ‘on duty’ for both services I heard exactly the same sermon twice. Very rarely do I attend both services and sometime there are two different preachers and two different sermons so the sermon is different for each service. This Sunday however, the same sermon was preached well and was preach twice. When I needed to hear God made sure I heard!

I think one of our biggest motivators not to listen is fear. If we don’t hear something we don’t have to face it. Sometimes I think we try to trick ourselves into believing that without acknowledging things, they will go away. People who have illnesses such as cancer are understandably often reluctant to discuss what they’re going through, and their families can be the same. It makes it real to discuss it. I think the people of Nazareth were too scared to acknowledge what Jesus was saying and make it ‘real’. Don’t forget Jesus was a radical who challenged the authority figures of the day. What He had to say was frightening. So they suggested that Jesus was no one special – He didn’t know any better than what they knew themselves so He was just talking rubbish.

If God appeared in this church right now and told us He wanted to send us to a remote place, where there isn’t much food or water, people speak a different language and that we wouldn’t exactly be welcomed as we try to tell people about Him, we’d be scared. If God asked you individually to stand up in front of thousands of people and tell those people about your faith how would you feel? If God was asking us to face your deepest fear to glorify Him, I doubt any of us would find that easy. It’s okay to acknowledge that we feel that way. What we need to do in each of those situations, despite our fears, is trust that God will take care of us, because He knows us better than we know ourselves and He understands our fears. That doesn’t mean it would be easy but it is possible.

The second part of today’s reading shows the disciples giving Jesus that kind of trust. Jesus sends out the twelve to preach to the people about the need for repentance. The instructions that He gives them are strict. Verse 8 says: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money” The three basic needs of humans are food, water and shelter and here Jesus has told them to take no food and no money to buy food or a place to stay. There isn’t much to do in that situation except trust in God.

It takes a lot of faith. Yet we can trust that God will provide what is needed. Jesus sent out the twelve disciples asking them to trust that they would be okay and they were. All twelve of the disciples returned from that journey. They were definitely back for the climactic events of Jesus’ ministry. If you want to do some homework check Mark chapter 14 verse 17 – it says that Jesus arrived with the twelve for the Passover meal. So we know they all made it back. I’m sure that they returned from this journey with a new understanding of the actions that Jesus and through Him, they themselves were called to do.

So what actions are we being called to do? It may not involve a life changing commitment; it may be as simple as talking to a person in the line at the supermarket. How are we to know what we’re being called to do if we don’t listen? We can pray for God’s guidance in our lives but if we ignore the very person He sends to show us that guidance aren’t we cutting off our nose to spite our face? It is easy to take offence to something that we don’t want to admit is true. The challenge is to realise what we are doing, listen to what God is saying and trust that God has us safe in His hands.

So are we listening to God’s call? Or is it too easy to ignore “Mary’s son”? Too easy to ignore the person from our neighbourhood, who we’ve known for years and years? Are we looking past the excuses? If we do face our fear and listen we might just have an experience that God has provided especially to assist us as we serve Him.