Mark 6:1-6 * Just a Carpenter
Jesus finished his teaching tour and returned to his hometown. His disciples came along. On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?”
But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “He’s just a carpenter—Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further.
Jesus told them, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child.” Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all. He couldn’t get over their stubbornness. He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching.
With the seeming urgency of national events lately, as well as Independence Day, we’ve gotten away from the lectionary for awhile and I think it’s time to get back there again. Today’s reading is actually from a couple of weeks ago, but I want to go back and pick it up because I think it is one that needs to be discussed. In fact, there’s enough here in this one reading for two Sundays, so we will do the first half today and the second half next week.
This a familiar story for most of us -- “who is this guy? Isn’t he just the carpenter’s son?” but when I read it in this translation (The Message) I was especially struck by two sentences:
They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling.
And they never got any further.
... and ...
He couldn’t get over their stubbornness.
Let’s take the first one first: “They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling, and they never got any further.” Oh, boy. I can immediately think of so many instances where I’ve seen people do this – pick up a snap first impression and never move past it. They just hold that thought forever. I could tell you ... really, I could tell you so many times I’ve seen others do this ...
And then “someOne” pokes me in the back of my brain and reminds me that when I can see something so very clearly in others ... it’s probably because I’m trying very hard not to see it in myself.....
We can usually see other people’s warts so very easily - so much more readily than our own. The fact is that most of us do occasionally have changes of heart and mind where we find ourselves – based on new information – seeing a person through new eyes – and forming new opinions about them. I don’t remember this, but my husband maintains he asked me out once in high-school and I turned him down. Obviously, we are capable of changing our thinking about a person. But how often do we bother?
how often do we stick with that first impression without taking enough interest to look a second time? Maybe it’s because we are lazy, maybe because we don’t really care enough to bother – and sometimes it’s because we were taught to see people in a certain way – we were given that first impression by a third party – a parent or friend or Sunday School teacher we loved and trusted.
I have maintained for years that way too many church-goers operate from what they were told in some basement Sunday School class when they were eight years old - and have never moved any further in their thinking. And no, I am not disparaging Sunday school teachers - I was one for years followed by many more years of being a Director of Religious Education. I think most of those volunteer teachers are the greatest treasure in a church, but they only know what they themselves were told, long ago. It’s a rare church that encourages their SS teachers to think outside the purchased curriculum. Those volunteers are the main reason I am in pastoral ministry today. I could see such a wealth of wisdom and goodness in them, while they were stuck, tripping over their learned impression of themselves as unworthy and having nothing of value to offer. I was determined to one day be in a position to attempt to teach them differently.
So the people in our reading today heard Jesus talk, and they were inclined, at first, to be impressed with what they heard, commenting on his teaching, but then their past image of him as just one of the kids around the place reasserted itself, and suddenly he’s no one important any more – “That’s just Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” Rather than actually engaging with the person he was at that moment, they just looked around for the handiest box that could drop him into - which happened to be their memories of him as just one of the neighborhood kids -- and then proceeded to forget about him.
Regardless of the fact that they had just been impressed with his wisdom a moment ago, they fell back into their comfortable first impressions and ended up discounting him entirely. They tripped over what little they knew about him, and couldn’t ever hear him any more. Just think what they missed.
Can you even imagine meeting Jesus in the grocery store and discounting him because he talked funny, or because he reminded you of someone who you used to dislike, or he smelled a little -- imagine just walking on by – and then finding out months later that had been, really and truly, Jesus – and you had missed him because you couldn’t be bothered to look a little deeper, past that easy, first impression. How would you feel?
This section of the reading ends by saying that Jesus wasn’t able to do much healing or teaching after that in his hometown – he just couldn’t get over their stubbornness. So he left and went elsewhere to teach and heal and change lives. Because they tripped over what they thought they knew of him, and couldn’t get any further – and they held, stubbornly, to that first impression, refusing to consider any other way of seeing him – and he couldn’t get past their stubbornness.
I suspect that sometimes that ‘stubbornness’ is just laziness – we simply can’t be bothered to pay enough attention to a person to see who they really might be – and besides, it’s hard work to try to understand someone outside the boundaries of our own comfort zone. Sometimes, though, it is actual stubbornness - we have instantly categorized and classified that person - and we know all about people in that category, so we simply don’t bother - we already know all we need to know. We shut them out, which is a tragedy. And the larger tragedy may be that in shutting them out, we shut ourselves in – and that is a loss for everyone.
This a familiar story for most of us -- “who is this guy? Isn’t he just the carpenter’s son?” but when I read it in this translation (The Message) I was especially struck by two sentences:
They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling.
And they never got any further.
... and ...
He couldn’t get over their stubbornness.
Let’s take the first one first: “They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling, and they never got any further.” Oh, boy. I can immediately think of so many instances where I’ve seen people do this – pick up a snap first impression and never move past it. They just hold that thought forever. I could tell you ... really, I could tell you so many times I’ve seen others do this ...
And then “someOne” pokes me in the back of my brain and reminds me that when I can see something so very clearly in others ... it’s probably because I’m trying very hard not to see it in myself.....
We can usually see other people’s warts so very easily - so much more readily than our own. The fact is that most of us do occasionally have changes of heart and mind where we find ourselves – based on new information – seeing a person through new eyes – and forming new opinions about them. I don’t remember this, but my husband maintains he asked me out once in high-school and I turned him down. Obviously, we are capable of changing our thinking about a person. But how often do we bother?
how often do we stick with that first impression without taking enough interest to look a second time? Maybe it’s because we are lazy, maybe because we don’t really care enough to bother – and sometimes it’s because we were taught to see people in a certain way – we were given that first impression by a third party – a parent or friend or Sunday School teacher we loved and trusted.
I have maintained for years that way too many church-goers operate from what they were told in some basement Sunday School class when they were eight years old - and have never moved any further in their thinking. And no, I am not disparaging Sunday school teachers - I was one for years followed by many more years of being a Director of Religious Education. I think most of those volunteer teachers are the greatest treasure in a church, but they only know what they themselves were told, long ago. It’s a rare church that encourages their SS teachers to think outside the purchased curriculum. Those volunteers are the main reason I am in pastoral ministry today. I could see such a wealth of wisdom and goodness in them, while they were stuck, tripping over their learned impression of themselves as unworthy and having nothing of value to offer. I was determined to one day be in a position to attempt to teach them differently.
So the people in our reading today heard Jesus talk, and they were inclined, at first, to be impressed with what they heard, commenting on his teaching, but then their past image of him as just one of the kids around the place reasserted itself, and suddenly he’s no one important any more – “That’s just Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” Rather than actually engaging with the person he was at that moment, they just looked around for the handiest box that could drop him into - which happened to be their memories of him as just one of the neighborhood kids -- and then proceeded to forget about him.
Regardless of the fact that they had just been impressed with his wisdom a moment ago, they fell back into their comfortable first impressions and ended up discounting him entirely. They tripped over what little they knew about him, and couldn’t ever hear him any more. Just think what they missed.
Can you even imagine meeting Jesus in the grocery store and discounting him because he talked funny, or because he reminded you of someone who you used to dislike, or he smelled a little -- imagine just walking on by – and then finding out months later that had been, really and truly, Jesus – and you had missed him because you couldn’t be bothered to look a little deeper, past that easy, first impression. How would you feel?
This section of the reading ends by saying that Jesus wasn’t able to do much healing or teaching after that in his hometown – he just couldn’t get over their stubbornness. So he left and went elsewhere to teach and heal and change lives. Because they tripped over what they thought they knew of him, and couldn’t get any further – and they held, stubbornly, to that first impression, refusing to consider any other way of seeing him – and he couldn’t get past their stubbornness.
I suspect that sometimes that ‘stubbornness’ is just laziness – we simply can’t be bothered to pay enough attention to a person to see who they really might be – and besides, it’s hard work to try to understand someone outside the boundaries of our own comfort zone. Sometimes, though, it is actual stubbornness - we have instantly categorized and classified that person - and we know all about people in that category, so we simply don’t bother - we already know all we need to know. We shut them out, which is a tragedy. And the larger tragedy may be that in shutting them out, we shut ourselves in – and that is a loss for everyone.
Patient, loving God - remind us to take the time to look deeper, to see more clearly, to open our eyes and hearts to possibility. Teach us to put down our stubbornness and really look at each other and see the You that is inside every one of us. Help us to set aside all that we are so sure we “know” – all that is just space-filler -- all that clouds our sight and prevents us from seeing clearly. Give us the vision to see You in every part of this beloved creation – and teach us to respond to what we see with love and compassion. Amen.
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