He Speaks to the Offended and Rebellious
Proper 9 B
St. Mark 6:1-13
5 July 2015 – Redeemer
How many times do you warn a wayward child? How many times do you ask a spouse to stop it (whatever sin it is)? How many times do you try to give counsel to your aging parent’s deaf ears? And then what do you do? You quit speaking. It’s no use. He’ll never change. She’ll never listen. If God was like you or me we would be in trouble, but today we hear the good news that the Lord speaks – whether people hear or not. He speaks that we might hear and repent of our sins and partake of the heavenly treasure of forgiveness in Jesus.
What gets in the way of you hearing the Gospel? In Israel it was rebellion. Israel was a nation of rebels who rebelled. The Old Testament is a love story, not love American (perversion) style, but love that calls rebels to repent and have life. God loved His bride Israel. He brought her out of slavery. By His mighty hand and outstretched arms He carried her over the threshold of the Jordan and brought her into His land – a land she didn’t buy, into a home she didn’t build, to eat of orchards she didn’t plant. He, as the perfect groom, loved her with all her flaws and faults and sins and sickness. And what did she do? She ran around with every false god under the sun.
Why is that? Let’s call it the scandal of Holy Marriage. If there is anything in the United States right now that is scandalous and offensive it is the belief in that limiting and backwards notion of one man and one woman for one lifetime being the definition of marriage. Well, in the same way, if there is anything that was offensive to Israel it was the idea that their life and salvation was based on monogamy – the bond of one nation to One and only God – the particular and peculiar God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord God tells us He is a jealous god – He tolerates no fooling around. Life for Israel was with Him, and with Him alone, but let’s face it – the God of Israel wasn’t the most exciting god on the block. He calls sin sin. He demands sin be paid for with death so that His people wouldn’t think it was a mere character flaw. And He makes His bride dependent on Him alone – He provides the payment for sin – blood that He provides through sacrifice, blood in His house, with His priests, in His city. Love and life and salvation and hope and happily ever after were found in and only in one place – the Lord God.
Why didn’t Israel want to hear? The Scandal of Particularity – the offense that God was particular – that there is One Lord, one faith, one baptism in the Jordan, one temple, one way for God’s love to be received and He set the way. Israel was the least among the nations. She had nothing, but the Lord chose her and gave her everything. He brought her from childless Abraham and Sarah to the millions of children that constituted the 12 tribes. To her and through her God gave life and salvation and forgiveness. And even when she refused to listen, even when she adulterated her relationship with God, the Lord tried to woo her and win her with prophet, after prophet, after prophet – Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and a dozen more, “Come back, O Israel. Repent O Israel. My beloved Israel, be loved again and live. This is what God spoke to Israel. This is what God speaks to you in Christ.
Rebellion against the particularity of God is still the challenge that faces us today. It is found in the statements and questions like – aren’t all religions the same? Don’t we all believe in the same god? Won’t we all end up in the same place? Do you see what’s behind those questions – everyone wants his own definition of God, sin, and salvation. We all want to fool around and yet call it religion. We don’t want the offense of a God who speaks a particular Word with a peculiar Savior who offends our rebellion by calling us to repent of sin.
It is interesting when people say Jesus is all about love. He is, but love as He defines it and His love is offensive. He came to His hometown and He began to teach as no one had ever taught. He knew God’s word as if He breathed it Himself. Oh wait. He did. The news of His mighty deeds and powerful Word had traveled around the area. And so as you can imagine the little hometown paper The Nazareth Gazette finally had a front page story. Local boy raises the Dead. Area Carpenter Fixes People Now. Twitter accounts were abuzz with the hashtag #JesuswinsSatanloses.
Actually, exactly the opposite happened. Jesus was rejected in His hometown. There was no celebration of His accomplishments. Jesus healed a woman whom Centracare and Mayo clinic combined actually made worse. Jesus raised a twelve year old girl from the dead and put her back in the arms of her mother and father. Would you celebrate such miracles and honor the great Physician of body and soul that bestowed such healing?
No, for the same reason the Nazarenes didn’t. We’re scandalized by the monogamy of God – that there is but One way of life and salvation (and it isn’t our way). The Nazarenes whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary.” You may not have picked up on the venom in those words – but in Biblical times you always referred to a man according to his father – Simon son of John. James and John the sons of Zebedee. It should have been “Jesus, son of Joseph” or better yet, “Jesus, Son of God?” When they ask, “Where did this man get these things?” they were in essence saying, “Well, he didn’t get them from his father, because he doesn’t know who his father is.” They took offense at him.
So what gets in your way of hearing the Gospel? What offends you? If we took a survey the list would be as numerous as our attendance this morning. Do you know what’s behind all our offense – it’s not marriage or communion practice or liturgical worship. It’s Jesus. In our sin we want, like Israel of old, to live our lives according to our plan. We enjoy the rebellion of sin – sin is so much fun and God is so boring. While we celebrate our nation’s birth this weekend, we really ought to fast and weep instead of eat and celebrate. Almost half of all children born in the United States do not live with their biological father and mother. Almost half of all marriages performed this year will end in divorce. 70 to 90 percent of our children will have sex with multiple partners before they get married (if they get married). By the way – that isn’t those Americans out there. That’s us in here.
What should God do with us? What did He do with Israel? What did Jesus do with Nazareth? Amazingly, miraculously, and scandalously He calls us by the Gospel to His forgiveness and love. Jesus leaves Nazareth, but He does not abandon her. He is on His way to the cross, where He will bear the sins of His beloved – of adulterous Israel, scandalized Nazareth, and rebellious you. All this power He showed in Word and Deed was shown so that when He breathed His last on the cross people would believe God died. Now there’s a scandal. Find me another god in all the world who would be so foolish as to die for wicked people who hated Him. Find me a God who would call and urge and woo His bride back from her adultery and then would take her punishment as His own? There’s only One and He is found right here – His name is Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary and the son of God.
There is no other god like Him for He alone is God. He raises the dead. Heals the sick. And speaks the Word of God as if it is His own – because it is. And so in His way – God’s way – He loves you. His love calls you to repentance – as He did His Israel, His Nazareth, and you today. He calls you to turn from sin – and He tells you what sin is. He created the world and ordered its ways so He alone knows what is disordered and destructive. He shows us mercy in His way – a bloody sacrifice on a cross outside Jerusalem, a splash of water in baptism, a preacher forgiving our sins, a piece of bread and a taste of wine. Scandalous in weakness and particularity, but powerful in Christ. He wants you to hear His Word. He is calling you to His side – to live under Him and receive life from Him – the scandalous life that is repentance for your sins and forgiveness from His lips, the scandalous life that is His love for you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
4 July 2015 anno Domini