General Board of Church and Society

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Editor’s note: The following sermon was delivered by Tori Butler at the July 8 worship service in the Simpson Memorial Chapel in the United Methodist Building in Washington, D.C. Butler, a student at the Duke Divinity School, is serving as a Peace with Justice Intern at the General Board of Church & Society this summer. She has been coordinating the weekly chapel worship services. Several other summer interns participated in the July 8 service as well.

The gospel lesson for the service was Mark 6:1-13.

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In today’s gospel lesson we encounter Jesus reentering his hometown of Nazareth, after a long stint away. He is returning as a known healer, exorcist, prophet, and even one who has the power to raise the dead back to life.

As a minister, he has produced much fruit and now he returns to the desolate land of Nazareth. A place that is unidentifiable on the map. The Ghetto of Galilee. It is the place of the despised. Even one of Jesus’ chosen disciples, Nathanael asked, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” After a personal encounter with Jesus, however, Nathanael knew he had met the Son of God.

But those in Jesus’ home church, the people who equipped Jesus for the ministry, could not see what Nathanael, what the other disciples and even the crowds who followed him could see: that Jesus was the Messiah, the anointed one.

Yes, the people of Nazareth were amazed at Jesus’ knowledge and wisdom. Yet, they could not get past that Jesus was Mary’s son, that he was a carpenter, that he was common just like them.

They could not see that God can do something extraordinary with the ordinary.

Think about it: God chose Jacob the trickster, the one who stole his brother’s blessing to become Israel; God chose Moses who had a stutter to go before Pharoah to demand freedom for his people; God chose David, a little shepherd boy, to slay Goliath, a giant who tormented Israel.

Brothers and sisters, I stopped by to tell you that God even chose you, the intern, the lay leader, the pastor serving in extension ministry to carry on Jesus’ ministry of healing the sick, exorcizing demons, and speaking truth to power, on Capitol Hill and in your everyday lives. Jesus promised us that we would be able to do greater things than even he did.

But, as we go out into the world spreading the gospel, fulfilling our callings, it is important to remember that not everyone will receive our message. Jesus himself said, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” Meaning it does not matter if we calmed the sea, or healed a woman who suffered for 12 long years, or advocated for legislation to end the war, or taught the Social Principles in a far-off land, there are just some people in our lives who cannot understand the call. They cannot imagine that God could possibly use us to preach, teach, evangelize, organize over a 1,000 people to support health-care reform, or even have the boldness to be the voice on Capitol Hill of those who cannot speak out for themselves.

We, like Jesus, become perplexed at the unbelief of those who have set the foundation for our faith. Our text for today encourages us, however, to press forward even when people do not have ears to hear or hearts to receive the message of repentance and the call to discipleship we are required to offer.

When Jesus gives the disciples the commission to go out to village to village, he tells them to expect rejection. He cautions that some will openly receive them, offering bread and a place to rest; but there will be some who will not heed their message and for those they must dust their feet off and keep on moving.

Brothers and sisters, as disciples we should expect rejection and opposition. That is a sure indication that we are walking in the will of God.

But, I do want to caution you to be careful when you decide to dust your feet. Sometimes we want to dust our feet and walk away when God has not told us to move. We want to dust our feet off at reconciliation ministry. We want to dust our feet off at ministry to the homeless. We want to dust our feet off at legislation that is not moving in the direction we want it to go.

Brothers and sisters, we must realize that sometimes God calls us to stay in the muck. The muck is not pretty. It is messy and discouraging. But God never told us the call would be easy.

The Lord beckons us to trust that God will never leave us nor forsake us, but be there in the midst. Brothers and sisters, as you return to your respective duties remember that no matter the opposition God has anointed and appointed you for such a time as this.