¹He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. ²On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! ³Is 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?” And they took offense at him. ⁴Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” ⁵And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. ⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. ⁷He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁸He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; ⁹but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. ¹⁰He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. ¹¹If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” ¹²So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Mark 6:1-13

Dear God, the other side of the “prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown” thing is that perhaps sometimes we ascribe too much awe to the people who come to us out of nowhere.

I was reading a memoir recently by someone who used to work at the highest levels of government. He said that once during one of his first high-level security meetings in the Oval Office with President Bush, the Vice President, the National Security Advisor, etc. shortly after 9/11, he looked around the room and considered that all of these important decisions were being made by humans who were much like anyone else. This wasn’t a knock against those in the office. He admired them. But still the fact remained that these were humans who were very capable of making mistakes, missing a detail, or drawing the wrong conclusion, just like the rest of us. In that moment, he felt a new sense that problems on this scale are often handled by common people who, through accomplishment and experience, worked their way into uncommon positions.

I say all of this because I think there is a tendency on my part sometimes to ascribe too much authority and power to those I don’t know. For example, if I write a book on a certain subject then all of a sudden I can somehow pass myself off as an expert on that subject. Even something as trivial as the football coach for a team I like can generate awe from me instead of just evaluating him as a human. A great example for me is Rich Mullins (Mother Teresa is another one). He was a Christian singer/songwriter who died over 20 years ago. I had a chance to meet him once and slobbered all over him. I literally felt sorry for him as we visited because he was having to deal with me and my fanboy-ness. But he was just a flawed guy who followed you. But he had his doubts, his vices, his selfishness, etc. Brennan Manning was another one. He had some great books about your love and grace, but when I met him at a retreat, he turned out to be really moody and could be mean. But to his credit, when he caught himself being mean, he apologized to the person publicly. And the story of Mother Teresa’s spiritual struggles and doubts are well-documented since her death. We are all just your people.

Father, as I prepare this sermon for Sunday about David and his life, one of the things I’m seeing is that he was just a common boy out in the field. He got up one morning and went to work. By the end of the day, Samuel had anointed him as king over Israel. What set him apart was his love for you and desire to serve you. But he certainly was not above vanity, lying to priests, vowing vengeance upon his enemies, murder, adultery, etc. Like other believers, he is worthy of our love, but he is also worthy of our skepticism and he is worthy of our prayers for him to work out his faith with fear and trembling like the rest of us do.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen