We read a gospel filled with Jesus’s surprising power. In what ways do we continue to be surprised by that power?
Jesus and the incredible possible
Proper 9B | Mark 6:1-13
This morning’s gospel has two parts. Two parts that go together.
And these two parts fit into an ongoing story. A story that isn’t just a historical accounting of the life of Jesus. And it isn’t only a collection of teachings by Jesus. It is a story that reveals something deep about the nature of God, of power, and of God’s mission in the world.
And over the last few weeks, our lectionary has invited us into this conversation. And this theme of power, secret power being revealed, immense power that is terrifying to those who experience it, continues to trouble and astound us.
Who is Jesus?
Who is he really?
This is the question!
And the reason I think it resonates is that we are a lot like these people Jesus is talking to. People who believe. It’s just our expectations are about right here. Good, normal height. And Jesus shows up and delivers something much bigger, higher, and bolder than these expectations we started with.
Let’s think about this.
Our expectations of Jesus don’t feel modest at all.
They feel really big. We call him Savior of the World. That’s superheroic, not garden-variety heroic. So our expectations of Jesus feel really big.
We’re also not in their boat. We know the story already. And we know where it goes. Jesus is only just getting started. And the big reveal in the resurrection is pretty outstanding. So in that sense, we certainly have bigger expectations for Jesus than the disciples and followers do.
The question, then, is how do we limit what we expect from Jesus?
Some of us limit Jesus to a character in a story. Or perhaps he is what amounts to a wizard in the sky. In both of these, he is an independent actor, predictable, and limited to an order we glean from scripture. And he is out there somewhere.
I want us to confront this sensation before digging into these two stories because we’re about to see the expectations transform again. Expectations of what the Messiah is supposed to look like. Of what it means to liberate the people from oppression. And even what it means to have compassion in the midst of adversity.
What’s Going On
So the basic backstory is simple, if strangely unfamiliar (and therefore unexamined). Jesus has been traveling from city to city, town to town, healing people. Something not entirely unheard of, but he is taking a totally unconventional approach. While others make the masses come to them, Jesus takes his ministry on the road.
He also becomes so insanely popular that crowds become mobs. Each trying to get a piece of Jesus. And I think this context is essential to help us understand how the transactional belief of those hoping to be healed meets the generous belief of discipleship.
Pushing and shoving to get noticed, people carrying loved ones to be healed, believing Jesus can be the surrogate to restoration: this is certainly a form of belief. One that is extraordinarily personal and individualistic. Even if they aren’t offering money or benefits in exchange, it is still about something the healer can do for them.
But Jesus isn’t there only to heal. He is there to proclaim the good news of repentance. To repent, turn, change: transform. The project, is about healing the whole, not in part. So it is healing the sick, freeing the captive, and restoring the outcast to the community.
There is more to it than healing. And Jesus keeps revealing just how much more.
He stills the storm and exorcizes a thousand demons at once. A woman steals healing power from him by grabbing his cloak. And then he raises a young woman from the dead. These are powers beyond the people’s imaginations.
They are also powers we can be very skeptical of seeing ourselves.
Jesus goes home.
For Jesus, there is no homecoming party. No parade. They don’t celebrate him at the football game or invite him to dine with the Rotary Club. Instead, it is all sorts of question and assumptions. Just no curiosity. Or faith. And Jesus shockingly has no power there.
Remember that teaching about the mustard seed? The one in which Jesus said the kin-dom is like the tiniest of seeds that can grow into the mightiest of shrubs.
Here, there isn’t even a seed. There is nothing he can do for them. Or with them. So Jesus walks away. He leaves.
Jesus sends out the Twelve.
He gives them his power to heal. And he gives them his mission to proclaim the good news.
He sends them out with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.
And he tells them to face disappointment like he did. To recognize that they can’t save everyone on their timetable. Some people can’t be gotten in the moment. So keep walking. Walk to where you can.
They do. In fact, it says
“They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”
This feels like a culmination.
After all of this exploration of power, belief, and the missio dei (the mission of God), and all of this pushing and revealing the grander scale of the Kin-dom than anyone expected, we find a place where Jesus has no power and yet the incredible ability to share power.
And I think it would be easy for us to take the example of the woman from last week, who reached out and grabbed Jesus’s cloak. To say that Jesus wants us to believe enough to reach out for something.
Or to take the example of the man who had been possessed by demons, who, once freed, hopes to follow Jesus, but is rebuffed. Jesus didn’t just want to heal him, but to restore him to his community. For everyone’s sake.
But I’ve got something else that’s eating at me.
I am compelled by just how uncomfortable Jesus’s power makes me. And by how much his mission isn’t just about healing individuals, but at the same time, how blinded we can be. Even as people of deep faith.
I have to confront the fact that Jesus is demonstrating real power.
Not just the feel-good power. The kind that makes us happy to play along.
And not just orderly power. The kind that makes us glad we’re on his side.
Power. Over life and death. Confidence in a storm. Freeing people from evil and making them feel like themselves again. Power that isn’t just transforming the lives of individuals who need help, but a power that flows through regular people as easily as it does through Jesus.
It is easier to imagine that power out there, rather than in here.
But this is the fruit of belief. Not that you and I alone are capable of magic or divine healing. But that God is capable of using us to do incredible things.
With this body. In this community. Not just each of us, but all of us. For the sake of healing all of creation. Being here now. Together. With power that none of us can truly comprehend.