Sermon - Constrained by What We "Know"

Mark 6:1-13

Constrained by What We "Know"

James Sledge                                                                                       July 8, 2012

Some years ago, the PBS show Frontline did a four hour long documentary entitled, “From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians.”  I enjoyed it, and it was well done, although its scholarship was largely from the “Jesus Seminar” school of thought.  But my recalling it today has nothing to do with its merits.  It’s that title, “From Jesus to Christ.”  The title implies that the person Jesus and the religious figure labeled Christ are not always one in the same. 

You don’t necessarily need to be a biblical scholar to wonder about Jesus’ identity.  Simply read the four gospels.  (By the way, they’re not very long and were originally meant to be read at one sitting.  Try it sometime.)  If you read Matthew and then read Luke; or if you read Mark and then read John, you will see that the Jesus in one gospel has much in common with the Jesus in another.  But you will also see that there are significant differences.  And this is no modern discovery. Christians down through the centuries have addressed the topic, “The harmony of the Gospels,” grappling with the different pictures of Jesus that emerge there.

However, that the idea of recovering a correct, historical picture of Jesus is a modern idea and, I think, a misguided one.  The gospel writers did not share our modern, scientific notions of truth being a matter of getting all the facts right.  They were not writing history as we understand it.  Those gospels were not used to tell unbelievers about Jesus. They were not evangelical tools.  They were written for communities of faith who already knew the story of Jesus.  They did not so much attempt to tell people what happened, but rather to make sense of what happened.  As the author of Luke says in his introduction, the gospel is written “so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.”

But regardless of the New Testament writer’s original intent, the varied and different images and concepts of Jesus that people construct from the Bible are a problem.  Consider the amazingly different faith based stances that Christians take.  Some followers of Jesus are complete pacifists, taking very seriously Jesus’ command to love even your enemy and to offer your left cheek when struck on the right.  But some churches have held special worship services where members are encouraged to bring their concealed weapons, where self-defense is lauded as a God given right, and gun regulation proclaimed the work of the devil. 

It seems there are a number of very different versions of Jesus floating around. 

There’s a meek and mild Jesus who is kinder that than the sweetest, gentlest grandmother and wouldn’t hurt a fly.  There is the wise sage Jesus who taught timeless truths but may or may not have actually performed any miracles.  There is a personal, therapeutic Jesus whose only job is to make you feel better.  And there is a warrior Jesus who will return with a sword and a list, and you’d better pray you’re on that list.

Spend a little time doing Google searches and you can find these and more.  You can also find a dizzying array of artwork depicting Jesus.  There are the standard Renaissance paintings.  There are more stylized icons.  And there are less familiar pictures of Jesus as African American or – stunner! – Middle Eastern.  And then there are the ones with Jesus in suit and tie with a brief case, Jesus with a gun and American flag, or, my personal favorite, Buddy Jesus, who is usually shown winking while pointing with one hand and giving the thumbs up with the other.

Now if we set aside some of the more absurd pictures, the obvious jokes and parodies, we’re still left with the question, Where did all the different Jesuses come from?  After all, the various groups of Christians are all using fairly similar Bibles with the same basic information.

I suspect that it would take a lot longer than we have this morning to chart the evolution of even a few of the different versions of Jesus out there.  But it’s probably safe to say that Jesus has constantly been being modified over the centuries in order to domesticate him, make him safe, have him fit comfortably within a particular culture, and so on.

But why do some very different pictures of Jesus persist alongside one another?  And here I think the answer is somewhat simpler.  Very often, people carry around an image of Jesus that they came to know in the churches where they grew up. And if they came to church later in life, they often adopt the Jesus popular in that church.  And so, whether we were raised with a certain Jesus or we adopted one as an adult, we know a particular Jesus.  And other people’s Jesus may seem weird, strange, foreign, or ever dangerous to us.

On a certain level, the people of Nazareth knew Jesus a lot better than any of us do.  They had seen him grow up. They knew his family.  Perhaps he had done a little carpentry work on some of their houses.  They had attended the local synagogue with him.  Some of them played with Jesus as a child and took religious classes with him at that synagogue.  So when word got out that Jesus was making a name for himself, that he was being called a rabbi, that he was even performing healings and exorcisms, they took notice.  And when they heard that he would be visiting Nazareth, the excitement was palpable.  This was probably bigger than the time William Shatner was the grand marshal at the Peach Festival parade in my wife’s little hometown of Gaffney, SC.

Jesus shows up, and sure enough he has followers, disciples, just like a real rabbi.  And he goes back to that synagogue he attended as a child, and he begins teaching, just like a real rabbi.  And he was pretty impressive, not at all the Jesus they remembered, the Jesus they knew. And they took offense, or more literally, they were “made to stumble.”  They tripped over the Jesus they already knew and could not see the Jesus standing right in front of them.

The sort of thing Jesus encounters in Nazareth is not all that unusual. Most of us know some fabulously smart, accomplished, successful individual whose parents still see her as small child who can’t tie her shoe laces correctly.  But there is something truly startling about Jesus’ experience of this.  And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.  Astounding!  Not only do the locals stumble over the Jesus they already know, but Jesus himself is constrained by what they “know.”

This situation is all the more striking alongside the second part of today’s gospel.  Despite his inability to do deeds of power at Nazareth, Jesus sends out the disciples with authority to cast out demons and to heal.  And we are told that they healed many.  The Jesus rendered impotent at Nazareth is suddenly at full power again in the mission of the disciples, something clearly meant to foreshadow the mission of the Church.

So what Jesus do we know?  I suspect that some of us know very different Jesuses.  Some of you have had a powerful encounter with Jesus that changed and transformed you, that took you from a place of despair, or hopelessness, or pain.  Some of you know a Jesus who called you and gave your life a whole new purpose and meaning. But others of us are more like the folks at Nazareth.  We grew up with Jesus, or at least with stories about him.  We have an easy familiarity with him, but we’ve not necessarily encountered a Jesus with power and authority.

For some of us, the idea that Jesus could dramatically alter our lives, that he has power to heal us or make us whole, that he could transform us into completely new people and send us out in his name, might feel just a little uncomfortable.  That’s not the Jesus we know.  He’s meek and mild and understands his place.  He wouldn’t intrude in our well-ordered lives like that. 

  I’ve not been pastor long enough here at Falls Church to get a clear bead on this, but I have a strong sense that God has plans for us.  I’m getting some inklings and nudges that Jesus is calling us to listen so he can give us instructions and empower us with authority to continue his mission and ministry in the world.  Perhaps some of you are sensing this, too.

I just hope the Jesus we “know” doesn’t get in the way and cause us to stumble.