Readings:
Ezekiel 2: 1-5 Mark 6: 1-13
We pray: may the
words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your
sight, O God, our rock and our sustainer.
Amen.
God said to
Ezekiel: “O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with
you.” And when he spoke, a spirit entered into Ezekiel and set him on his feet;
and Ezekiel heard him speaking these words:
“Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of
rebels who have rebelled against me; ….whether they hear or refuse to hear,
they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”
Ezekeil was
prostrate on the ground, overwhelmed with awe at the vision of God’s splendour
and greatness that had been set before him.
It was too much for him to stand before. Yet God pulled him to his feet,
entered into him and convinced him that his mission as was to connect with the
people of Israel as God’s prophet
When Mike and I
were up in Christchurch at the end of May, Matthew Jack preached on Isaiah[1]
and the burning coal placed on his mouth so that, despite his reluctance, he
could speak the word among the people.
Matthew linked it with the conversation of the week, the preaching of
Rev Michael Curry at the wedding of Harry and Meghan – noting that the
expression on the faces of the listeners there indicated that whatever else was
happening, a connection of some sort was most certainly taking place – they
knew that fresh words had been spoken into a most traditional place, they knew
that it had disturbing implications, they knew there had been a prophet among
them. Who might hear and who might refuse to hear would be matter of ongoing
discussion but his words certainly connected.
And then we have
Jesus preaching to his whanau, in the place of his upbringing, his belonging –
and he certainly impacted the people listening with his wisdom and knowledge,
they had seen his deeds of power and were quite unexpectedly impressed by
him. But then, in a classic case of tall
poppy syndrome, unable to accept this home town boy as a prophet of God they
closed their ears, they took offense at him, wanting to bring him back to size,
to fit who they thought he should be.
Now that is something New Zealanders would have some appreciation of?
You see, for
Jesus, God had changed the terms of reference for living. What Jesus had been
was no longer the defining pivot of his life, instead there are new visions,
different priorities, a new lens for us to see life through.
And those people in
Jesus home town, well they were completely happy with their already established
terms of reference for Jesus – child, sibling, carpenter, ordinary bloke – and
so they rejected this new teaching. They did not hear, they did not believe!
Isaiah and Ezekiel
weren’t too sure about the change of their terms of reference either and,
though they heard the words of direction, they were most reluctant to comply
with them, sure that they couldn’t possibly do what was asked of them.
In fact, I am sure
if we had a chance to talk with Most Rev. Michael Curry there would have been
times in his life of faith where he wanted to cry off speaking to a potentially
non-receptive or even hostile audience. The wedding may well have been one of
them – who knows?
So it seems to me
that there are two aspects to our readings today that we could follow through
on – the need to listen to the Word in our lives and our commission as Christ
followers to speak the Word so that others might have the opportunity to hear.
Are there any
alarm bells that pop up in our lives when we hear the story of Jesus reception
by those he knew well, had a long history with yet who disbelieved or were
perplexed by his teachings? The
disciples, Jesus’ hometown, us – all of us have times when we prefer our own
perspectives to that of God’s. Mark
Edington suggests that ‘the human
capacity for investing in social norms, for believing in one’s own preferences,
is greater than the human capacity for faith. And in our dark moments, it seems to be
so. And we hear in the scripture today
what is a rather troubling consequence of that disbelief – that because of the
people not understanding his teaching, Jesus could do no real deeds of power in
his hometown. Because of the unbelief of
the people, Jesus is rendered powerless.
This point has been made several times in Mark’s gospel – last week
Jairus and the bleeding women (who we called Judith) had faith enough to see in
Jesus a power and truth that exceeded their understanding and gave them hope
yet the disciples who had been with him for a long time were amazed at what he
could do, as yet unwilling or unable to see, to be convinced of the great
things that God can and will do.
Perhaps we need to
raise our expectations of God and understand that in Christ through faith (be
that faith stumbling or strong) unexpected amazing things can happen. But we
are needed. We are required not just to
listen but to live out our new vision, different priorities, changed
understanding that Jesus brings to us.
For that is the
consequence of being a person of faith – being called on to be a prophet – and
that word has so many connotations for us most of which allow us to assure
ourselves that it belongs to someone else.
Someone great, someone with strong oratory skills or huge passion or the
command of God on them so great that they cannot turn aside. We are talking next week after all about
Jonah – classic case of the reluctant prophet.
But I want to say
that it is you and me. That we are the
prophets of this time – believing in what could be and willing to be the voice,
the example that leads others to that same hope.
Recognising that
we will speak into situations where people will refuse to listen, preferring
their own take on what is important, and all we can do is shake the dust from
our feet.
Recognising that
we have new terms of reference for our living and that the words we speak are a
new language of hope, of care, of forgiveness and compassion and mercy.
Recognising that
we don’t know where, how, on whom God’s great love will be impact through our
words and actions as we live out our faith.
Recognising that
it is for us, those who have known Christ for a long time and those for whom it
is more recent, those whose faith is a fragile seed and those who struggle to
understand yet hold stubbornly on to the thread of grace that is God – it is
for us to be part of the transformation of the world in Jesus name.
I would like to
finish with words from a prayer[2]
that we heard at Wayne te Kaawa’s induction on Wednesday night – from the Iona
community. It begins:
May it not be long, Lord…
May it not be long before the world we pray
for and the world we inhabit are one……
And continues:
May it not be long, Lord, before we feel
ourselves directly addressed by your voice as those first disciples did, who
heard you summon the strangest of people to the greatest of callings.
May it not be long, Lord and to enable that
day to come soon, raise up for us prophets who will give us new sight for
better seeing.
Raise up for us prophets who will increase our
altruism and diminish our greed.
Raise up for us prophets who will spell out
that God has no favourite race nor heaven a favoured language.
Raise up for us prophets who, in their own
person, will bridge the gaps through which too many fall.
Raise up for us prophets who will make clear
for our day the truths Jesus said in his, and who will speak with the urgency
of those who have glimpsed the coming of the Lord…
And if you will not raise up for us prophets,
then raise up in us that holy restlessness to get your work done and your
people saved, for Jesus’ sake.
Amen
Margaret Garland
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