2 Samuel 20: 1-3, 14-22
Psalm 50: 14-23
1 Corinthians 6: 1-6
Mark 6: 1-6
In this Sunday's Gospel, we see Jesus rejected by his hometown. We may be familiar with the disbelief of the hometown crowd: they know his family, they've seen Jesus as a child. There's that sneering tone: "Who does this guy think that he is?"
And note the power that their negativity holds: "And he could do no deed of power there, except on a few sick people laying hands and curing them" (verse 5). It's a curious turn, since the people acknowledged his wisdom and power just a few verses before this one. And then they doubt, which affects not only them, but Jesus himself. He moves along to the next place.
Is this lesson the one we are meant to learn? If we're not gaining traction, move along? If we encounter doubt and undercutting of our projects, move along? What happens if we don't move along? And how do we know when it's time to leave?
The Gospel reading seems less straight forward when we think about all the people who are named, all the relatives of Jesus. In his commentary on Mark, Mark for Everyone, N. T. Wright reminds us that many of these relatives will be important in the life of the early church, including his younger brother James. But in these early chapters of Mark, James is not always on the side of Jesus. But within the coming decades, James will be part of the team that spreads the Good News that Jesus tries to preach in these early chapters of Mark.
As we consider this Gospel, let us remember that God's timeline is often not a human timeline. I find it useful to think in terms of chairos time, God's timeline, a time that is separate from chronos (clock) time. A project that seems impossible today may not be impossible forever.
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