David Orendorff Mark 6:6b-13 February 22, 2009

Over the past two months we have explored the beginning of the good news of Jesus the Christ in Mark’s gospel. We have learned that at Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit entered him, tested him in the wilderness and formed him to be the messiah. From this experience Jesus taught that the time of the Lord is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is present. He challenged his hearers to repent of their old thinking and trust the good news of God’s reign here and now.

Jesus carried the message of the kingdom of God into ever widening circles, first with a few followers, then the local congregation, families and village. Last week we learned that the kingdom of God and the power of the Holy Spirit are also for those who have been cast from church, family and village; it is for the lepers of the world.

Today we jump ahead to chapter 6. We will later return to what we have missed but so that the flow of Mark’s gospel is with us I want to briefly summarize what we are missing. In chapters 2-5 the Kingdom of God continues its expansion. Jesus returns to Capernaum and heals a leper by forgiving his sins. The Pharisees are outraged and call his forgiveness blasphemy; they believe it is not of God but against God. Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, to be a student of the way and then eats with tax collectors and sinners, again offending the Pharisees. To this Jesus replies, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus continues to offend the religious establishment by his relaxed attitude toward ritual law (fasting) and Sabbath law (plucking grain and healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath). He teaches that caring for human suffering is more important than scriptural law.

The crowds grow because through Jesus they are experiencing the very presence of the Holy Spirit in the healing of their bodies and their souls. The crowds become so large that Jesus is forced to retreat by boat and the kingdom spreads beyond Galilee to the Trans-Jordan, beyond Jewish country to the Gentiles.

The ministry has become so large that Jesus cannot possibly touch all those who need touched, cannot be in all of their towns, so he picks a few of his followers to help him teach and heal. Then he teaches about God’s presence with a series of parables. He follows this with a calming of a storm, demonstrating that the kingdom of God is not just about demons and human activity, it is for all of creation. After another series of healings, Jesus goes home to Nazareth where they do not believe him, they do not trust him or the kingdom of God, and he can do no “mighty works,” only a few small healings. But Jesus does not give up, he goes from Nazareth to other villages where he teaches and heals those ready for the Holy Spirit to enter them, those trusting the present kingdom of God.

It is after this great success, home-town failure and tenacious persistence that we come to today’s scripture, the sending of the 12 into mission. For the last five chapters Jesus has been preparing his followers for this moment.

I say followers and not just the 12 because 12, like the number 40, is less about counting than it is a symbol. First and foremost, 12 is the number of the tribes of Israel. By choosing 12 apostles Jesus is choosing a new 12 tribes of Israel, he is creating a new definition of the chosen children of God. No longer are the children of God just Jewish, they are now of diverse ethnic heritage. Being chosen by God is no longer a right of birth; it is for those who receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The 12 tribes also comprise the nation of Israel, no longer is the Jewish nation to be the exclusive nation of God. In fact, Jesus is redefining what it means to be a nation. No longer is nation defined by borders drawn on a map and political/social allegiances; God’s nation transcends such human exclusions and includes all those into whom the Holy Spirit has entered at baptism. The followers of Jesus, regardless of their political affiliation or geographical location, are the new nation of God.

It is the new chosen and new nation that Jesus sends to teach and heal the world. In his sending instructions, Jesus offers a kingdom of God growth strategy. As we think about God’s leading for Bear Creek, this growth strategy might be helpful.

First, Jesus sends them out two by two. To be a follower of Jesus and a missionary for the kingdom of God is not to be a lone ranger, but to belong to other followers of Jesus. The myth of the rugged individualist has no place in our Christian mission. Praying and studying the faith at home or in the mountains by oneself, though a good thing, is no substitute for praying and studying with others. Even the hermit desert fathers and mothers of Egypt lived in proximity to each other, shared weekly communion, taught and learned from each other.

And notice that the authority over unclean spirits (demons and diseases) goes not to a lone faith healer, but to the two. The power of the Holy Spirit is not ours, but the community’s. We are teaching and healing most powerfully when we do that together, when we are a community of faith. This is one of the primary reasons I encourage you to come worship with others regularly, and to be a part of a small group where faith and life can meet community. The real power of the kingdom of God is when we gather with each other and together experience the presence of God.

After sending his followers as a community, Jesus addresses the issue of resources. And instead of handing out grants, Jesus intentionally (in verses 8 and 9) limits the resources: one staff, no bread, no bag, and no money, wearing only sandals and having not even a change of clothes.

I can hear Mark’s church arguing about what resources they need to bring the kingdom of God to their families and neighbors. They will, of course, need a pastor, for no church is a church without a pastor. And they will need a building, for no church is a church without a building. And they will need some other staff, because, well you know, and the list gets longer and longer. Mark is telling his church and us that nothing is needed but a friend to walk with and the Holy Spirit leading.

I am reminded of Marge’s, Ted’s and Danielle’s report on their mission trip to Kenya two summers ago. Marge and Ted will quickly tell you that one of their most profound experiences of God happened with a small African congregation under a thatched roof and on a dirt floor. And how without a music team or even a piano the hymns began with a few voices and then swelled. And they will tell you they felt with that small, impoverished congregation the very strong presence of God. God doesn’t need stuff to be present, just our attention.

There are all kinds of church growth strategies available, and they are probably pretty good. But, according to Mark, and I agree with Mark, none of that matters if we first don’t have a soul friend with whom to live and share the faith. None of it matters if the Holy Spirit is not known to us. None of it matters if we are not willing to live the good news of the kingdom of God and offer its healing power to others. If we have the bare minimum to live, we have enough to be Jesus’ apostles to the world.

Jesus’ next direction is equally challenging. Rather than targeting an audience, the church is to go and stay with whoever first receives them. Whoever welcomes them in—those are the ones with whom they are to live in faith. And should they get a better offer from a more prestigious household, they are to stay with those who first received them. They are not to be running off for bigger fish.

Jesus (and Mark, because he tells us this) was well aware that folks have preferences for friends. Usually people, even church people, hang out with their own kind or a step or two better. And so when church folks think about sharing the gospel, they immediately think of the people with whom they want to share it. But Jesus is teaching that it really doesn’t matter who the church wants to reach with the kingdom of God, it is who receives the kingdom of God into their home that matters. This may be family, a friend or work associate. But it may also be a stranger. The church, the early one and ours, may prefer such and such an age group, economic group, racial group, or theological group, but that really doesn’t matter, does it? It is those who receive us into their lives, who receive our poverty (remember, we really have nothing) that we are called to live with and to stay with; the ones who receive us are the ones to whom we are called to teach and heal.

And, finally, Jesus teaches this about sharing the kingdom of God—there will be rejection; there will be failure. Jesus knows that some folks are not ready, not open, to the kingdom of God being with them. Jesus knows that some will respond with fear, anger and even violence just as Nazareth did, just as Mark’s congregation is suffering persecution.

The parable of the sower in chapter 4 is told so Mark’s congregation would not lose heart when the good news fell on barren, rocky or weed-infested soil, but would keep randomly spreading the good news of the kingdom of God trusting God in some later harvester to find the new grain.

So when the inevitable rejection comes, Jesus says, “Shake the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” Roughly translated, this colloquialism means: “When you are rejected, remember it is not about you, it is about them.” Now may not be the right time and we may not be the right persons to reach them. So shake the dust from your feet and move on. God will not give up on them.

With this advice the church went out, two by two, and preached the present kingdom of God as a reality that can be trusted. Filled with the Holy Spirit as their one true resource, they went where received and risked rejection that the world might come to know the healing touch of Jesus the Christ. And by this the kingdom of God grew and lives were healed.

Next week the Gospel takes a nasty twist toward tragedy and death. But today we celebrate the kingdom of God with us and again turn our minds from a modern cynicism that says all is doomed, to trusting that God is with us, the Holy Spirit is in us, and that by this Jesus Christ teaches and heals the world through us. Now is our turn to offer the kingdom of God to the world.

Shalom and amen.