Being Nazarene

Contempt is quite the thing these days. Political parties have contempt for each other. People have contempt for their political representatives and their government. People have contempt for corporations. People have contempt for the church as a whole, the local church, and Christians.

contempt /kən-tĕmpt′/ The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition 

The feeling or attitude of regarding someone or something as inferior, base, or worthless; scorn.

The state of being despised or dishonored.

Open disrespect or willful disobedience of the authority of a court of law or legislative body.

If I (you) am (are) the only Christian a person ever meets, how will they view Jesus?

I hope that question sits like a proverbial rock in your stomach. I am not convinced that any Christian asks this enough, including myself.

As we look around at our culture, the Christian community will often say things such as: “the world has changed”; “they’ve abandoned morals”; “they don’t believe”; “they love their sin too much”; and so on. Far too often, there is a touch of contempt, or more than a touch, for the world and those who do not believe as we believe.

In general, the US church became comfortable. It had, for a time, the social significance to display contempt on those outside of its beliefs and morals. The flipside of that was that through that quiet and loud shunning it lost the influence to speak into non-attenders’ lives.

This devolved into the current state, where the church, as a whole, has lost the influence to speak into unbelievers’ lives.

Thus, this question is more important than it has ever been.

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The general sense of contempt we all understand. Sadly, most of us probably have had contempt for others, their views, their behaviors, and so on. Likely, most of us have also been on the receiving end of contempt, too. All too often we are blind to the contempt we hold toward others, and are very aware of the contempt we receive. However, there is another contempt that we know exists, but it might be the hardest to see. With that, please stand for the reading of God’s Word.

Mark 6:1–13 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown and among their own kin and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff: no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

The Word of God for the People of God! Thanks be to God!

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According to some commentators, this story begins with the ending of Jesus’ residency in Capernaum, and the end of the story with his departure from Nazareth the beginning of a truly itinerant ministry.

The practice, it seems, of the small town synagogue was that a famous or visiting teacher would speak in the Sabbath service. In truth, we have something similar with guest speakers for things such as the annual Faith Promise service for missions, or missionaries themselves coming to speak. Jesus was the guest speaker.

I’ve been at a church where “a home grown” missionary came to preach. Sadly, as per usual, the missionary speaker meant that far too many people didn’t come to church. In many churches, not ours thankfully, people don’t show up for the missionary speakers. Unless the speaker is really famous, it’s pretty much a no go.

While the “home grown” missionary was let down somewhat by the congregation because many didn’t show up, Jesus was let down because they thought they knew him.

Facts and history can blind us to the Truth.

I want to be clear that this is not a very general rule. Truth is capitalized here, to emphasize God’s Truth, God’s ultimate reality, which is often neither our truth nor ultimate reality.

Specifically, here we are talking about the people in Jesus’ life. We’re not sure how long Jesus has been away from Nazareth. He was famous enough in Capernaum that his fame came home, or perhaps his family brought the news after their failed attempt to retrieve him from Capernaum.

The people of Nazareth were not, it seems, all that welcoming to Jesus speaking in the synagogue. They were rather contemptuous. They knew Jesus the boy, the teenager, the man, the carpenter. They knew all they needed to know about Jesus, except the Truth.

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How familiar are you with Jesus? While it is a rhetorical question, at the same time, it is a reflective question. Are you familiar with Jesus as the people who grew up with him? Are you familiar with Jesus as his human family was? Or, are you familiar with him in a different way?

You may have heard of Aesop’s fables originating from the 6th Century BCE

When first the Fox saw the Lion he was terribly frightened, and ran away and hid himself in the wood.

Next time however he came near the King of Beasts he stopped at a safe distance and watched him pass by.

The third time they came near one another the Fox went straight up to the Lion and passed the time of day with him, asking him how his family were, and when he should have the pleasure of seeing him again; then turning his tail, he parted from the Lion without much ceremony.

The implied lesson, which wasn’t stated until around 1340 is:

Familiarity breeds contempt.

If familiarity breeds contempt, and we are familiar with Jesus, are we holding Jesus in contempt?

“Of course not,” most of us would reply! [see it in people’s faces?] Yet, I wonder how many of us are really like the fox, who at the end of the fable treats the lion as peer, rather than king.

There is a massive tension in our faith. On one hand, we believe that Jesus is part of the Triune God. As a distinct person of God and yet united as the one God in three persons.

Then we have Jesus who walked on earth as one of us, who surrendered Godhood to be with Creation, so that we understand that God so loves us that He gave His only Son. Jesus had family, acquaintances, friends, opponents. He lived. He died.

When it comes to Jesus, we must remember that Jesus is God, and Jesus is man.

And, yes, holding those two facts together is hard. I wonder if we are truly capable of holding those things in balance. I think we are more like a pendulum.

We should hold Jesus as God and man in perfect balance.

It would be nice if we could.

Depending on where we are in life, troubles, the Scriptures, we can overly focus on

Jesus as God

We can then also in other times of life, troubles, the Scriptures, we can overly focus on

Jesus as Man

We really are just a pendulum

swinging between Jesus as God and Jesus as man.

We try to hold it in tension, which is why

When it comes to Jesus we must remember that Jesus is God, and Jesus is man.

As we read about Jesus neighbors, some who grew up with him. Some who were adults who watched him grow up. Then there would be those who came after Jesus who would have heard about him. Perhaps, there were some who didn’t know his story but knew him only as the carpenter. They thought of Jesus as man.

There is also the aspect that Nazareth wasn’t a booming place. We often forget that most people’s education was nothing like ours. Reading, writing, mathematics, philosophy, religion, sciences were not for them. What was learned was what was needed to survive. Their religious leaders would have had more training, and any government leaders, but not most people. A carpenter would fit under the umbrella of most people. An everyday man, so to speak.

So, when Jesus comes to speak in the synagogue as the guest, it’s a big thing. There does appear to be recognition that Jesus is different from what they remember. They comment on his wisdom, they comment on the miracles attributed to him.

The people of Nazareth experienced Jesus’ wisdom. They knew of his miracles. They still stumbled.

One of the modern sayings about Jesus is that he was a wise man. And he was. Even his growing up community acknowledged that. However, as wise as Jesus was, if you leave it at that, you miss the other parts of Jesus.

Many folks around us today would affirm Jesus’ wisdom, but they will not recognize his miracles or his being God. They, however, are not Jesus’ community of Nazareth. The community of Nazareth were too familiar with Jesus, such that they held him, his words, his mission, in contempt.

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Contempt isn’t always blatant. It’s the contempt that isn’t blatant that can be the largest issue when it comes to familiarity breeding contempt. It can be simply becoming so used to something that it no longer impacts you.

Recently, an acquaintance shared this:

Sometimes I forget how rich I am. My hot waterworks on a dime, my a/c works when need it to, I can go to any grocery store and purchase what I please to eat, I have a clean kitchen to cook in, I have a clean shower to bathe in. Sometimes I forget I'm beyond blessed.

I know I have personal caveats to this, and you might, too. Yet, we often take so many blessings for granted, that we can hold them as too familiar, and thus, in contempt.

This is one of the greatest dangers of cultural Christianity. The US became so comfortable with Christianity that Jesus was held at arms length.

Whether it is Christians who avoid the communal aspects of Acts 4, those that think that Christianity has moved beyond Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, those that hold that sin isn’t sin (and that covers more than one or two issues), I could go down a list.

As we approach our political season, you will have the choice of 2 candidates that will win, though I wish more candidates was actually possible. Both belong to political parties. If you were to read the platforms of each of the two parties, there will be things that align with Jesus, but not align with US Christianity. Then there will be things that align with US Christianity, but not Jesus.

My social media streams are apparently diverse enough that I see plenty of people, actually, too many, declaring that you must vote a particular party to be a Christian. That is holding Jesus in contempt.

When politics are confused with Jesus, Jesus is being held in contempt.

I’m not saying don’t vote. Please do vote. I’m not saying your choice is unChristian. I am saying you shouldn’t say that of another’s. It is perfectly fine to disagree. We should actually be more concerned when there is perfect agreement. For if we are in perfect agreement, we’re either perfectly aligned with God, because only through God can that happen, or we’re lying to ourselves.

I really hadn’t intended to bring politics into this. Politics, though, seem to be the mirror of our faith lived out. I don’t know where all of you stand on issues. Nor do you likely know where all of my stances are either.

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However, when people are pretending to use Jesus as their litmus test for a political candidate or party, there should not be one follower of Jesus, one Christian that isn’t concerned. Jesus stands for no political party. No political party, by its very nature, can stand for Jesus.

Using Jesus in our image is showing contempt toward the one in whose image we were made.

When we make Jesus into ourselves, we become confused about the God we worship. Is it the one we made to look like ourselves, or is it the one revealed through the Scriptures?

When the Jesus we worship looks, acts, behaves, responds like we do, then we need make sure we didn’t make an idol.

I wonder if much of the US church has lost its Kingdom, not earthly, power because the wrong Jesus was followed. And even worse, as it became apparent that the false Jesus wasn’t working, a new false Jesus was made instead.

In Nazareth, Jesus did almost no work of power, except for a few sick people. One of the themes in Mark is faith. Jesus’ healing almost always revolves around faith. In Nazareth, there was almost no faith. Therefore, there was no healing.

How much, it seems, in Mark, that our cooperation is part of Jesus’ healing and miraculous works? If we are seeing no healings and miracles today, is it because we are not cooperating with the real Jesus?

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The lack of faith, healings, miracles, and power of Nazareth, is that us? [God help us, indeed, if that is so]

There is a contrast in our Gospel reading for the day, and that is the disciples.

In Nazareth, there was minimal cooperation with God in the flesh, Jesus. The disciples, on the other hand, were able to, on their own, go and heal and cast out demons.

Jesus, God in the flesh, was stymied by the unbelief of the people of Nazareth. We believe that God is a gentleman, so to speak, and will not force people to work with him. And the people of Nazareth didn’t.

He delegated power to the disciples, who went and did much of the same work that Jesus had been doing! No longer were miracles and power constrained to Jesus. There were more people.

I don’t think that it is coincidental that the unbelief of the people of Nazareth is followed by the power displayed by the disciples.

Our little church body is Enumclaw Nazarene Church, though our legal and original name is Enumclaw Church of the Nazarene. We are a part of a global-spanning church body called the Church of the Nazarene. Jesus is the Nazarene that we say we follow. Today, though, I have a question for you

Are you a Nazarene of complacent contempt, or are you a Nazarene of faithfulness?