Grace Dismissed

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

John Adams

245 years ago, on July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted for independence.

John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776:

“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”

It is incredible to hear these words of hope and trust in God as our fledgling country faced off against the greatest superpower the world had known. The odds were more than stacked against this new government’s success.

Most of the world dismissed those young colonies to ever making something of themselves more than a minor nuisance for Britain. Truth be told, even many within the colonies dismissed the ability of this rebellion to win. 13 colonies in the new world… still small and weak.

Captain America

If you are a fan of Marvel Comic Super Heroes, you may know something of the backstory of Steve Rogers, aka, the incredible Captain America. The great superhero’s backstory mimics that of the country he was named after. He found his origins not in a place of great strength, but incredible weakness.

Steve Rogers was desperate to join the war in Europe against Nazi Germany… but his tiny frame and sickly body found him rejected by recruiter after recruiter. Those who knew him best, even his own brother, saw Steve as an energetic young guy who was just egging to get himself into trouble. He wasn’t ready for real war. And they told him that too. He wasn’t strong enough… he wasn’t fit enough… he simply wasn’t good enough. And they dismissed him.

Dismissed Today

Unfortunately, being dismissed, even by those closest to us, isn’t just a problem faced by fledgling countries or super heroes in the making. It can happen to any of us. If I asked for a showing of hands of who here has experienced being dismissed at some point in their lives, my guess is we would have a pretty high percentage of folks raising their hands. People are actually pretty gifted at dismissing one another. We find fault with someone or a reason to not take them as seriously and then… we don’t have to give as much weight to their opinions or even their presence.

What are some reasons that someone might be dismissed? For Steve Rogers before he turned super hero, he was dismissed because he was physically weak. What are some other reasons that someone might get dismissed today?

Woman

Ethnic background

Overweight

Blonde Hair

Too pretty

Too young

Too old

Too loud

Too quiet

Democrat

Republican

Gay

Mental Disorder

Disabled

Etc

In our Gospel reading today, we hear of Jesus himself being dismissed. And he gets dismissed because… the people he’s talking to are the people he grew up with. They know his parents. They know his siblings. They think they know Jesus.

And when Jesus begins teaching a word of wisdom that astounds them… that pushes them beyond the ways they have always lived… that pushes them beyond their understanding of who God is and was and will be… Mark records that those people who thought they knew Jesus take offense at him.

It’s a painful homecoming for Jesus. One that leaves him amazed and dumbfounded and… yes… dismissed.

A Dismissed Teen

As a straight white male with a master’s degree and a clergy collar, I don’t find myself dismissed very often any more. As a teenager, however, I was a tall and skinny nerd who almost always felt left out or even pushed out. I was a nerd even among the band nerds. While I had friends, I remember sometimes feeling ‘thankful’ that they would even deign to be my friends in the first place. I had been pushed away enough times that I had no self confidence left. And I felt that way even though I had parents and a church who loved and supported me. I can’t imagine what I would have felt like without those support systems. But I knew very well what it was to be dismissed.

I remember when I heard this story of Jesus being dismissed I heard it as Jesus being treated like the social pariah. And I remember, in that moment, giving thanks that Jesus himself had been dismissed because… that meant Jesus knew how I felt. He too had put himself out there and had been… rejected.

A Disciple’s Witness

And it strikes me that as we hear this story once again through the words of Mark’s Gospel… the story is told not from the perspective of some all-knowing narrator… but from the perspective of one of Jesus’ disciples.

Why is that important? Out of the many opportunities that this disciple had to retell stories of Jesus’ deeds of great power and to speak of how people flocked to him… this particular story was significant.

There was significance for Jesus’ earliest disciples to witness the Messiah’s dismissal from the hearts and minds of his hometown. There was significance for the twelve to see Jesus amazed by the lack of faith from his own people.

But what also catches my attention is Jesus’ response to that unbelief… to that dismissal. What does he do when his old neighbors belittle him as they listen to his teachings saying, “Oh that’s just Jesus, he was always a bit on the weird side. Don’t worry about him.” or “Who does that guy think he is telling us how to treat our neighbors? And why does he think he knows anything more about God than we do? We all went to the same synagogue all these years!”

What does Jesus do in response?

Mark records that Jesus could do no deed of power there… “Except,” Mark tells us, “Except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.”

Rather than dismissing Nazareth like they have dismissed him, Jesus still seeks out those who are hurting and offers his healing touch. He still rolls up his sleeves and works to care for and love the very people who are dismissing him.

And it isn’t until after Jesus himself has been dismissed by his home town crowd do we see Jesus sending the disciples out into the world.

Talk about timing.

You would think sending the disciples to proclaim the Good News of Christ should have happened right after a particularly amazing miracle… like when he calmed the storm that was threatening to swamp the boats at sea. Any good mission developer knows you have to build energy before sending people out… but Christ sends his disciples out after what might be perceived as a low point in his ministry.

He had just gone to his hometown, had been summarily rejected by the people who watched him grow up… and he decides this is the energizing moment to send his disciples out to proclaim all that they have seen and heard?

I suspect just like my teenage self appreciated seeing a Jesus who knew what it was to be rejected, it also helped prepare the disciples on how to handle their own moments of being dismissed. Can you imagine what would have gone through the mind of poor Thomas if he had witnessed Christ doing incredible miracles and then, after being sent out, Thomas couldn’t get his neighbor to spend 5 minutes listening about this Jesus fellow? I imagine Thomas would have been doubting himself quite a bit at that point.

Instead, Jesus sends them out equipped with having witnessed their own teacher being dismissed. And, just as importantly, Jesus sends them out with an example to follow in the midst of such dismissal.

Because even as Jesus sends them out into places where they too will experience dismissal… even as Jesus offers them the words to shake the dust from their feet against any who refuse to welcome them… the disciples also bear witness to Jesus’ works. They see Jesus continuing to work to heal people and care for those in need in spite of the resistance offered.

And the disciples seem to follow this example from Jesus. As our selected reading today ends we do not hear Mark regaling us with accounts of the great piles of dust that the disciples had created from the many households they were dismissed by… but instead we hear that the disciples proclaimed the word, they cast out demons, and they cured the sick. Period. Full Stop.

They watched Christ work through his own time of being dismissed and they took it to heart. They put his response into their own actions.

Conclusion

You and I know what it is to feel dismissed. And, it’s likely that we all have done our fair share of dismissing others at times as well if we’re honest with ourselves.

The good news today is that in this Savior who knows what it is to be dismissed… we also see his response to those who push him away. Rather than casting away those who doubt him, he seeks to bring them healing. And when they persist in their unbelief, he dies on a cross on their behalf… he dies on a cross on our behalf.

As we gather on this 4th of July and celebrate our independence, we still stand a very fractured union that is almost independent of itself. We stand as a people prone to dismissing one another.

I encourage that in moments when you find yourself experiencing being dismissed, for whatever the reason… that you remember that even Jesus experienced being placed on the fringes. I also hope that we remember how Jesus responded, that we might learn at his feet as the disciples did before us.

And, as a final note, from one castaway to another, know that being dismissed by someone does not change your worth. As Jesus recognized in our gospel lesson, the problem was not with him but with them. Dismissing someone is never the right answer, even when they’re wrong. We can seek ways to faithfully and respectfully disagree with one another while still holding one another up.

And, when I said being dismissed doesn’t change your worth… if you’re worried about just how much you are worth... Well, know that it’s enough that God chose to come down into human flesh and die for you on a cross. So I’d say, your worth is holding up pretty nicely.

Let us pray,

Lord God, too often people find themselves being dismissed by others. Dismissed for the way they talk, or how they dress, or the color of their skin, for their sexual orientation, and the list goes on. Remind those who find themselves cast to the side that you are on the fringes with them. Remind us in our moments of pain and weakness that you have experienced them as well. Hold us close to your heart, and inspire us to love even as you loved those who dismissed you. Amen.

Peace be with you. Amen.