HEARING LOSS - by Revd Gilbert Wong

Texts: Ezekiel 2:1-5; Mark 6:1-13

The Fourth Sunday After Trinity

9 July 2006

Prayer

Gracious Father, by the obedience of Jesus you brought salvation to our wayward world: draw us into harmony with your will, that we may find all things restored in him, our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen

Introduction

My third son – Wong Zhi – has now regained close to 85 percentage of hearing ability.  But for long time before that, it was really hard to speak with him.  He would not able to hear much less to understand what we are instructing him to do.  He certainly has had hearing loss for some time.

In the same way, we find that Jesus’ own people also had hearing loss but of a spiritual kind.  Jesus’ arrival to his hometown was preceded by two great miracles.  One would have expected to be warmly welcomed by Jesus’ own people.  Why not?  After all, Jesus has made his hometown famous by those fantastic miracles he has performed.

Recorded for us in Mark’s Gospel are three great miracles before Jesus’ visit to his childhood town.  They are the miracle of delivering of a demon-possessed man (5:1-20), the second great miracle was the healing of Jairus’ daughter (5:21-23; 35-43), and the third and final great miracles was the healing of the woman with the haemorrhage (5:24-34).  These three miracles happened before Jesus’ visit to his hometown.  And you and I would not be wrong to expect a warm reception of his people.  That was not to be.

In fact, his own people rejected him but this is not the first time.  The first rejection was recorded for us in Mark 3:21-22.  There, Jesus’ own family members accused him for being out of his mind. 

And it is within this context of rejections despite all the miracles to the contrary that we are to understand today’s passage – Mark 6:1-13.  Even this passage contains rejections; Jesus was rejected by his own people in 6:1-6a and the beheading of John the Baptist in 6: 14-19.  And between these two rejections is sandwiched the call of disciples (6:7-13).  All in all, from chapter 3 to and including chapter 6, one senses the power of evil running counter to the word and works of God. 

Sermon in a Sentence:

These stories should prepare us to face two lessons.  First, it is a lesson that people reject Jesus because of unbelief.  And secondly, it is a lesson that we are called to proclaim the Gospel. 

First, we learn that people reject Christ because of unbelief (6:1-6a).

Our ‘kith and kin’ means our family and relatives that we are brought up with and live amongst today.  Jesus too has his own kith and kin.  He was brought up in Nazareth.  Nazareth is a village of 500 people (Hare, 68; Edwards, 169) or to twice that number in certain times of the year (Perkins, 592).  It is a small enough town for people to know everyone and everyone else’s business.  One would not expect such town to be very sophisticated or too keen to accept new and innovative ideas. 

So when Jesus came to his own to preach and teach in the synagogue (6:2), his own people were astonished by his wisdom and miraculous power.  They would certainly have had heard of Jesus’ miracles outside Nazareth and in that sense Jesus’ fame preceded his actual arrival.  But then they ridiculed Jesus by asking “Is not this carpenter, the son of Mary…. And they took offence at him” (6:3).  Even though they heard something of significance from one of their own, the rejected him.  Why?

There are arguably two reasons for that rejection (1) is that Jesus has not had the formal training required for rabbis.  As a carpenter, Jesus was highly regarded by his own people.  According to Brooks (99), carpenter “are respect and well-paid, and rabbis are ‘expected to themselves by a trade and teach without pay’”.  The apostle Paul did that by teaching in the synagogue free of charge and yet supported himself by his own trade.  And in that sense, Jesus was teaching with any need for a fee and that he supported himself as a carpenter.  But the rejection was based on being an untrained rabbi.  And (2) is that religious teachers from Jerusalem have begun spreading rumours about him (see 3:22) – “He has Beelzebub, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons” (3:22).  So with that sort of rumours, Jesus’ hometown neighbours were reluctant to recognize him as nothing more than a carpenter.

Jesus was amazed that his own people rejected his message.  I mentioned in my introduction that Jesus’ fame preceded his arrival at his hometown.  His fame that he has performed deeds of power had reached his hometown even before he arrived.  But when Jesus came to his own people, Jesus “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 (6:5-6). 

This raises the question of how faith and healing are related.  Is it faith which causes healing to take place?  Or is Jesus unwilling or unable to heal unbelievers?

Today, it is very common for us to associate non-healing with unbelief.  It is rational but it is certainly not a biblical one.  Sometimes, well-meaning Christians injured sick people further by stating that the reason for their non-healing is unbelief. 

There are certainly two things at work here.  First, unbelievers fail to avail themselves of God’s power and second, God is less disposed to act in favour of unbelief.  Beyond that, it remains a mystery.

Because our family and relatives know us very well, it can be a tall order to try to witness to them.  What is worst is that they would also not take us seriously.  After, they know us warts and all.  And we feel unqualified or even untrained to bear witness for Christ.  And this is the reality of opposition from of kith and kin. 

When they are sick and needed prayer, we must be careful not to associate their non-healing with their unbelief.  We should be careful. 

My father has been having terminal cancer for many years and even the doctors are also amazed that he is walking and that there is still no pain.  My father knows that as Christians we have been praying for him and maybe healing is taking place or at least my father is being sustained miraculously that it even astounded and baffled the doctors. 

Second, we are called to proclaim the Gospel (6:6b-13)

Not only do we learn that unbelief can develop a hearing loss but we learn also in our second lesson that we are still called to proclaim the Gospel. 

Having been rejected by his own people, Jesus moved on to the other places that would listen to his message.  This is indeed a good lesson for the church today.  Jesus called the 12 and commissioned them preach the Gospel.  They were sent out two by two.  There are obvious advantages. A partner does give strength.  “For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help” (Ecclesiastes 4:10).  We all know how a good companion is so important.  Not only for protection but also provide pleasant companionship and encouragement when in difficult circumstances.

“Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place” (6:10).  The requirement is for disciples not to move from house to house.  It serves two purposes: first, it prevents bad feelings among hosts who might be embarrassed if the disciples leave their home for better accommodation.  I remembered when I brought my child to Medan; he wanted so much to go back to the cool comfort of his hotel room.  And I had to insist that he stayed at this place until we had completed our tasks.  Second, it prevents the disciples from being distracted by concern for their physical comfort.  I am particularly concerned with mission work that we do sometimes.

Jesus prohibited the bringing of many things even essential things – no bread, no bag, no money, and only a single tunic.  The disciples are to proceed with adequate preparation and trusting the hospitality of local people and trusting God to provide for their needs.  It seems that Jesus is requiring his disciples to have faith in starting this journey of proclaiming the Gospel. 

Does it still apply?  No and Yes.

No, in that Jesus gives these instructions to disciples engaged in a particular and short-term ministry.  Also their environment is quite different.  Jewish hospitality demanded that villagers receive and provide for travellers.  No such requirements exist today in most places.  In some parts of Africa, such hospitality is still expected. 

Yes, Jesus called his disciples to focus on mission rather than on personal comfort.  We are called to a great purpose, and we are not to be distracted by trivia. 

But what needs to be borne in mind is the simplicity of life-style and contentment with provisions of life.  The tension is never resolved.  But whatever it is, we are to be faithful in our proclamation of the Gospel. 

As Jesus went to another place after his own rejected him, we are to do the same and “shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them (6:11).  It means that Jews returning from Gentile lands would shake off pagan dust as a gesture of cleaning and contempt.  So when we are asked to shake off the dust, we are in fact saying that the people or place is pagan.  The gesture serves as a warning to the offending people so as to free us up to go to another place.  After all, we are asked to be faithful and not successful.

Conclusion

So we find that as witnesses for Christ, we will face the reality of rejection from our family and relatives.  We should not feel embarrassed about it but rather shake the dust off our feet and move on to other places because we are asked to be faithful.

Concluding Prayer

Gracious Father, by the obedience of Jesus you brought salvation to our wayward world: draw us into harmony with your will, that we may find all things restored in him, our Saviour Jesus Christ.