7th Sunday after Pentecost
Ezekiel 2:1-5; Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13
The seventh Sunday after Pentecost is all about the strength that comes only with the trust in God’s promises. In Mark, Jesus returns from the “other side” of the Sea of Galilee and is headed back to Nazareth, we assume. Once more, he attends the local synagogue, and once more, Jesus leaves the attendants in awe of his teaching (6:2; see Mark 1:21 to 28). At the place he would call home, however, the Son of God is rejected and diminished to his full humanity as the son of Joseph the carpenter (2-3). The reaction from the inhabitants of his hometown starkly contrasts with the reception Jesus received at the mostly foreign territory in the previous chapter. There, the acknowledgment of Jesus’ power leads to two miracles (5:21-43). Here in Nazareth, the distrust in him deprives the people of God’s grace as Jesus could muster “no deeds of power.”
In 2 Corinthians, Paul defends his ministry against the “supper-apostles (11:5)” who “disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness (15).” He confesses that whenever he is weak, he is strengthened only by the power of Christ that dwells in him. The Lord’s grace is sufficient (9-10). Paul’s absolute trust in Jesus echoes the disciples being sent in complete vulnerability in Mark (6:6b-12). In the gospel scene, they have only themselves and the power of Jesus that dwells in them to face either hospitality or rejection.
The psalmist prays:
“To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
As the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
until he has mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud (Psalm 123).”
Bridging Faith 