Mark 6:1-6; 10-12; July 14, 2024; Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
This is a true story.
In the year 1919, a somewhat quiet, somewhat different sort of 18-year-old boy took a job at a local newspaper. He thought it might be the first step in a career as a cartoonist. He dreamed big. But shortly after he was hired for the job, he was fired from the job; his editor telling him that, “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”
Dusting himself off, he was able to scrum up some money, making some deals here and there, taking on some loans, and soon after, he opened a little animation studio called “Laugh-O-Gram.” Unfortunately, just a couple of months later it was revealed to him that those loans and deals were predatory in nature; and so, in July of 1923, just about one year after the studio had opened, it filed for bankruptcy, leaving its founder, the recently fired cartoonist, wondering if he would ever catch a break.
But, once more he dusted himself off and this time he set his sights on California, the land of big dreams and bigger opportunities. But when he began to pitch his biggest idea yet, he was met with suspicion, and people even within his inner circle said to him, “…really? But, why would you ever want to do that?” … “remember, after all, you are the same guy who ran your first company into the ground and who was fired from your first job for lacking imagination.”
Well… my friends, I’m here to tell you today that this rejected and “unimaginative” man was none other than Walt Disney himself. Yes, minus some bits of imagined dialog, all of what I just said is true. Look it up yourself. …And with that, I promise, I am done talking about Disney for at least a little while. I swear!
But isn’t that something?
“Walt Disney, you… lack… imagination” … “And, you will always be the guy who filed for chapter-11. Disneyland, I mean, what is that anyway?”
Well, to me, all of this sounds a lot like: Hey, aren’t you the carpenter, Mary’s little boy who plays in the street with all of his brothers and sisters – just where then do you get all these “big” ideas from? And why, o why, should we ever believe in you? In you of all people? – Mark 6:2-3
My friends, more than just their unbelief (which Jesus was reportedly “amazed” at – Mark 6:6), he also took on and absorbed their offense. Their offense.
And they took offense at him, Mark tells us – Mark 6:3
Aren’t you the guy who works all day with your father making tables and chairs? In fact, aren’t you the same guy who recently installed that door over there? Just what are you talking about now with healing hands and deeds of power? Give us a break!
And so, they took offense at him.
To which Jesus sadly replies, “prophets are not without honor except in their hometown.”
And isn’t that horrible? And, also, so often how it goes?
That the very people, our inner circle, who should be there to support us, and believe in us, and encourage us, are also often the ones saying, “why on Earth would you ever want to do that? To study that? Don’t you know how difficult it is to work in the creative arts? How about you do something more respectable like find a job in a cubicle with no windows.”
They took offense at him. Just who did he think he was. I mean, they knew who he was. He was nothing. He was just a guy from Nazareth. A son, a brother, coming from that large poor family, who were good for just the simple yet unimaginative work of their hands.
Mark even tells us that because they were so offended by him, and because they so disbelieved him, that Jesus “could do no deed of power in front of them, except for a few things here and there” – Mark 6:5.
As if to remind us all, that to achieve anything in this life, our sons and brothers and daughters and sisters will need our support. Our support. Our belief in them. Not our derision. Not our offense. And certainly, not our bullying.
The Greek word for “offense” here is ἐσκανδαλίζοντο (transliterated: eskandalizonto), which is just about as large in meaning as it sounds. It conveys “to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way of someone such that they might fall.” Such that they might fall! So, in addition to being offended by him, apparently, they also literally tried to trip him.
You can see it sadly playing out in modern times. A crowd of big bullies surround a little boy on a playground reminding him just where he comes from, and how small he is, tripping him and knocking him down, pointing and laughing.
You can see it, right? Heartbreaking stuff.
But, to all of this, amazingly, Jesus gets up, and brushes the dust off his shoulders and feet, before continuing to go on his way.
“Shake the dust off your sandals,” he says, so to go on your way…
Behind the pictures of big smiles in front of bigger and brighter California sunsets, there is a reality that for my son Seth, our vacation also meant getting away from the bullies at his school.
Yeah, there is this one kid in particular, who used to be Seth’s best friend, but who now only ever calls on him to make fun of him and to tell him that he’s “a loser.”
You see, Seth loves to play imagination, to dream big, and because those dreams aren’t always the games and imaginations of others, this boy and some others pick on him for it. They tell him that he’s “slow.” And “small.” And that he “can’t do this and he can’t do that,” and that all of his ideas are “silly and stupid.” They say this to his face and then they laugh. They laugh.
It’s heartbreaking stuff. Especially when he asks us, why he just can’t catch a break from them?
Equally challenging is when Anya and I attempt to answer him and explain why one of his own, from his hometown and original friend group no less, has seemingly, for no good reason, turned on him. It’s almost without explanation… or at least none that’s easily digestible… except, that it just happens. And, that it happened to us too. And even, to Jesus.
And so all that we can do really is remind him that in the end he is bigger than the bully. And, that he will always be special and never small. And that one day he will find those amidst his inner circle who will see as he sees, and who will dream as he dreams, and who will believe in him and like him for it.
Or put another way, we encourage him, Seth, dust yourself off. Shake the dust off your sandals and go on your way. And go on your way…
Which is all easier said than done of course, but as I personally add, a doctor-friend (Norm Huertgen) once told me that “deep inside each of us is a survivor. A fighter. A believer. Because that’s literally how we were formed. It’s our DNA. For as sperm, we beat out the rest! We’re the ones who broke through! We’re the fast and strong ones! And so, we will break through again, that is, if we keep fighting and surviving and believing in ourselves.”
Now… I’m not trying to tell you to talk to your kids about sperm today… but maybe, you can at least let them know, and let yourselves know, that we are all yet God’s offspring.
And as God’s own, we share in the company of the Son. Who was also picked on and made fun of, questioned and rejected, even to the point of being spat on and marched around in a crown of thorns.
And so, if it ever feels like other people’s actions and words are getting to you, such that their lack of faith and disbelief in you is all that you think anyone will ever see and know about you… trust that JC is standing right there next to you.
Because his father, our God, is the God of both the great and the small, especially the simplest of cartoonists amongst us, the carpenters and wild dreamers, and even, the strangest of all imagineers.
Thanks be to God. Amen
