Proper 9 | Ordinary Time 14, Cycle B
Mark 6:1-13
Within the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark) this text is one of several in which the Jesus of history is close enough to the surface that some of his human limitations and frustrations are depicted. “He was not able to do any mighty deed there, except for placing his hands on a few people who were sick and healing them,” we read in Mark 6:5. Here as elsewhere the Matthean and Lukan redactors removed the human limitations and frustrations of the Jesus of history from their editions of this account, in Matthew by changing Mark’s “He was not able” to He did not do” and Luke by omitting this portion of Mark’s account entirely.
We have, therefore, an opportunity next Sunday to emphasize the human limitations and the frustrations of the Jesus of history as depicted in this Markan text, and by doing this to make the distinction for the congregation between the Jesus of history who had human limitations and frustrations and our Christ of faith whom we believe that God has raised from the dead and is one with God the Father and one with God as Holy Spirit within our Christian theology. This distinction makes it possible for us to identify closely with the human Jesus of history and at the same time to pray to and to worship the divine Christ of faith. Jesus as the Christ is for us, as Martin Luther wrote in his explanation of the second article of the Apostles’ Creed, “true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and true man, born of the Virgin Mary — our Lord.” He is a carpenter given wisdom, a prophet rejected in his own land. It is such that we shall be able to proclaim him next Sunday, as depicted in this text.
Since our American Civil Religion Fourth of July celebration of the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence will occur during this week, it might be helpful to suggest that when our Declaration of Independence was declared the people in the thirteen colonies had many limitations of power and frustrations. Later, especially within our American public school system, many of these limitations and frustrations were edited out and largely removed much as the Matthean and Lukan redactors edited out most of the limitations and frustrations of the Jesus of history. We need, however, to be aware of the human limitations of each, since we ourselves have human limitations and since we are becoming aware that our nation has some serious limitations and frustrations as well.
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Paul was well aware of his own human limitations and frustrations, as he indicated many times in his letters that we have in the New Testament. It is not surprising, therefore, that when he was somewhat “carried away” in his claims of spiritual experiences in his attempts to counteract the boastings of the “spirit-filled” Christian enthusiasts of Corinth, he was reminded of his human limitations, of his “thorn in the flesh” as he called it. All of us also have our human limitations, of which each of us is painfully aware. But God’s word — especially God’s word of forgiveness, of resurrection, and of salvation — is proclaimed nevertheless, for as Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 12:9), “The Lord has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in your weakness,’ ” For us also, in spite of everything that may happen to us, God’s grace is perfected in our weakness. God’s grace is sufficient for us. Shall this not be the message that we must proclaim next Sunday? Shall not our message next Sunday reach its climax with this expression of the “Gospel According to Paul”?
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
In this text the young man David was anointed to be the king of Israel, to reign over all of Israel and Judah for thirty-three years. It is said that David increased more and more in strength, because the Lord, the God of power and might, was with him.
There are plenty of other texts, however, that are indications of the sins, weaknesses, and human limitations of David as king, texts that depict David as not being with the Lord, as a failure as a husband and as a father. These texts are reminders to us that all of us sin, in spite of the grace of God and the blessings of God. Together with the need that David had for the grace of God, our need for the grace of God continues and is multiplied by our sins.
Psalm 48
This psalm of celebration of the magnificence of Jerusalem and of its temple expresses the positive outlook of 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 at the beginning of the reign of David as king. We know, however, that just as David later failed and fell as a husband and as a father, so also the city of Jerusalem and its temple later would fall. The theme of human limitations stands, therefore, like a shadow over this text.
Ezekiel 2:1-5
In this segment of the fascinating “call” of Ezekiel accounts, the human limitations of the people of Israel are described in great detail. They are said to be a rebellious people, stubborn and impudent, refusing to hear the commandments of the Lord. Even the prophet Ezekiel, receiving and transmitting the Word of God, is portrayed as limited, as being a person whom most of the people will neither hear nor heed.
Psalm 123
In this brief lament, the psalmist is depicted as extremely limited in comparison to God. The psalmist is said to be like a humble male servant who is totally dependent upon the male servant’s master and like a female servant who is in every way inferior to the woman who has complete control over her. The only thing that the palmist can do is to beg for mercy from the Lord God. So also is it for us in our human condition today. We believe that our “salvation” is dependent upon the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the human who became divine for us.
