Sermon onMark 6:1-13

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

We’ve been talking about grind culture over the course of our Sabbath 2024 theme. It’s the rampant idea in our culture that we should work constantly. If we’re not being productive, then we’re being lazy.

A good amount of the American Dream is founded on the concept of the self-made person who started with nothing and pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. Anyone who can’t manage to succeed just isn’t working hard enough.

We also have a cultural icon of the pioneer, the rugged survivalist who can live off the land and tame the wilderness. There aremovements of folks learning to live off the grid or to homestead. They’re learning to grow and preserve their own food and provide for themselves and their families without depending on modern conveniences.

There’s something to be said for hard work, learning survival skills, connecting with the land, and being less dependent on systems that can become unreliable during crises, like a pandemic for instance.

There’s also something to be said for the sense of pride and satisfaction that comes with working hard and learning new skills.

There are some shadow sides, though.

1.    If, in our quest for independence, we forget to care for our neighbor, that’s not very Christlike.

2.    If we push ourselves to burnout because we’re working ourselves like machines instead of people, we’re not caring for ourselves in a way that’s honoring to God who made us.

3.    If we strive so much for self-sufficiency that we forget to lean on God, then our priorities are out of order.

Even Jesus ran into problems at times and leaned on others.

In today’s Gospel reading, he found people in his hometown unreceptive to his message. They voiced concerns that he had forgotten his place. After all, he was just a carpenter. They knew his family. They’d watched him grow up. Who was he to pass himself off as a rabbi and claim he could do miracles?

So, he went from calming a storm, casting out a legion of demons, curing a woman from her chronic bleeding, and bringing a young girl back to life to not being able to do a whole lot in the place he was raised.

Then, in our reading from 2 Corinthians, Paul admitted that he had been wrestling with a difficulty—a “thorn in his side.” He didn’t go into the details, but it was something he had asked God to free him from. He felt humbled by his circumstance.

Even in our first reading, God told Ezekiel that people might not listen to him. In contrast to some other prophets, (Jonah for instance who had a whole city repent and turn toward God after his half-hearted message,) the purpose of Ezekiel’s prophesying was not necessarily repentance or action. He just had to give the message, regardless of the response. A pretty depressing mission.

But Ezekiel trusted God that it was enough that the message was said. His mission didn’t depend on the response. He leaned on God and did what God asked, and we are still reading his words today.

The same with Paul. It’s rather remarkable that Paul with all his privilege—his Roman citizenship, power, and authority—still struggled and chose to boast of his weakness and all the times it outwardly looked like he failed: when he was beaten, insulted, and persecuted. He leaned on God when the answer to his prayer was not what he hoped.

Paul and Ezekiel both chose to be faithful to God regardless of their personal success. They (and we) follow a God who humbly became a human being to connect with us, who gave up power and even died an excruciating human death because God’s relationship with us mattered. When God answered Paul’s prayer by saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness,” God knew that firsthand.

That’s not to say we should seek out weakness or suffering or diminishment. We are human beings, and we’ll inevitably fall short and, if we live long enough, suffering will come to us. There’s no need to add to it. God gave human beings free will, and consequently our world is not as it should be. But it will be one day. The Beloved Community will be complete.

And until then, we lean on our loving God who knows what it means to walk around this imperfect planet with an imperfect body trying to love imperfect humans.

When Jesus was rejected by his hometown, he didn’t escape to a faraway place, change his name, and start a new life.

He got his disciples to help him spread his message of the Beloved Community even farther than he could by himself.

He sent them two by two, not from a position of power, but of humility. They weren’t to take anything with them. They would be reliant on others’ hospitality. They had to lean on each other, their hosts, and of course, God.

It’s kind of a terrifying prospect. I knew someone studying to enter the priesthood who had gone on a trip modeled after this story, and he must be far braver than I am. I’m not suggesting anyone should grab their sandals and head out the door.

But the vulnerability and humility Jesus inspired here is beautiful.

It’s so different from our success-driven, numbers-based society.

We are human beings, not machines. We can’t do everything perfectly. We can’t accomplish everything by ourselves.

God made us for community. God told the first human that it wasn’t good to be alone. So, God created another human, and the three of them walked around the Garden together.

We are made for community. We are not made to be islands, cold and self-sufficient. We’re meant to be interdependent—to lean on each other and on God.

Bill Withers’s song “Lean on Me” kept playing in my head when I was working on this sermon:

“Lean on me
When you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on...

For it won't be long
Till I'm gonna need somebody to lean on”

That’s Beloved Community right there.

God made us for community—we’re not meant to do it all on our own. It’s not just okay but essential that we ask for help, because that’s how community is built. I lean on you in my time of need, and then you know it’s safe to lean on me in yours.

If we boast, let it be of our weaknesses, because they prove we are human, dependent on God, and in need of community.

Lean on each other and God. Ask for help. Support each other. Do not believe in the myth of self-sufficiency or let grind culture trick you into trying to do it all yourself.

Remember: whenever I am weak, we are strong.