Mark 6:1 - 6
My Uncle John was a contrary person. He had a fourth grade education and owned a farm, which with hard work on his part kept his family going. He ran the farm the way he’d been taught by his own dad, who in turn ran it like his dad ran his farm; which meant that my uncle was still using technology that no modern farmer would have used. Uncle John would have fit right in with the Amish people, except for his contrariness. He loved to argue. It didn’t matter about what, or which side. If you had an opinion, he’d gladly express the opposite, and considered the volume of his opinion a gauge of its accuracy. I once listened with great interest in as very loud argument he was having with another farmer about whether cow manure or chicken manure was better for raising vegetables. When his opponent, who favored cow manure, allowed that my uncle did make some good points, my uncle immediately switched sides, destroying the very points that his opponent had agreed upon. Another wonderful exchange was when Uncle John decided to lecture me on the evils of radiation therapy for cancer because he had known several people who had received radiation and had since passed away, and look at all the destruction that atomic bombs caused? I made the mistake of trying to use logic, but he just got louder.
Today we see that some people in Jesus’ time were contrary people as well. You can almost hear them. One says, “That was a great sermon!” Another says, “Life would be better if we did what he suggested!” A third says, “Wait a minute, why should we listen to him? He’s just a peasant, like us.” and a fourth says, “He’s got a lot of nerve, telling us to change the way we live!”
And there is a little contrarian in each of us. It’s because of two things. One is that none of us really want to change. The other is that finding fault in someone else, or the world at large, is a lot easier than finding fault in ourselves.
Our society is sick. I’m not sure it’s more sick than in the past, or in Jesus’ time; we just play out the sickness in different ways. But the sickness stems from those two things. Listen to any politician, left or right; you never hear them criticizing their own tribe, and you always hear them promising to fix the world if everyone will just do what they want them to do.
One of the British newspapers many years ago asked several philosophers, writers and other important people to write a brief note describing what was wrong with society, and what could be done about it. GK Chesterton, wrote back “To whom it may concern: I have considered your challenge. You have asked what is wrong with our society. I am, sincerely, GK Chesterton”. Saint Catherine of Sienna said much the same thing. As you probably know, she is a doctor of the church. During her brief life she nagged pope after pope to return to Rome; they were living in Avignon France in those days, having abandoned the Vatican. It was the time of the black plague, which killed between one third and one half of all western europeans. The clergy for the most part refused to administer last rites. Many people figured that they were going to die anyway, so why not go out with a bang? Suicide, alcohol abuse, orgies all took place. One of Catherine’s contemporaries, Boccaccio, described this time in his book, the Decameron. So there was a lot wrong with the world. But Catherine, who wrote scathing letters of criticism to the people who could do something about the world, insisted that she was the problem. Was this just an exaggeration? Catherine recognized that the one thing she could change was herself, and she wasn’t doing a very good job of it. And that’s you, and that’s me. Because we are fallen beings, we blame others. But how do we measure up? I am supposed to do good and avoid evil. I get that backwards sometimes. I am supposed to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and my neighbor as myself. I don’t, not really, and you don’t either, I'll bet. I get distracted in prayer when I try to pray. I don’t always listen when someone needs me to listen. I don’t speak up when someone needs an encouraging word, or when gossip happens. I’m pretty good with sarcasm and cutting remarks; in my old age if you see a smile on my face I’m probably holding back something I might have said twenty years ago. I've made a little progress.
Catherine was aware that her sins, and they were little ones, caused pain and suffering in the world. And mine do and your do, and that’s why I’m the problem.
But the good news is that my good deeds can cause joy, encouragement, happiness, and a general increase in the goodness of the world. And my good works can have a multiplier effect. KInd words, a smile, encouragement, compliments, even a hug here and there which is really difficult for me -- all can make someone’s day and change the world. And we have the opportunity right now to be on the side of the angels.
In Jesus' hometown God had been present in the flesh for 30 years and they didn’t recognize him; and when he worked his wonders and spoke his words to those people he must have loved, they refused to change and “they took offense at him”. Today let us all recognize that we are the problem, we are why the world is the way it is. Because we can do something about it if we choose to.
