Readings: Ezekiel 2:1–5;
Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12:2–10; Mark 6:1–13
This May, the business
news carried several reports about Scott Thompson. After serving as Yahoo’s CEO for only six
months, Thompson announced his resignation in the wake of a growing scandal
regarding the qualifications he listed on his Curriculum Vitae. A Curriculum Vitae, or CV for short, is a
fancy term for a type of resume. It is a
brief account of a person’s education, qualifications, and experiences
typically sent with a job application.
Employers, looking for the most qualified people, often base hiring
decisions on a single CV entry that makes one candidate stand out over another.
In addition, companies
will share management’s CV information with their stockholders in order to
retain their confidence in the organization.
One of Yahoo’s stockholders, wanting to be sure Yahoo made the right
choice, carefully scrutinized the newly acquired CEO’s curriculum vitae. What he discovered was troubling. Thompson’s CV stated he had earned a degree
in computer science and accounting from a small university in Massachusetts – a
claim that was only partially true.
Thompson did not have a degree in computer sciences, only in accounting.
When faced with the inaccuracy,
Thompson claimed an over-zealous head hunter firm (who vehemently denied the
claim) added the information without his knowledge in order to make him look
more desirable to Yahoo. In all the
uproar, he was forced to resign. The
unfortunate part of this story is that Thompson was more than qualified to take
on the position with the degrees and experience he already had. However, because the competition in the
business world is so intense, someone felt the need to embellish on his
education in order to make him stand out in a crowd of other very successful
candidates.
We are a society that
values qualifications! Think about it…
most people will not seek care from a physician without first verifying the
doctor’s training, education, or specialty.
We wouldn’t hire a divorce lawyer to defend us in a criminal trial, nor
would we hire a machine operator to fly a jet, or a pilot to clean our
restrooms. In every walk of life, we
depend on people who are trained and qualified for the job they are expected to
perform.
It wasn’t any
different in Jesus’ time. Even then,
there was a hierarchy of trained people – especially in the synagogues where a
religious teacher would have studied all of his life in order to teach others
about God’s word. So when Jesus shows up
in his hometown and begins to teach in the synagogue there, the people are
offended.
“Where did this man get all this? What is this
wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his
hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and
brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here
with us?”
It didn’t matter to
the people in his hometown that Jesus had already established himself as a man
with extraordinary knowledge of God’s word.
It did not matter that news of miracles and healings were being reported
in every town he visited. All that
mattered to them was his CV… and it was notably lacking in ancestry and
education. Not only is Jesus just a
carpenter, he is only the son of Mary.
In Jesus’ day, sons
were recognized by their father’s name.
Calling him the son of Mary insinuates there is a question about who his
father actually is. In their eyes, he
was not qualified enough to be a teacher in their synagogue, let alone the
messiah.
It is in this context
of rejection that Jesus sends the disciples out into ministry. They are not allowed to take anything with
them except a staff, a pair of sandals and one tunic. They could take no bread, no bag, and no
money for their belts. They had no plan
for growth, no financial resources of their own, and very few
qualifications. They are ordinary people
commissioned to do ministry by a leader who has been rejected by the religious
authorities and his own hometown. Even
his family thinks he has gone a bit mad.
But Jesus would not give up. He
continued to move on, proclaiming the Gospel, healing the sick, and
transforming lives. His journey to Jerusalem would eventually
give hope to all, ensuring that rejection, troubles, division, and even death
would not have the final word.
This is the legacy of
the church today – ordinary people with few qualifications and seemingly limited
resources are commissioned to serve, heal, and transform lives. By all the standards for success, then and
today, the church should have never survived.
But God’s standards are not our standards. Miraculously, the church has lived, thrived
and shared the good news in the midst of this struggle since the beginning. It is a living reminder of life springing up
from death, and God’s power bursting through our weakness.
Those of you who are
long-time members of this congregation can attest to the difficulties we have
endured throughout the years. We began
as a mission congregation and struggled to keep our ministry alive throughout
most of our existence. Over the years, we
have seriously discussed closing our doors twice, and many of us continue to
wonder when the same discussion will come up again. Although we had a brief period of growth and
vibrancy that many of us long for again, we have since experienced a loss in
financial support, and a decrease in membership partly due to a time of very
painful conflict.
If we were to examine
our congregation on paper, if we had a curriculum vitae for our church, it
wouldn’t be a stand out alongside a host of other churches with big plans, big
program, lots of members, and robust giving.
Fortunately, our standards for success are not God’s standards. We are
small and in the eyes of others ill-suited for the task, but we are no less apt
to carry out God’s mission than other churches.
Despite our shortcomings, just as with the disciples in today’s Gospel,
God has entrusted us with the good news of God’s great love for the entire
world and sends us out to serve, heal, and transforms lives.
Faced with what seems
like an impossible task, we hear a word of comfort from Paul who gives
encouragement to all affected by troubles for the sake of the Gospel. Paul knew first-hand what it was like to be
judged by other’s standards and found lacking. In today’s text he admits his
weakness and explains that he has been forced to come to terms with it. Paul speaks of his experience as a thorn in
his flesh, threatening to torment him to the point of giving in to it. Three times, he has prayed that it would
leave him. God’s answer to him - “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.”’
These words to Paul are
proclaimed to us here today! God’s grace
is sufficient for us!
What would it mean to
be the church that allows God’s strength and power to move through it? It means coming to a new understanding of
serving God based on Jesus’ power to bring life from death, freeing us to view
our struggles as a blessing that allows us to be visible witnesses of God’s power
made perfect in our weakness. It means
being able to give up our ideas about what it is to be a successful congregation
and recognizing the futility of striving to be a “successful” church based on
other’s expectations.
Striving to be
something we aren’t is sucking the life out of us, preventing us from rejoicing
for all that we do have. God has already
given us exactly what we need right here and right now to carry out the work of
the Gospel, doing what matters in our church, in our lives, and in our
community.
This fall, using the Doing
What Matters activities, we will begin the process of discovering our gifts
based on the talents and passions God has already given us to do ministry. We are uniquely qualified to live out God’s
love in mission despite our struggles. Each
of us has been gifted with the same Spirit given to the prophet Ezekiel, the
gift of God’s grace that is sufficient, and the promise that Jesus has already guaranteed
with his life, ensuring rejection, troubles, division, and even death will not
have the final word.
We have everything we
need right now to serve God as a community of faith. Trusting in God’s promise of sufficient grace
and strength, may we refuse to be judged by the measures of the world, and
embark on a faithful journey to do what matters to God, carrying out Jesus’
mission to proclaim the Gospel, heal the sick, and transform lives. Amen
