31 January 2024 Mark 6:1-6
Let’s see.
People in Nazareth said, “He’s a carpenter. Therefore, what he says isn’t true. Therefore, the works of power he has done are not real power” (Mark 6:3).
People in Nazareth said, “He is the son of Mary – we know her (she got pregnant out of wedlock, you know). Therefore, what he says isn’t true. Therefore, the works of power he has done are not real power.”
People in Nazareth said, “We know him, we know his family. His brothers and sisters are right here. We’ve been to their house. Therefore, what he says isn’t true. Therefore, the works of power he has done are not real power.”
It’s like people who went to Lower Merion High School in suburban Philadelphia, where Kobe Bryant went, saying, “I know Kobe Bryant. I know his family. Therefore, he can’t play basketball.”
Does anyone hear how dumb that sounds?
Dr. Jean Twenge, psychology professor at San Diego State University, has been studying trends among young Americans (18-24 years old) for years, and in her recent book iGen (she calls the most recent 18-24 year olds that because they have never known the world without iPhones and the internet) she points out that today’s young people live with their parents far longer than ever before, and are suspicious of “adulting.” They have poor social skills. They have been told over and over again, in every movie and every video they have ever seen, every song that they have ever heard, “Believe in yourself! Follow your dreams! You can do anything, be anything you want! You can have it all!” At the same time, this same group of 18-24 year olds, by every measure, are more unhappy than young people have ever been in living memory. They are more isolated and lonely, more depressed, more suicidal, more alienated from their neighbors, more distrustful of the institutions of society, more addicted to social media than any comparable group of any generation (see Bishop Robert Barron, Redeeming the Time, p. 27). And yet movies, songs and videos, schoolteachers and guidance counselors, still tell them, “Believe in yourself! Follow your dreams! You can do anything, be anything you want! You can have it all!”
They are literally dying, right before our eyes, and we are still telling them that.
Does anyone hear how dumb that sounds? Don’t they need to believe in something else? Follow something else?
The people of Nazareth could have had the truth that Jesus spoke about. They could have had the healing power of his touch. They could have had richer and deeper relationships with their neighbors, teachers that didn’t lie to them, real joy and real peace. They could have had the heaven that Jesus said was at hand, right in front of them, right before their eyes. They could have had all that in their hands and in their hearts. And they walked away.
“So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there…. He was amazed at their lack of faith” (6:5-6).
Does anyone hear how dumb that sounds?
Some people do. Some people, who walked away from Christ and the Church a long time ago, are wondering now if perhaps they made a terrible mistake. Some people who used to bash Christ and the Church, and all religions, are thinking now that perhaps, just maybe, there is in the gospel of Jesus real wisdom and real healing power. That conversation is going on. Atheism, as a movement in the English-speaking world has largely collapsed, and previously unlikely people want to talk to believers about belief. (see Justin Brierley, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God, 2023).
Does anyone hear how hopeful that sounds?
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