Following Jesus with Humility

2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13

Paul likes to use himself as an example for others to follow. In this, he is not bragging; he is doing what every other leader in that time and place did. Today, we have thousands of self-help books in which the authors tell how they accomplished what they did. This is just what Paul normally does: to succeed in following Jesus, do what I do.

This part of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians describes his encounter with God. The specifics of the encounter remain a secret, other than it was not to be shared with anyone. He tells us he refrains from boasting about this encounter so no one will think he is better than anyone else.

He has some help in this restraint – some sort of thorn in his side. Whether this is a physical ailment or disability or a human sidekick who kept him honest, we don’t know. We do know from Paul’s words that this thorn kept him humble. Humility in leadership is a good thing.

… In our Gospel story, the folks were doing their darnedest to keep Jesus humble. Even with the miraculous healings he has done in the surrounding cities, when Jesus returns home to Nazareth, there is no victory parade. They listen to him and begin to recognize him. “Isn’t this little Joshua who grew up just up the street from here?” “Aren’t Mary and James and Joses and the sisters his people?” “Who does he think he is, trying to rise above his station?” “He’s pretty uppity, if you ask me!”

Some of this conversation in the Gospel story is based on the honor / shame society of the time. It seemed to the people that honor was a limited good. Imagine a large table – maybe 20 people can sit at it. There is not room for a 21^st person, so if someone gets more honor and moves up closer to the seat of honor, someone else moves down, and possible loses the seat at the table all together.

Jesus, of course, is trying to eliminate the whole concept of honor and shame. He doesn’t need a seat at the table! He speaks with wealthy and poor, healthy and sick, women and men and children, locals and foreigners, prostitutes and demon-infested and blind people. And he speaks with them as equals, as if they all have value, as if they all have honor and they all deserve a place at God’s table.

You know, and I know, that this kind of change doesn’t go well in any society, ancient or modern. People of all ages and places are reluctant to change from what is familiar to something new and different.

The kind of change Jesus is talking about is disruptive to his culture, to the way they have always done things. While some people celebrate the new vision, many feel threatened. They feel they have been accused of being unrighteous, even though they work hard to be as righteous as possible according to the current standards.

And so, Jesus is rejected by the people who know him best, his home-town family. It seems almost no one in town believed in his power to heal, so he only healed a few people there. It could make him feel really humble!

And yet, Jesus doesn’t stop ministering and traveling and training the disciples. He thinks they are ready to hit the road without him, so he sends them out, two by two, to call all to repentance, to cast out demons, and to heal those who were sick. He wants them to know there will be some who will reject them, just as they reject Jesus. “Don’t fight it,” Jesus says, “just shake the dust from your sandals and go on to the next town.”

Shaking the dust from their feet is a symbolic act. When folks couldn’t avoid traveling through non-Jewish, so unholy, territories, they shook the dust off their feet when re-entering holy land. This implied that the unwelcome of some places where the disciples would go made those places unholy. Such rejection could make the disciples resentful, but Jesus reminds them to stay humble and to keep healing. They went out and had great successes in healing and casting out demons.

Jesus’ words and deeds have lived on for 2,000 years because his disciples persisted in telling the stories.  Millions (billions?) of people have believed in Jesus and have given their lives in humble service to follow him. Some have died for their belief, but most have simply lived as Jesus envisioned. For example:

… In 1630, aboard the ship Arabella, Puritan leader John Winthrop gave a speech as they approached the New England coast. He shared his vision for how this endeavor would be a benefit to all humankind. They must be guided by God so that the Puritan Colony would be like a “city on a hill”, an example to England and the world of a truly godly place. They should all remember and live by the words of the Prophet Micah: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

In the last almost 500 years, much has happened to prove that America is indeed a city on a hill, and much has happened to prove that we are far from perfect. The light that shines within our shore and out onto the world has smudges. And, in the 245 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we as a republic have proven that democracy works, but it has serious challenges.

Most recently, at the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, Amanda Gorman gave us her poem entitled “The Hill We Climb” and reminded us we are still working to be the light.

We can best be the light if we keep our focus on Jesus, the true light. We can best be the light if we follow Jesus, and do as Micah suggested, do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Jesus calls us to follow him with humility, remembering that the light with which we shine is his light, not our own. Amen