Tuesday • 1/24/2023 •
Week of 3 Epiphany
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 45; Isaiah 48:12–21; Galatians 1:18–2:10; Mark 6:1–13
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)
Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we draw insights from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. This is Tuesday of the third week of Epiphany, and we are in Year 1 of the Daily Office Lectionary.
There are two equal and opposite ways of getting Jesus wrong. One is so to deify him as to his diminish his humanity (as though “and the Word was God” negated “and the Word became flesh”). The other is so to humanize him as to dismiss his deity (as though “and the Word became flesh” overrode “and the Word was God”).
John’s Gospel (which we were reading during Christmas and Epiphany) pointedly shows the balance: Jesus is the enfleshment of the great I AM. And the touch of God-in-flesh transfigures those whom he touches. Thus, his encounters with the likes of Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the lame man beside the healing pool, the man blind from birth, Lazarus in the grave.
The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are more subtle about it, but they stand with John. In today’s gospel passage, Mark (which we are reading during After Epiphany) shows the folly of making Jesus too familiar. Where does such “wisdom” come from in this man who is but “the carpenter” (Mark 6:2,3)? Where does such “power” come from in this mere “son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” (also Mark 6:2,3). The thought that this mere son of Nazareth may be more than merely a carpenter, a son, and a brother offends people of his hometown (Mark 6:3).
Jesus admonishes them for their over-familiarizing of him: “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house” (Mark 6:4). In different situations, he confirms that he is “more than a carpenter”—as he does when he heals a lame man by forgiving his sins (Mark 2:1–12), or silences the winds and waves (Mark 4:35–41).
But here in Nazareth, he demurs. He, shockingly perhaps, allows his deeds of power to be restricted by people’s lack of faith (Mark 6:5). When Mark says “he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few…,” we should read this saying in a nuanced way. When you’ve come to your limit in a dead-end conversation, you may wisely decide to shut it down with the grace of, “I just can’t do this right now,” rather than search your brain for the perfect (and maybe relationship-ending) put-down, like, “You always were a complete imbecile.”
Jesus is astonished at them. They fail to recognize the gift that stares them in the face merely because his face is too familiar to them. Jesus shows disappointment rather than wrath, restraint rather than resentment. In doing so, he gives room for them to reconsider and reassess. He takes his ministry elsewhere, for now, and even uses the opportunity to begin to share his powers with his disciples. Throughout, Jesus opens a door on the subtlety and the complexity of the duality of his identity both as “Son of God” and “Son of Man.”
One thing that a passage like today’s in Mark demonstrates is that when people think they know Jesus too well, they are liable to get him wrong. There’s a warning here even for people in his church, people like you and me. I pray God’s grace for you and me, that we render him the awe, respect, and circumspection that his wisdom and power demand, that we honor him as more than a carpenter from Nazareth. I pray that God grants us as well the grace to believe that he has come purposely as “carpenter, son, and brother,” to love us for who we are, and to touch us where we hurt, whether we are carpenters or [fill-in-the-blank] or sons or daughters.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+