Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

I just returned from my hometown from a visit to my parents. My mother has been ill and in the hospital there. I had a lot of time to think about the gospel lesson today. I could imagine something of what Jesus went through in his own hometown. Of course, there are differences. I had not been out and about in the countryside doing miracles. I can teach fairly well, but people are not astounded by me. But in spite of these differences, it was still interesting to be home.

I could have imagined what it would have been like had I returned as a successful business man, or a famous sports star, or as a rich televangelist with my own ministry business. I can tell you how people would have responded. They would have said, “We knew him back when.” If they heard me preach or teach, I could imagine that they would take offense at me, but nothing on the order of what Jesus encountered in his hometown.

The Gospel of Mark has already told us who Jesus is. At his baptism the heavens are split open, and the Spirit descended like a dove and a voice announces, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased" ( Mark 1:9-11).

I think what is missing in our typical readings of the baptism is the vocational understanding of the baptism. We quickly run to the question about whom Jesus is in his essence or his being. This becomes a serious and all-consuming question for the church in the centuries to follow. In the New Testament baptism is not first about the essence of the one being baptized. Baptism is a commissioning. It is a setting apart of someone for a task. Baptism is an anointing. It has royal overtones because baptism reminds us of the anointing of the kings of Israel. When Samuel anoints Saul or David, they receive an important commission to work for the God of Israel.

Jesus was baptized by John and received his commission. He conducts himself like the king. He is commissioned to lead God’s people. This is part of his teaching in the synagogue. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news" (1:15). The message of Jesus concerns the rule of God of his creation. Jesus is not presented directly as the king, but he is presented as the anointed one who is to become king. That is why his identity as the anointed one, the messiah or Son of God becomes so important in the gospels. Jesus has been commissioned as an instrument of God’s great plan of redemption.

Now think about that for a moment. What if you went back to your home town and announced to people that you had been anointed with oil at baptism and that you were commissioned to do God’s work. This would be a little different than going home and simply announcing that you are now a Christian. After all, the claim that one is a Christian would not arouse much response in our society. No one will try to silence you or kill you here. To claim that one is a Christian does not bother anyone much in our world. It is so strange in America that you can have lawyers advertise on our televisions not that they are good lawyers and know what they are doing. They claim that they are Christian lawyers. Making the claim that one is Christian can help you sell automobiles and lots of other things. I agree with Luther that the issue in one’s work is not whether one is a Christian but whether they are good and conscientious in their work. Being Christian does not make one a better shoemaker, says Luther. Making good shoes is the task of any shoemaker.

But what if you went home or to your hometown and announced that God’s kingdom has drawn near and that you have been anointed, that is, commissioned to do God’s work. What if that work was not simply to sign people up on the rolls of a church and put a fish on their forehead? What if it meant that you visited the sick or the imprisoned? What if it meant that you fed the hungry? What if it meant that you went to court with someone who did not have adequate representation? What if it meant that you stopped and listened to someone’s story when you could go to work and earn more money? What if it meant that you taught Sunday Church School or mentored a young person?

We are also told that the family of Jesus had already tried to quiet Jesus down because the people in his town thought that he was crazy. Now those people are offended by Jesus because they cannot believe that this guy who grew up among them in their small little town can make the claim that he is an instrument of God’s will.

Dear congregation, God is an equal opportunity employer. God appears to “tap” the most unlikely persons to do his work. This is expressed over and over in the Bible. When Mary hears the angel announce that she will give birth to God’s anointed, she finds the word unbelievable; yet, she trusts in the word. Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:38)

St. Paul himself cannot believe in retrospect that God would commission him as an apostle. He had murdered many of the earliest Christians and resisted the gospel that God was reconciling all people—Jews and Gentiles alike—to himself. The glory of Paul consists in his incredible honesty about himself. He tells us that he was a persecutor and murderer, that he was not an eloquent speaker, and that he was physically weak and afflicted. Still Paul affirms that God can use human beings to bring about God’s will.

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Would it not be better if Christians could cause offense in this world by carrying out the work of God, not by trying to be politically or socially strong or individually potent or perfect? For the glory of God consists in God’s coming to us in our weakness, powerlessness, and imperfection and still using us for the good that is only God’s.

When we realize this, then and only then can we join with the psalmist and pray:

As the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
until he has mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.