7th Sunday after Pentecost        

Mark 6:1-13

[Jesus] left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “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?” And, they took offense at him. Then, Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And, he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And, he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then, he went about among the villages, teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So, they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Shake It Off

I saw the movie Inside Out 2 this week, the sequel to the 2015 Pixar film. For anyone unfamiliar with these movies and their premise, much of the story takes place inside the head of a young girl named Riley. Five of the main characters of the movie are her personified emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. They watch everything that’s happening through Riley’s eyes, and decide amongst themselves who needs to be in charge of any given situation. If she’s safe and happy, then Joy is in control. If there something dangerous going on, then Fear takes over. If Riley is going through a tough time, Sadness jumps in.

The movies do a really good job of using metaphor to portray how different mental processes work, like memory or suppressed emotions, brainstorms and day-dreaming. They did so good, in fact, that many of the people who watched the movie thought that some of the ideas they came up with were actual real-life psychology. One of those ideas was the concept of core memories, events from your past that shape the person you are today. It sounds totally reasonable, right? I think it’s pretty widely accepted that the things that happen to us shape who we are, but the idea of core memories was actually something the writers invented for the first Inside Out movie.

In the movie, Riley’s emotions safeguard her five core memories, which as you might imagine, is a very important job. The entire plot of the movie revolves around this concept. After the movie, the idea of core memories entered the zeitgeist of American culture, and term started showing up in magazines articles, blog posts, and TV shows. Having not yet learned that the concept of “core memories” was something that was invented for the Inside Out movie, at some point, I started to wonder what my core memories were.

I do have this one memory that I always go back to, way back from when I was in kindergarten. If core memories are real, then I feel like this would definitely qualify. During recess, we would all play on this blacktop area behind the kindergarten building. It’s hard to remember the details from so long ago, but I think there was a sandbox on one side with a swing set, and another sandbox on the other side that was just sand for digging and making sand castles. One of my favorite parts of recess was the tricycle path that went around the perimeter of the blacktop. There were only so many tricycles, so we all had to wait in a line and take turns. When it was your turn, you would go around the path, and when you got back to the line, you were supposed to get off the tricycle and then the next kid at the front of the line would take their turn.

I was waiting in line for the tricycles one day, when a couple of kids cut in front of me. I remember running to the teacher and telling him what happened. He looked right at me, and in a gently chastising voice, he said, “Now Charles, I don’t like it when people tattle-tale.” I remember backing away from him in horror. What was I supposed to do? If the response from the grown-up when I reported someone doing something wrong was that I was the one who was misbehaving for tattle-tailing, then there was no one I could go to, no one that would listen. I was five-years-old! I was tiny! I was at the mercy of the world, and there was no one I could turn to for help. I was alone. I was powerless.

When we refuse to listen to someone, when we refuse to acknowledge their words, we are telling them that they are unimportant. That they’re small and unseen. It’s no wonder that when the people of the town where Jesus grew up said, “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?” and they take offense at him, that Jesus “could do no deed of power there.”

It’s strange, because the laying on of hands to cure the sick is indeed a deed of power. There seems to be an almost sarcastic tone to the writing here. Of course, Jesus performed deeds of power. It’s just that the people he grew up with refused to acknowledge it. “And, he was amazed at their unbelief.”

Later, when he sends the disciples out two by two, he tells them, “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you,” if “they refuse to hear you,” “as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” It’s similar to our modern-day idioms of “shake it off,” or “like water off a duck’s back.” We can allow our negative experiences to stick with us, to stay on us, to become core memories that affect who we are and hinder our progress as individuals. Or, we can shake them off, move forward, and continue growing into who we are supposed to be in the world.

Jesus didn’t want the disciples to dwell on what they might think of as their failures. He wanted them to keep moving forward, to keep casting out demons and curing the sick. He didn’t want the actions of the people who refused to hear them to become their core memories of that experience. There was too much work to do, too many people who needed to hear about Jesus. They couldn’t waste their time on the people who refused to hear.

One of the biggest problems that we have in our country right now is that we seem to have forgotten how to listen to each other. As we become more and more divided, the problem seems to get worse and worse and worse. A few weeks ago, I saw the most immature verbal spat between a few members of our House of Representatives. Instead of listening to each other, they resorted to name-calling. And, of course, this was all recorded on video, for the whole world to see. As I watched, dying of second-hand embarrassment, I kept thinking, “People in other countries are watching this. How are we supposed to hold our heads up high as a country, when this is our House of Representatives?” How are we supposed to get anything done if we refuse to listen to each other?

I like to think that my core memory with the tricycles didn’t have too much of an impact on who I am, but there must be some reason that I keep going back to that memory. There are very few times in my life when I felt so powerless and alone, not to mention betrayed. How could my kindergarten teacher say that to me? I wonder sometimes if that memory has impacted my ability to ask for help and trust people. But, I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t learned to ask for help and trust people. God has always been a part of my life, and as horrible as certain aspects of my life have been, I have always to some degree, been able to shake off the dust and move on. God helps us do that. God made us to do that. Otherwise, we’d all be a quivering mess, hiding in our rooms, afraid of the world and everything in it. God made us resilient, so that we could do the work that needs to be done. Like the disciples, Jesus has sent us into the world to heal the sick and cast out demons. There are many sicknesses and demons and in the world: the sickness of bigotry and greed, the demons of loneliness and despair. Jesus is depending on us to bring the good news of love, peace, and mercy into the world. And, if anyone won’t listen, we shake it off. We shake it off and share God’s love with those who are ready to listen. Because, that love will eventually spread until it encompasses all of humanity and the world, reaching even those who at first refused to listen. Amen.

~ Rev. Charles Wei