Year B Proper 9 Mark 6:1-13

Home! The word brings up different images for different people. My mother’s childhood home was filled with poverty, hunger, and sadness. She ate food off the streets of Istanbul in order to survive, and sold water to passersby for a few pennies. But despite the hardships, her home was filled with love. And when it came time for her to make her own home, and raise her own children, she too filled it with love.

I had been married for several decades, and my mother was growing very old. She had moved out west to live near my sister, but I often flew out to visit them. I will always remember the visit where, when I got into the car where my mother was waiting for me, my sister having driven her to the airport, she said with great joy, “You’re home!”

She knew I had a home of my own, one that I had made with my husband, but, he would agree, she was right. Home really is where the heart is – and while with my husband I have a home filled with love, when our mothers were still alive, both of us also thought that where they were was also home.

All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron.

Before our first reading this morning picks up David’s story, in the passages that precede it, we learn that, on directions from God, David has settled at Hebron. This must this must have been, however briefly, the place he called home. Then in today’s reading we learn he is publicly anointed by the council of tribal heads to rule over Judah. What we don’t hear today is that meanwhile, in the north, Abner, once Saul’s military commander, makes Ishbaal, Saul’s son, puppet king over the northern tribes. Both tribal coalitions plan to annex Gibeon.

At first, they try to settle the dispute by a tournament, but when this attempt fails, they go to war: David’s troops win, and Abner, recognizing a lost cause, switches to David’s side. But, Abner is killed; Ishbaal’s courage fails and he is murdered by two of his own, who are then killed on David’s orders, for killing “a righteous man”. Despite the bloodiness and violence of this wartime scene, we are reminded that David is a wise and holy man. He has Abner and Ishbaal buried at Hebron, an action which demonstrates respect for both of the deceased men.

But a dilemma has arisen. With the deaths of Abner and Ishbaal there is now no acceptable successor to Saul. David, however, has a right to be king for he is an Israelite and was army commander under Saul, so the “tribes of Israel”, i.e. the north, seek David’s consent to becoming their king too. When he accepts, the council of the north anoints him as their king. The states, north and south are thus joined in one person, King David.

This is a marvelous story. In today’s Gospel reading, as we connect with the young King at the very beginning of his great reign, he is full of strength and courage and holiness. But first, he faces a dilemma – where to put his capitol city. His solution is partly the act of a man of God and partly the act of a wise diplomat and soldier. To set up his capitol, David chooses a city belonging to neither the northern nor the southern kingdoms of Israel, but to the “Jebusites”, who are local Canaanites.

The defenders of the city scoff at David’s attempt at conquest, but God is on David’s side, and David’s army prevails. David takes the city and renames it. It becomes known as the City of David, or, as we now know it Jerusalem. In Hebrew that is Yerushalavim, City of Peace.

David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo [which is probably the earthwork to the north of the city] inward. And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.

This was the Peace of David, what the people longed for. This peace was accomplished through war and strife, suffering and death. This is peace as the world understands it – and David moved from Hebron to his capitol city, to Jerusalem. And there, he built a house of the very expensive cedar wood. Not a castle, mind you, but a home.

Jesus came to his hometown, and His disciples followed Him.

Despite many fictional attempts to tell His story, we don’t really know much about the historic Jesus. We have the birth narratives and the brief story of the twelve year old Jesus in the temple, but other than that – we’re left with historic information about His life and times, and we tend to fill in the gaps from that.

His parents, Joseph, his adoptive father, a carpenter, and Mary, a very young woman, must have been devout Jews. Thus, Jesus would have been raised in a devout family, learned scripture and worshipped according to Jewish Law and custom. But His life isn’t going to mirror that of the faithful Joseph, who accepted Him as a son and no doubt raised Him to be, like himself, a carpenter. Did Jesus work for a time at this profession? We don’t know, and in the Divine order of things, it doesn’t matter.

At about age thirty He begins His ministry, assembles a ragtag bunch of disciples, and begins to do the work of His Heavenly Father. But like all of us, there were times when He returned to visit His family. And we know what those times are like. We understand returning to familiar places, seeing old friends, responding to sights and even smells that are familiar. Certainly all of us long to return to Mystic Side’s building, to worship together there, to be in those “homey” surroundings with beloved friends and family.

On the Sabbath Jesus 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?”

And that was it for “happy homecoming” for our Lord. It sounds so cold and cruel on the part of the local population. Wouldn’t they be filled with admiration and applause for this celebrated prophet from their town? What we forget, is that they are responding to what Jesus is saying in the synagogue, and the words of our Lord are almost always unsettling, to say the very least. When we are “at home” the last thing we want is for someone to come along and start telling us what’s wrong with our lifestyle, our beliefs, our way of living, and in this the people in Jesus hometown were no exception.

But, as Jesus came to them, He comes to us also, always, and if we are paying attention, He often has unsettling things to tell us. He demands open minds and open hearts, often in ways with which we are uncomfortable.

Since we do not question His authority, we instead sometimes try to rationalize what He commands us to do. Surely we aren’t meant to welcome everyone as if they were Christ? Certainly not Aunt Gladys! Surely He doesn’t expect us to give to every beggar we meet, and to care in our hearts for each person we meet and to pray for them. We rationalize all the time.

King David lived in his house of cedar, in a neighborhood, just like everyone else. He became a great warrior king, but slowly he turned from God to the temptations of the world. We all know the story of Bathsheba. His home really became that house – and his heart became pledged to desires of the flesh. David chose the world, and lost favour with God.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus comes to his earthly home only to meet with skepticism and rebuke. He speaks those words we all know so well.

He 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 attributes this to a lack of faith on the part of the locals. And He was amazed at their unbelief.

We know about this lack of faith – how many times have we not given to a beggar because we “don’t know what they’ll do with the money”. We have no faith that God will direct them, and no realization that whatever they do is up to them, is between them and God. We make excuses!

Where do we call home? We know what it is to be torn, to have our heart in two places – often that can be with our birth family and also with the family we have since made with our spouse/partner or with the life we have made on our own.

But in the end, the choice of “home” that Jesus demands of us isn’t between one earthly place and another. The choice Jesus demands of us is between this world and Him.

Where our heart is – there is our treasure also!

Let us pray in the words of Psalm 51:

Create in us clean hearts, O God; and renew a right Spirit within us.

Cast us not away from Your presence; and take not Your Holy Spirit from us.

Restore to us the joy of Your salvation; and uphold us with your bountiful Spirit.

Then shall we teach transgressors Your ways; and sinners shall be converted unto You.

In Jesus Name, Amen.