Sermon: July 8, 2012

Text: Mark 6:1-13

It's been said that if a society thinks that philosophers are superior to plumbers, neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.  


Every once in a while you come across examples of the truth in this statement.  One of my pet peeves is the way in which PA has decided to use speed limit signs.  If you take a drive along any of the secondary roads in PA, where the speed limit changes frequently as your road takes you through towns and villages, you will find sings that say, "END SPEED LIMIT 35".   It could be 45 or 25, the number is irrelevant.  The foolishness of the sign is that it tells you what the speed limit is NOT, instead of telling you what it is.  Now, somewhere I'm sure, there's a philosopher (i.e. beaurocrat, politician, white collar worker) who will tell you the philosophy behind such a sign.  But, to the simple driver (i.e. citizen, blue collar worker) these signs are pointless.  Every time I see one, I say to myself, "Ok, I know what the speed limit is NOT, how 'bout telling me what IS?"  Why waste the materials on a sign that tells drivers what the speed limit is not?


I'm forced to assume that somewhere in the course of deliberation over this idea there was a "blue collar" worker thinking more practically who pointed out the obvious problem with this philosophy, but was rebuffed because he was ONLY a citizen, a common driver, and not a well educated designer of roadways.  

Unfortunately, I had to pick on PennDOT today, but I think the most common complaints about times when the philosophers in our society should have paid more attention to the plumbers is with our everyday experiences with government run agencies.  As Obamacare rolls out on America in the coming months and years I think we're all hoping that it will serve our country a little better than other federal agencies have over the years.  We'll have to pray that there will be a few beaurocrats who listen to the practical wisdom of  the "plumbers" among them. 

Whether you're one who spends a majority of life as a plumber or a philosopher we all can relate equally to the way it feels when we are the one being "ONLYed".  Yea, I just turned the word only into a verb and made up a new word.  When you're ONLYed you're treated as if you are only one thing...say a plumber, no...better yet, a carpenter.  Jesus got ONLYed when he went to preach in his hometown.  The people ridiculed him and said, "Is not this [only] the carpenter, the son of Mary...?"  Yes, Jesus was a carpenter.  But, Jesus wasn't only a carpenter.  He was also the Son of God!  The result was that Jesus was rendered nearly powerless to help the people of his own hometown on account of their lack of faith.  Also, even though the text doesn't explicitly say so, we hear a twinge of Jesus' rejection when he responds with the words, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house."   Oh, how it hurts to be rejected...to be ONLYed!

We have all felt that kind of rejection...being ONLYed.  It hurts. And, sometimes we can ONLY ourselves. We start to believe the rejection.  We start to believe that we are only this or that.  We reduce ourselves to only the words and labels that others have used to reject us.  Sometimes we need to be reminded that we are not...ever...ONLY anything!  While we may indeed be this or that, we are never only anything.  Just as Jesus was not only a carpenter, we are never only anything.  We are also the beloved children of God!!
Sometimes we need be reminded that that's who we are.

I came across this very pertinent music video from the contemporary Christian artist Jason Gray, check it out.

When you think you are only a plumber...
Or, only a woman.
only a child
only an old man
only a divorcee'
only a single mom
only a widow
only went to high school
only a student
only...anything.
Or, if your church starts to think it is only a little church,
or only one voice
or only a few people facing a big problem.

Remember who you are...YOU ARE THE BELOVED CHILDREN OF GOD!
You are never ONLY anything.

Amen!