A Carpenter

Sermon preached Sunday, July 9, 2006
Ezekiel 2:1-72; Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-6; Psalm 123

Saint Mark tells us that Jesus was a carpenter. When Jesus returns to his own home, his neighbors are astounded at the works and teachings of this man who they know, a mere carpenter. Today’s gospel is not about carpentry, its about faith, but I think carpentry is a good starting point for talking about faith.

I’m no carpenter, but I took five years of woodshop and I worked for a summer at a construction site. An important part of building anything is that you have to be able to look at the materials and see whatever it is you are building in them. Seeing one piece as a leg, another as part of a side, another a joint. All parts to the whole. What may have looked to someone else like a useless pile of wood or bricks for me is a bench or a building… just not finished.

Faith is like that. You see what’s there even when sometimes others are sure they know better. When Jesus returned home during his ministry, some people were amazed at what Jesus had been doing, but his neighbors knew better: they saw the carpenter they already knew everything about. His teaching and his miracles may have been astounding, but at the end of the day, it was just Jesus the carpenter. They responded to him like a visitor to a construction site might respond when shown a pile of bricks: “yeah, its bricks; who cares?”.

His followers on the other hand saw Jesus through eyes of faith. His teaching and his miracles showed without a doubt that God was working through him. After he was crucified, his followers encountered the risen Lord and knew that this Jesus was in fact the Messiah, the Son of God who offered eternal life to all who believed in him. They responded to Jesus like a carpenter or a mason might respond when shown a pile of wood or bricks: “Wow, what are you building! What can I do to help?”

Faith shows us who Jesus is in the exact same way it showed his disciples who he was. We see God working in our lives and even working through us. Through the power of the Spirit acting in the world and acting in our lives we know that Jesus isn’t just a carpenter. We know that Jesus is the Son of God and through him we have eternal life. Sometimes that’s impossible to explain to someone else because they just can’t seem to see what we see and sometimes its because they just claim to know better.

Its like those two blind men Jesus heals in the Mark’s Gospel. The first after being healed said everything looked like trees – that’s what he saw and it took Jesus healing him a second time to show him that what he saw wasn’t the whole story. The same as seeing a pile of bricks as nothing but a pile of bricks. That’s the same as seeing Jesus only as a carpenter.

The second blind man in Mark’s Gospel was healed immediately. He saw everything clearly. The same as seeing a pile of bricks as part of a building. That’s the same as seeing clearly that Jesus is the Son of God.

Faith makes us see things clearly, but that’s only the first step of being a disciple of Jesus. Faith provides us with the opportunity to respond to what we see.

Knowing that Jesus has given us eternal life means that we can let go of everything that ties us to the world and be free to take hold of the cross and the love of God with our whole selves. Saint Paul is a great example of someone who took the opportunity his faith gave him. In the Epistle today we heard how Paul throughout his ministry was able to put aside his physical ailments and ignore the persecutions and insults of others because he had faith in Jesus Christ.

Knowing that Jesus is the Son of God also changes the way we look at everyone else. Through faith we don’t see the people around as part of a world we are leaving behind, but as our neighbors. Neighbors we are called on to love as we would our own brothers and sisters. A great example of how faith changes the way we see each other can be seen right here at Saint Mary’s. We welcome everyone who comes to the door, offering a seat and all of the materials needed to worship. We welcome all Christians to come forward and receive communion. We welcome anyone who is not Baptized to speak to one of the priests and begin the life changing experience of becoming a Christian.

Opportunities for moving closer to God or your neighbor are everywhere. This week, just pick one and cultivate it.