Scripture Sunday: Resurrecting the Ordinary

Psalm 123
1 To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 2 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. 3 Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. 4 Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

Mark 6:1-13
1 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 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! 3 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. 4 Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 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." 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.​

The Lord who is enthroned in the heavens, the one whom the people of God serve as their mistress or master, came down to his people, and they dishonored him like the prophets of old. In answer to their prayer for mercy, Jesus came to end the contempt of the proud but was rejected. There is so much that feels backward here. How can God come as part of creation? Why did God come in such a “normal” way that people didn’t even recognize him?

Instead of performing an even greater miracle to prove his identity as God, Jesus sent the disciples out with nothing, asking them to trust God to provide for their needs through the acts of others. Again, I ask myself, why this way? Why choose to work through creation when you can just make things happen yourself, God?

These questions lead me to a response of great awe and comfort: God chooses to work through the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. God chooses to deify creation instead of rejecting it and to transform the world through love and faith instead of force and fear.

God came through Mary as part of creation. While we know nothing was ordinary about his birth, from the outside, it seemed plain—a child born to an ordinary woman. But God honored and loved the ordinary act of mothering and birthing by being born through a woman. He grew up in Nazareth with his relatives, family friends, and neighbors. His childhood must have seemed ordinary, for the people of the town could not believe the miracles and teachings that Jesus performed when he returned during his ministry.

When Jesus visited his hometown, he did what one would ordinarily do—he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. Jesus didn’t say, “Come to the new building I made appear out of thin air and listen to my new teachings!” Instead, he went to the normal meeting place and transformed the understanding of the Scriptures, teaching with boldness.

Even the act of performing miracles to bring the kingdom of God to earth shows that God is not interested in leaving or annihilating creation but transforming and renewing it. To bring the Kingdom to earth means to heal bodies and make them well, to see that things are not quite right but carry the seed of the divine waiting to be resurrected. Thankfully, all will be transformed like the resurrected body of Jesus—physical and divine, not a purely spiritual awakening that leaves earth for the celestial kingdom. The firstborn of all creation is the Kingdom of God.

Let us see how Jesus came in “ordinary time” to make the extraordinary happen and how we can work with creation to bring the Kingdom of God. Let us see the seed of God in all things, praying for resurrection.
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Caroline Hiler is a Seminary Intern at Creation Justice Ministries.