July 9, 2000 - LESSON: Mark 6.1-6a

SERMON TITLE: How Could This Be?

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. Control of Vicksburg, Mississippi was critical to the North's winning the Civil War.
    1. General Grant knew that to win the war he had to block off the Confederacy's supplies from Europe
    2. Grant knew that the had to devise a way to split their army into two at the Mississippi River.
      1. Grant's troop assaulted Vicksburg on May 22, 1863.
      2. The Union Army was driven back, unable to take the city.
    3. To defeat the Confederate forces at Vicksburg, Grant put the city under siege.
      1. The Siege of Vicksburg, May 26 - July 3, 1863 is decribed in the National Parks Service description found on their web site. (1)


        2. "Following the failure of the May 22 assault, Grant realized that Vicksburg could not be taken by storm and decided to lay siege to the city. Slowly his army established a line of works around the beleaguered city and cut Vicksburg off from supply and communications with the outside world. Commencing on May 26, Union forces constructed thirteen approaches along their front aimed at different points along the Confederate defense line. The object was to dig up to the Confederate works then tunnel underneath them, plant charges of black powder, and destroy the fortifications. Union troops would then surge through the breach and gain entrance to Vicksburg.

"Throughout the month of June, Union troops advanced their approaches slowly toward the Confederate defenses. Protected by the fire of sharpshooters and artillery, Grant's fatigue parties neared their objectives by late June. Along the Jackson Road, a mine was detonated beneath the Third Louisiana Redan on June 25, and Federal soldiers swarmed into the crater attempting to exploit the breach in the city's defenses. The struggle raged for 26 hours during which time clubbed muskets and bayonets were freely used as the Confederates fought with grim determination to deny their enemy access to Vicksburg. The troops in blue were finally driven back at the point of bayonet and the breach sealed. On July 1, a second mine was detonated but not followed by an infantry assault.

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"Throughout the weary month of June the gallant defenders of Vicksburg suffered under the constant bombardment of enemy guns from reduced rations and exposure to the elements. Reduced in number by sickness and battle casualties, the garrison of Vicksburg was spread dangerously thin. Soldiers and citizens alike began to despair that relief would ever come. At Jackson and Canton General Johnston gathered a relief force which took up the line of march toward Vicksburg on July 1. By then it was too late as the sands of time had expired for the fortress city on the Mississippi River."

  1. A condition of siege relates not only to war efforts, but also to our personal lives.
    1. The surrounding of a city with hostile forces.
      1. The interdiction of food and water.
      2. The constant bombardment with weapons of warfare.
      3. The attempt to totally defeat the city under siege.
    2. Do you ever feel that your life is under siege?
      1. 24/7/52 work week
      2. Overloaded extra-curricular activities.
      3. Budget stretched to the breaking point.
      4. Energy levels being slowly drained away.
      5. You feel a little like George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn surrounded by the enemy with no way of escape.
    3. Our only recourse is to throw ourselves into the arms of Jesus
      1. Jesus is person under siege.
        1. He did not allow himself to be inflicted with a seige mentality.
        2. If we can learn how he managed his life then perhaps we can learn how to manage our own lives.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. How is it possible to conclude that Jesus is a person under siege?
    1. Let his experience of returning to Nazareth illustrate his position.
    2. We can learn a lot from Jesus that helps us to meet our most serious challenges.
  2. What happened?
    1. 6:1 Jesus left Capernaum and he returned his hometown, Nazareth, with his disciples who were following him.
    2. 2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded.
      1. They said, "Where did this man get all this?
      2. What is this wisdom that has been given to him?
      3. What deeds of power are being done by his hands!
      4. 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?"
      5. And they took offense at him.
    3. They questioned:
      1. His origins
      2. His motivation
      3. His education
      4. His activities
  3. This is the second time that the people of Nazareth have rejected Jesus.
    1. The first rejection is told in Luke 4.16-30


      2. (Luke 4:16-30 NRSV) When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, [17] and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: [18] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, [19] to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." [20] And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. [21] Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." [22] All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" [23] He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" [24] And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. [25] But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; [26] yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. [27] There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." [28] When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. [29] They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. [30] But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

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    1. Jesus is not only rejection by the citizens of Nazareth
    2. Rejection by the Religious Leaders
      1. His education
      2. The source of his power
      3. His spirituality
    3. It is recorded that the common people heard him glady
      1. He taught them as one who had authority, not as the Scribes
      2. When the time came for support, they cried out, "Crucify him!"
    4. Rejection by most of his own followers
      1. Peter, with utter frustration at the constant questions of his reationship with Jesus used an oath to distance himself.
      2. He swore on his sacred honor with a religious oath.
  1. How can this be?
    1. People took what they needed from Jesus and he was willing to give.
    2. They did not have the vision nor the understanding that allowed them to more fully understand what it is that he could do.
      1. 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.
      2. What they did not allow themselves to do was to enter into a relationship that allowed them to receive all the benefits of his presence and teachings.
    3. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.
      1. There is a lesson here for all of us.
      2. Is the siege the results of unbelief?

CONCLUSION:

  1. People in the hometown are sometimes distracted, or mislead.


    2. Marguerite Schuster, in her article "Stoney the Road We Trod," printed in Christianity Today shares a story told by Myron Augsburger (2)

"Theologian Myron Augsburger told a story many years ago about this fellow slaving away over his desk in his sixth-floor office, struggling to see what he was doing after the seven-foot fluorescent lightabove his desk stopped working. Calling maintenance produced no help, so he decided to scramble upon the desk and take a look himself.

"Sure enough, the tube was burned out. He unscrewed it, measured it carefully, and went off to the hardware store for a new one. Success! He replaced the tube and the office was flooded with light.

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"When five o'clock came and he was ready to leave, he saw the burned-out tube standing forlornly in the comer. Leaving it there didn't seem like a good idea. So he decided to take it with him; he thought he remembered a construction site on the way home where he could dump it. He carried the seven foot tube down the street, into the subway station, onto the train. But how do you sit down with a seven-foot tube, in your hand? So he remained standing, holding the tube upright.

"When the train stopped at the next station, five people got on, and four of them grabbed hold of the tube. Now what? Pretty soon it occurred to him that all he needed to do was get off at his station and leave the pole. Picture, then, the last person left holding that wobbly pole.

    1. She concludes:


      2. "When a number of people have all grabbed hold of something, it looks as if it really can hold us up. But don'tcount on it. In the end, there is only One who can keep you from stumbling. Let the rest go, no matter how many people may be clinging to it.
       

    2. So there is only one who can help you survive the siege.
      1. Jesus was engaged in a clearly defined mission
        1. He knew his resources
        2. He took time to rest
        3. He took time to pray
        4. He relied on the power of the presence of God
        5. His personhood was not defined by what he did, but rather by who he was.
        6. He could not be shaken.
    3. Jesus offers us his prescription for life.
    4. It is the best on there is.

      1. This material has been taken from: http://www.nps.gov/vick/vcmpgn/siege.htm for the purposes of illustration only.

      2. Marguerite Schuster, "Stoney the Road We Trod," Christianity Today, (July 10, 2000), p. 51

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