The Offense of Jesus

Well, good morning, church. Our sermon text today is Mark chapter 6, verses 1 through 13.

Mark 6:1–13

That starts on page 789 in the Pew Bible.

Mark 6, 1 through 13. Let me pray for us, and then I'll read.

Father, we have just prayed that all of our delight is in you.

Lord, we ask that by your Spirit that would be more and more true.

And that as we come to your Word now, you would grant us by your Spirit the heart that delights in what you have to say to us.

Help us to receive it, to believe it, to live it to your glory.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right, let me read Mark 6 for us.

He, that is Jesus, went away from there and came to his hometown.

And his disciples followed him.

And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue.

And many who heard him were astonished, saying,

Where did this man get these things?

What is the wisdom given to him?

How are such mighty works done by his hands?

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary,

and brother of James, and Joseph, and Judas, and Simon?

And are not his sisters here with us?

And they took offense at him.

And Jesus said to them,

A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown,

and among his relatives, and in his own household.

And he could do no mighty work there,

except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

And he marveled because of their unbelief.

And he went about among the villages teaching,

and he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two.

And he gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

And he charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff,

no bread, no bag, no money in their belts,

but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.

And he said to them,

Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there.

And if any place will not receive you,

and they will not listen to you,

when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet

as a testimony against them.

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.

And they cast out many demons,

and anointed with oil many who were sick,

and healed them.

So from the very beginning,

the church has been a people on mission.

In Christ, God redeems a people for himself,

that they might display his glory

and take his saving good news to the ends of the earth.

A people on mission.

And this means Christianity has always had a profound answer

to one of the deepest human longings.

The longing for purpose.

Why am I here?

What's my life for?

We all know, or at least we find out sooner or later,

that living for things like pleasure or money or fame fall short.

But if not those things, what then do we live for?

Is there a bigger story or a bigger purpose

that can embrace and give deep meaning

to our, well, most of the time, ordinary lives?

Well, that's exactly what the church believes.

That in Christ, we've been given a mission, a purpose,

to make much of him and to be agents of his new creation in the world.

To advance a kingdom of love, of righteousness, of peace,

of forgiveness, of truth.

A truth that sets people free.

And what we see here in the opening of Mark 6

are two interconnected episodes that have to do with mission.

Now, that's fairly obvious when we consider the second half of the passage,

verses 6 through 13.

There Jesus sends out the 12 apostles for the first time.

Clearly, this is a passage about mission,

even if many of the details are specific

to that particular moment in salvation history.

But what does the first half of the passage have to do with mission?

Verses 1 through 6, where Jesus is rejected in his hometown.

Well, it's important to see that since chapter 3 of Mark's gospel,

Jesus has been preparing the 12 for mission.

He called them in chapter 3, verse 14,

so that they might be with him,

and he might send them out to preach.

So all this time in chapters 3 and 4 and 5,

Jesus has been training them, preparing them,

to be heralds of the in-breaking kingdom of God.

And so Mark chapter 6, verses 1 through 6,

Mark 6:1–6

is sort of like their last lesson

before heading out for the first time.

And what does Jesus have for them?

What does Jesus want them to learn?

What does he want us to learn?

Well, what he wants them and us to see

is that his mission will often cause offense.

In other words, he's preparing them

for the reality of rejection.

Now think about it.

Why is this an important lesson?

Since being chosen, the 12 apostles had been with Jesus.

They had shared his experiences.

They had heard his teaching.

And on top of that, they had seen his power.

Power, as we saw in chapter 5 over the last couple of weeks.

Power over demon possession.

Power over sickness.

Power even over death.

But imagine going directly from chapter 5

right to chapter 6, verse 7.

In other words, imagine going directly

from seeing Jesus' authority over all those things

directly to being sent out.

Imagine the expectations they would have had

for their mission.

Imagine how triumphalistic they would have been.

They might have thought nothing could stand in their way.

They would have thought that being a follower of Jesus,

being a part of his kingdom mission,

was only about power.

Only about victory.

And not also about suffering.

And so first, Jesus must also show them

the offense that he brings

and the reality of rejection.

So let's look a little more closely at our passage then

and see why Jesus causes offense,

how he responds,

and then in light of that,

how we can respond when we face rejection for Christ's sake.

So first, let's look at why Jesus causes such offense.

Let me read again verses 1 through 3.

Now, Jesus' hometown was Nazareth.

Nazareth was a small village

about 15 miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee.

And archaeologists estimate that the population of Nazareth

in Jesus' day was about 500 people at most.

So it was a very small town,

even by first century standards.

And Jesus returns home with his disciples following him.

And when he teaches in the synagogue,

their response is not the kind of beaming pride

in their hometown hero, right?

You know, he's not like the kind of hometown pro athlete

who comes home after winning the championship

to his small hometown

and they give a little parade in his honor.

You know, out comes the one fire truck

and out comes the one police car.

He's back!

In fact, the sentiment is just the opposite.

The people are astonished, Mark says,

but not in a good way.

Indeed, they are offended.

They could not think it possible

that one who had lived among them so many years

and whose brothers and sisters they knew

could deserve to be followed as a public teacher.

Their skepticism is most evident in verse 3.

Isn't this the carpenter?

Isn't this Mary's son?

Now, the word carpenter there

means something a little more broad

than our word carpenter.

It means something like craftsman or workman.

It was used of a broad range

of kind of manual laborers,

stonemasons, builders,

not just woodworkers.

But you hear the cynicism in their voice, don't you?

How are such mighty works done by his hands?

Aren't those just the hands of the carpenter?

Now, we should mention that in Jewish society,

there was nothing necessarily demeaning

about manual labor,

which was different, say, than Greco-Roman culture

that tended to look down on it.

But even if manual labor was more respected

among the Jews than among the Gentiles,

there is still a tinge of contempt in their voice.

The contempt that says,

you're rising above your station.

Who do you think you are?

Do you really think you're better

than the rest of us?

Now, as an aside,

isn't it wonderful

that our Lord Jesus,

the eternal Son of God,

spent the first 30 years of his life

as a tradesman,

as a manual worker,

as a carpenter,

as a stonemason?

And doesn't that completely deconstruct

the sort of worldly values

we place on different professions

and workplaces

that some are sort of inherently better

or more valuable than others?

Jesus blessed our ordinary life

and filled it with dignity.

One writer put it this way.

He said,

it's no disgrace to work with our hands

and earn our bread by our own labor.

The thought of the carpenter shop at Nazareth

should cast down the high thoughts

of all who make an idol of riches.

It cannot be dishonorable

to occupy the same position

as the Son of God

and Savior of the world.

Now, for the people that day in the synagogue,

why were they offended at Jesus?

Jesus,

the word Mark uses for offense

means a stumbling block.

What is it they were tripping over?

What was the great obstruction

to faith in Jesus?

Well, on the one hand,

it was their familiarity, right?

Their familiarity.

They had watched him grow up.

They knew every one of his living relatives.

Look, there are his brothers.

There are his sisters.

And I would imagine in a town of 500,

everybody knew everything

about everybody else, right?

There probably weren't many secrets

in a town that small.

They could not,

they would not believe

that one whose face

they knew so well,

who lived so long

eating and drinking

and dressing like one of them

had any right

to claim their attention.

Their long proximity to Jesus,

what they thought

they knew about him,

that supposed familiarity with him,

was the very thing

that made them turn away.

Of course, the same thing

is true today, isn't it?

A lot of people think

they know

what Christianity is all about.

And even if they didn't

grow up going to church,

they've grown up

in a post-Christian culture

with vestiges of Christianity

still sort of hanging on,

empty though they may be.

And that familiarity

so easily breeds contempt,

as we say.

But this might be

even more of a danger

for those inside the church

than those outside.

You know, if you've grown up

in the church,

hearing the Bible read,

hearing the gospel preached,

hearing God praised,

hearing prayers being made,

it's easy for it all

to become just a familiar thing.

Maybe it is a part of your life.

Maybe you'd say

it's an important part

of your life.

But Jesus Christ

is far from being

the Lord of your life.

And without knowing it,

perhaps your repeated exposure

to the gospel

has actually made you immune

to the very real grip

and power of it.

It's kind of like

being exposed to a virus

a little bit at a time

for a long period of time.

And your immune system

eventually builds up

a resistance to it.

And eventually,

you're kind of inoculated to it.

It has no power over you.

Has the reality of Jesus Christ,

has the wonder of the gospel,

has the power of the forgiveness

of sins and of reconciliation

with a holy God

become like that to you?

Something you're just

inoculated to.

If so,

pray to God,

our merciful God.

Ask Him to remove

the callousness of your heart,

to make Christ unfamiliar to you

so that you might really come

to genuine saving faith in Him.

But you know,

it wasn't just familiarity

that caused the offense.

It was also the claim

that Jesus was making.

In the rest of Mark's gospel,

we know when we see Jesus

teaching in the synagogue

that He did so with authority.

He was claiming to be

the one who could rightly

teach the way of Israel's God.

The one to rightly interpret

Israel's scriptures.

He wasn't like the other rabbis

or religious scholars.

He didn't quote other authorities

or teachers or traditions

to support or prove His point.

In fact,

He would often just simply say,

truly, truly,

I say to you.

But you know,

even more than that,

Jesus was claiming

to be the one

to usher in God's kingdom.

Now we know from Luke's gospel,

actually,

what passage

Jesus read from that day.

It was Isaiah 61.

What Jesus read was this,

the Spirit of the Lord

is upon me

because He has anointed me

to proclaim good news

to the poor.

He sent me

to proclaim liberty

to the captives

and recovering of sight

to the blind,

to set at liberty

those who are oppressed

and to proclaim

the year of the Lord's favor.

And then He said

to all those sitting there,

today,

this scripture

has been fulfilled

in your hearing.

This is the offense

of Jesus.

He claims to be the one

who can open

your blind eyes

and set at liberty

your guilty conscience.

But that's just it,

isn't it?

We don't want to be told

that we're blind

and guilty,

let alone be told

that some manual laborer

from Nazareth

is the one to fix the problem,

the problem

we don't even think we have.

And that's why Jesus

is still offensive today

and why He will always be.

Because He's making a claim

that goes as deep

as our very self,

our very identity.

And He's making a claim

on our very way

of viewing ourselves

and the world

and the God who made it.

And that's why

the mission of the apostles

that He sends out

was offensive too.

Notice that

He doesn't tell them

you're going to be

received everywhere.

He says some of them

are going to reject you.

Why?

Because they went out everywhere

saying that people

should repent.

And that word repent

doesn't just mean

feeling sorry

for particular sins.

Everybody does that, right?

You don't have to feel,

you don't have to be a Christian

to feel sorry

for doing wrong things

from time to time.

No, repentance,

what repentance really means

is not just that,

but changing your whole outlook.

That your whole way

of viewing yourself

and the world

has Jesus Christ

in the center as Lord.

That He really defines

what's right and wrong,

what's beautiful,

what's true.

He's the fountainhead

of it all.

Repentance is changing

your whole worldview

to put Christ in the center.

Now, I'm guessing

that if you're here

and you're not a Christian,

that idea sounds

pretty impossible, right?

Why put Jesus

at the center of everything?

And let me just say,

if that's you,

almost everyone else

in this room

who is a Christian

at one point

felt exactly the same way

as you.

In many ways,

we all start out

like the folks

in Jesus' hometown.

So don't feel like

you can't stick around

here at Trinity

and ask questions

and be honest.

But you know,

here's what's fascinating.

Historically,

we know

from passages like this

and many others

in the Gospels

that Jesus'

immediate family

pretty much

all rejected Him

during His earthly ministry.

James and Joseph

and Judas and Simon

are some of the brothers

listed here

and there's mention

of sisters too.

By the way,

this is a different Judas

than Judas Iscariot.

This Judas is later

in the New Testament

called just Jude.

Now, you have to imagine

that there was probably

nothing

that would convince

someone to believe

that their sibling

was the Messiah,

right?

I mean,

if your older brother

came home from college,

sat down at dinner

and said,

I've come to set

the captives free

and open the eyes

of the blind,

you wouldn't sell everything

and become His disciple,

right?

But here's the thing.

Eventually,

there was something

that convinced them.

When we study

the historical records

of the earliest days

of the church

after Jesus is crucified

and killed, no less,

who's there among

the leaders

of the earliest

Christian movement?

Who is there

selling everything

and proclaiming

that the crucified Jesus

is Israel's Messiah

and the world's true Lord?

Who's there

among the leaders?

It's James,

the Lord's brother,

and Jude.

Something happened

that changed

the most cynical

and skeptical minds.

What would it take

for you to believe

that your brother

was the Son of God?

Well, we think,

you know,

people do lots

of irrational things

for money

and power

and fame, right?

But that's not

what they got

for believing.

They got poverty,

extreme social marginalization,

and death.

So what was it?

What could take

the most skeptical

and cynical person

and make them believe?

The answer

the earliest Christians gave,

the answer

that James and Jude

themselves gave,

is the resurrection.

Jesus Christ

was crucified,

died,

and was buried,

and on the third day

he rose again.

And he appeared

to Peter,

then to the twelve,

then he appeared

to more than 500

at one time,

then he appeared

to James,

then to all the apostles.

Jesus claimed

to be the one

to heal our blindness

and to liberate us

from guilt.

And how did he do it?

Not through teaching

some path

for spiritual betterment,

but by accomplishing

something on our behalf.

To rescue us

from death,

he himself died

and rose again

to break death's power.

To deliver us

from guilt,

he suffered

under the penalty

of our guilt,

and then rose again

to pronounce us righteous.

That's why his claim

to be our Lord

isn't the selfish demand

of a divine despot,

but it's the irresistible call

of divine love.

the sort of call

that makes you want

to surrender

your whole life

to it.

The sort of call

that makes you want

to view

your whole world

anew.

In other words,

it's the sort of call

that leads you

to joyfully repent

and put the risen Lord Jesus

at the center

of everything.

Now,

if you are a Christian,

the idea that Jesus

calls the apostles here

to share

in his offense,

in his rejection,

probably makes you

a little nervous

because it means

he's calling us

today

to do the same.

But let's look quickly

at how Jesus

responds.

Pick up again

in verses 4-6.

And Jesus said to them,

a prophet is not

without honor

except in his hometown

and among his relatives

and in his own household.

And he could do

no mighty work there

except that he laid

his hands on a few

sick people

and healed them.

And he marveled

because of their unbelief.

I think the first thing

to notice here

is that Jesus,

he doesn't take

massive offense

in return.

We might even say

he doesn't take it

personally.

He has a deeper

understanding

of his own identity

that allows him

to be rejected

without rejecting

in return.

Notice he says,

a prophet is not

without honor

except in his hometown.

Jesus knew

that because of

who he was,

and certainly

he was even greater

than a prophet,

but he knew

that because of

who he was,

rejection in his hometown

would not necessarily

be surprising.

Are you and I

willing to do the same,

to face rejection

with this same composure,

to not take it personally,

to expect that

because of who Jesus is

there will inevitably

be some offense,

and so not to respond

with anger

or offense in return.

The second thing

to notice is that

Jesus doesn't just

refuse to be offended

in return.

He doesn't just refrain

from kind of rejecting

them in return.

He actually responds

with compassion.

You know,

Jesus could have

stormed out of Nazareth

as soon as the synagogue

service was over.

Right?

Stupid hometown idiots.

I'm out of here.

Right?

No.

He doesn't storm out

as soon as the service

is over.

Apparently,

he stayed long enough

to heal a few sick people

even when,

because of their unbelief,

he wasn't able to do

what Mark calls

a mighty work.

work.

In other words,

Jesus knew,

Jesus knew

that he wasn't

going to do

anything amazing there.

He wasn't going to do

anything

that would draw a crowd

or amaze the onlookers.

No one was going to

post a reel

of what Jesus did

in Nazareth that day.

Right?

He wasn't going to get

a lot of new followers

and build his brand.

But he stayed.

He stayed anyway.

And he healed the few

that he could.

Now,

it's interesting to ponder,

isn't it,

in what sense

Jesus was unable

to perform

a mighty work

in Nazareth?

Did human unbelief

literally prevent

Jesus from healing

that day?

If Jesus is God,

couldn't he have just

overridden their unbelief

and healed them anyway?

Well,

Mark obviously

doesn't delve

into these questions here.

Theologically speaking,

certainly Jesus

is able to heal

and therefore

he was,

we might say,

choosing not to.

But Mark's kind of

narrative accent

falls more on the humanity

of Jesus here

and on the gravity

and tragedy

of human unbelief

and hardness of heart.

Their unbelief

and their hardness of heart

was so grave

and so serious

and such a problem

that it just put

a great hedge

between them

and the deep blessing

that Jesus could bring.

And in the face

of such unbelief,

Jesus marvels,

Mark says.

James Edwards

puts it this way

in his quite excellent

commentary

on the book of Mark.

He says,

what amazes God

about humanity

is not its sinfulness

and propensity

for evil,

but its hardness

of heart

and unwillingness

to believe in him.

That

is the greatest problem

in the world.

And so,

Jesus' response

to rejection

is not contempt

and rejection

in return,

but compassion,

even amazement

that they would

fail to believe.

Now,

as we consider

how Jesus responded,

we start to recognize

that this isn't always

how we respond,

is it?

Because we certainly

face rejection today

as well,

don't we?

You know,

just like the first century,

Jesus is still

offensive today.

The human heart

does not want to admit

that it needs a Savior

and the human heart

certainly would prefer

to be its own Lord.

And so,

the claim of Jesus

will always offend.

So,

how do we respond

when because of Christ's sake

we too face rejection?

Well,

of course,

like Jesus,

we don't take offense

in return.

We don't take it personally.

After all,

it's not really us,

it's Christ.

And after all,

didn't you and I

think the same thing

before we came to faith?

That this was all

crazy and offensive.

Why would we expect

anything different

from our friends

and our coworkers,

right?

And,

of course,

we continue to respond

with compassion.

Jesus didn't stop

loving his hometown.

His heart was still

soft,

still amazed

at their unbelief.

And so,

we keep a soft heart

as well.

Now,

you might be noticing

that Jesus told the twelve

to shake the dust

from their feet

when a village

refused to receive them.

And you might think,

well,

that doesn't sound

too soft hearted,

right?

But we have to remember

that the initial mission

of the twelve

was aimed at whom?

At religious Jewish villages,

right?

And in that time,

shaking the dust

from your feet

was something

that a pious Jew did

when they left

a Gentile area.

And so,

during this preliminary mission,

if there was any place

that thought

they didn't need

Jesus' message

to be faithful

to Israel's God,

then this act

by the apostles

was communicating

to them

that they were

actually responding

not like faithful Jews

but just like

the unbelieving Gentiles.

It was saying to them

that their religion,

their tradition,

their family heritage,

as great as all

those things were,

were not going

to save them.

Only Jesus

and his kingdom could.

And in our context,

of course,

there may and will

come times

when we need

to be bold

and wise

to speak clearly

about the necessity

of Jesus

for salvation.

And in moments

like those,

compassion

and a soft heart

are even more critical.

Lest our hearts

begin to believe

that it's anything

other

than sheer grace

that has opened

our eyes

to see the beauty

and necessity

and sufficiency

of Christ.

So we don't respond

in kind,

we don't take it

personally,

and we continue

to have a heart

of compassion

towards those

who may even

be rejecting us.

but we have

to go even deeper.

The question

isn't just

how do we respond

when we experience

rejection

for Christ's sake.

At a deeper level,

we need to ask,

how can we

overcome

the fear

of rejection

that keeps us

from publicly

identifying

with Christ

in the first place?

On Monday,

when your coworkers

or your classmates

ask how your weekend

was,

are we willing

to say,

you know,

I went to church

and it was really

encouraging.

The sermon

was a bit long

and I couldn't

quite follow

his outline,

but overall,

I'm really glad

I went.

That's the first

step of mission,

you know.

just making

Christ known

through your

everyday life,

identifying

as a believer,

making it normal

to be identified

with Jesus.

You know,

the first step

of mission

is not sitting

someone down

and walking

them through

the four spiritual

laws in one sitting,

right?

It's just letting

the aroma of Christ

be known around you,

being able to

publicly identify

with Christ

where you are.

But of course,

even that step

is difficult,

right?

We know that

even that step

can and does

cause offense.

Even that first

step of mission

can bring on

the reality

of rejection.

So what do we do?

Well, there's

actually one more

thread that ties

the two halves

of our passage

together.

And it's found

in verses 8 and 9,

believe it or not.

In verses 8 and 9,

Mark writes,

Jesus charged them

to take nothing

for their journey

except a staff

no bread,

no bag,

no money

in their belts,

but to wear

sandals and not

put on two tunics.

Now on the surface,

it seems like Jesus

is just telling

the apostles

to travel light

on this short

mission.

Travel light

so you don't depend

on your own resources

but rather depend

on God to provide.

And of course,

that's very true.

But you know,

there's actually

an Old Testament

illusion here.

What Jesus tells

the twelve

to take and wear

on their mission

is in fact

identical

to the belongings

God instructs

the Israelites

to take

on their flight

from Egypt.

Belt,

sandals,

staff in hand.

In other words,

Jesus tells

the apostles

to go out

wearing

Exodus

apparel.

Why?

Well,

because their mission

is announcing

something as foundational

and as revelatory

as the Exodus

from Egypt,

yes.

But what was

the event

of the Exodus

all about?

Well,

God was liberating

his people

from 400 years

in slavery

and finally

at long last

bringing

them

home.

he was

calling

the Israelites

to leave

what was

at that point

familiar for them.

They were leaving

what for a long

time they might

have called

home

and being

brought out

and taken

to their real

home

and their

true home,

the home

God had

prepared for

them.

Think with me.

What makes

us so afraid

of rejection?

Of course,

nobody enjoys

it,

but where

does the

fear come

from?

Isn't it

the fear

that we'll

lose

the security,

the safety,

the welcome,

the belonging

that whether

we like to admit

it or not,

our hearts

really need?

In other

words,

the human

heart

longs

for home,

a place

of belonging,

a place

of acceptance.

As Robert

Frost said,

home is the

place where

when you have

to go there,

they have to

take you in.

And the fear

of rejection

rises because

we know

that that sense

of belonging

in home

will be

threatened.

What if my

co-workers

reject me?

What if my

friends reject me?

What if my

sports team

rejects me?

What if my

roommates reject

me?

Where will I

belong?

Where's home?

But here's

the good

news.

The proclamation

of the gospel,

the good news

of what Jesus

has done,

is the message

that God

has always

had our

home in

mind.

He created

us in a

garden home

to live

and to

flourish.

And when

sin destroyed

it,

he laid a

plan that

would stretch

for thousands

of years

to bring us

back again.

And the

exodus from

Egypt was

a picture,

a foretaste,

right?

A people

far from

home,

languishing,

but liberated

and brought

finally to a

permanent home,

their new

garden in

the promised

land.

But even a

greater liberation

was coming,

a greater

exodus,

a greater

home,

the place

our hearts

were always

made for,

the new

creation where

God dwells

in fullness.

And what

is it that

would win,

that would

win this

greater

liberation?

What is it

that would

launch us

out on

this new

exodus to

our greater

and our

true home?

Look at

Mark 6.

The Son of

God is

rejected.

He loses

his home so

that you and

I can gain

ours.

And Jesus'

loss will be

even greater

on the cross

when he cries

out in Mark's

gospel,

my God,

my God,

why have

you forsaken

me?

On the cross,

Jesus is

losing his

eternal home.

He's facing

cosmic rejection

in a way that

we cannot even

fathom.

He's losing

his home

for you.

So an even

greater exodus

can begin.

So an even

better home

can be opened

wide.

And in this

home,

there's no

more condemnation

and there's

no more

performing

and there's

no more

pretending

and there's

no more

rejection.

rejection.

This isn't

the home

that when you

have to go

there,

they have

to take

you in,

right?

This is

the home

where the

God who

made you

is glad

to take

you in

because you're

his beloved,

purchased by

his own

son,

sealed with

his own

spirit,

kept for

eternity.

God

and that's

how you

and I

can face

the everyday

fear of

rejection,

the fear

of losing

our belonging,

losing our

home.

We see

that Jesus

lost his

home for

us so that

we could

have an

eternal

home that

surpasses

all the

rest.

And when

the reality

and the

security of

our true

home in

Christ becomes

more and

more real

to our

hearts,

then the

more and

more will

become a

people of

mission.

Our lives

will be

dressed in

exodus

apparel,

living in

that unencumbered

freedom of

Christ,

taking this

journey together

as the

church,

knowing that

our home

is secure.

and when

the Lord

Jesus returns,

that home

will one day

cover the

earth like

the waters

cover the

sea.

Let's pray

together.

Lord Jesus,

you said,

blessed are

those who

are persecuted

for righteousness

sake when

others revile

you and

reject you.

Then you

are blessed.

Oh Lord,

help us to

embrace that

blessing for

your sake

with the

deep peace

and confidence

you give,

knowing that

you love us

and you've

walked this

road before

us.

In our

mission,

Lord Jesus,

make us

compassionate,

courageous,

and wise.

We ask this

in Jesus' name,

Father.

Amen.

Amen.