One is the Loneliest Number ~ Mark 6:1-13 ~ Sixth Sunday After Pentecost ~ July 8, 2012

At some point between now and age 10, I lost the ability to travel light...

When I was 10, my family loaded up our ice-blue-colored Chrysler K-car and made the two-and-a-half day drive to Florida...

We had plenty of room to spare in the small car; the only excess baggage being my sister’s New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul cassettes we listened to ad-nauseum during the trip.

Fast forward to today—and on just about every trip Elizabeth and I take (even short trips); the car is packed to the full; so much so that we would not be able to take any more passengers with us.

Hypo-allergenic pillows; multiple changes of clothes and shoes; battery chargers; books; snacks; drinks, et cetera...

So I guess I’d be in big trouble if I were one of Jesus’ first disciples—because Jesus is sending them out into the villages and towns without food, money, a change of clothes, or a place to lodge when night comes. 

Jesus makes it very clear that they will be completely dependent on the hospitality of strangers for their food and their lodging. 

Now in this period of history, it was just common courtesy for a person to open their home to strangers who happened to be passing through.  Hotels and motels just didn’t exist back then; and even if they did, most people would have been too poor to pay for them.

So that part wouldn’t have shocked the disciples...

But given the way things went for Jesus in his own hometown, their prospects of finding hospitality aren’t looking too good.  People who knew Jesus rejected him.  They were offended by him.  They didn’t want him in their town.

And Jesus warns his disciples that they will be rejected just as he was.

By this time, the disciples had to be fearing that Jesus was setting them up for total failure.  Add to that the fact that they had no formal religious training; nor had they shown themselves to be men of great faith.  In fact, one wonders if they had any faith at all...

Yet Jesus sends them anyway—and they go.  And the end comes as somewhat of a surprise, since we know how much the deck was stacked against them...  They proclaimed the Word of God—and people did receive them.  Demons were cast out; the sick were healed; and people came to faith in Jesus Christ.

So what great miracle took place here?  What happened?

For the answer, we go back Jesus, when he sends out his disciples.  He sends them with a staff, their traveling companion, and the promises of God.

No one went out alone—and the relationships of the paired disciples proved to be one of the greatest blessings in their journey.

In all likelihood, none of the disciples would have even made it out of Nazareth if Jesus had sent them by themselves.

When we’re alone (with our thoughts), it doesn’t take much for our minds to become consumed by fears and doubts—especially when things aren’t going so well.  Faith can seldom flourish when we’re by ourselves. If we’re isolated from people, it’s much easier to find ourselves feeling isolated from God.

“One is the loneliest number” when it comes to faith.  Jesus sent his disciples out two-by-two—and through that relationship, God used the one to build up the faith of the other.  It was in the relationship that God provided the disciples the courage and the hope to boldly share the Word of God with complete strangers. 

And the hospitality of the strangers they met paved the way for relationships through which the disciples could share their testimony of Jesus Christ. 

Our relationships are just as vital for us here today.  To grow in faith, we must be together, to build up each another’s faith through the love and compassion we show one another.  We experience God’s presence more fully when we are together. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “when two or more or gathered, there I am among them.”

And when life circumstances put our most basic beliefs to the test, we cannot face our doubts by ourselves.  The devil and his lies can quickly overwhelm us and drive us to despair. But when we’re together, we experience God’s strength in the presence of other people.

We are so blessed to have each other.

And consider how much a blessing we as a church can be for our community... 

All of us know people who are going through difficult times.  We all know people without a church.  So let us receive those people.  Let us show them God’s compassion.  Let us show them the hospitality Christ shows to us.  We all lead busy lives, yet God will give us the time to share ourselves with others if we are willing to receive them.  We don’t do this to convert them—because none of us has the power to do that.  We reach out to our neighbors so as to love them as God loves them.  And God’s love has the power to make a believer out of an unbeliever or a doubter...

It all happens in relationships. 

One is the loneliest number when it comes to faith.  To be together with God we must be together as God’s people.  And when we are, God becomes more real and more powerful.  God heals; God comforts; God strengthens.  We are the Body of Christ to be filled with God’s love; that then goes and fills the world with God’s love.