Good Impressions

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10

Ephesians 6:14-18

Mark 6:1-13

It has been said that a first impression is probably closest to what truly is.  It is also said that "a first impression is a lasting impression".  Both speak to a profound truth: what people see in the very beginning is what will stick with them even if they just caught us on a bad day.  It happens that way sometimes.  But fair or not, we will be judged, just as we are inclined to judge, according to first impressions.  Smile at a first-time church guest, extend a friendly handshake, and the "new friend" will remember the "hospitality".  Look at the guest as though he or she has three heads, or don't look at them at all, and they will remember the "hostility" even if welcoming, though "scripted" words were offered.  Like you and I, people do not believe what they hear; they believe what they see. 

Jesus encouraged His disciples to enter a household offering peace as they were sent out to announce the coming Kingdom (I don't know why Matthew includes this "peace" detail that Mark omits).  The message, however, is consistent: make a good first impression because it is the impression that will last; it is also the impression that will preface AND frame whatever message is brought forth because this first impression will go a long way in determining whether or not one will be received favorably - regardless of the message! 

How Christians greet and treat one another in the public eye is also a telling sign of a deeper truth, not unlike the admonishment I would give our kids when they were young and just being brother and sisters, going at each other over the least little thing even with company in the house.  I would tell them, "If you mistreat your sibling in the presence of your friends, you are giving your friends permission to mistreat your siblings.  They will follow your lead." 

So how we treat one another in public is itself a public witness, a testament to our faith about the reality of our faith community.  Speak slander against a fellow member of your own church (yes, including the pastor), and people will eat it up and even help spread the malicious gossip - BUT - they will also note in the backs of their minds to stay clear of "that" church lest they one day fall into the hands of the same slanderer!  You see, people will always eagerly receive new gossip about someone else, but they will never trust us with their own lives, their own pains, their own challenges when they discover we cannot be trusted with the lives and the well-being of others.

Love Dare© #9 proclaims, "Love makes a lasting impression".  True, but so does hatefulness and bigotry and narrow-mindedness.  People notice more than we might give them credit for, and memories go a long way!  It is interesting to see how easily Jesus was dismissed as a teacher in His own hometown.  Obviously the people knew Him and His family.  It has been inferred by some ancient sources that Jesus, even having been born without sin, was nevertheless a mischievous boy, a typical kid; so it appears the people of the town preferred to hold on to what they remembered rather than what they were actually seeing and hearing. 

This "carpenter" who was maybe once a mischievous boy cannot also be a "prophet" or a teacher, can He?  Where is His credibility?  So perhaps one or two in the crowd begin to question Jesus' credentials, and so the crowd hears Jesus only within the context of what they are pretty sure they already know: this Man has no formal training as a teacher of the faith.  He was a carpenter, perhaps a mischievous boy.  Some have even suggested Jesus Himself may have been only a marginal carpenter, that Joseph was the real craftsman.  Then the people connect Jesus to His mother, His brothers, and His sisters.  Could it be some of them were less-than-stellar citizens whose context would further marginalize Jesus in the eyes of the townspeople; guilt by association?  It would seem so, according to Mark.

So maybe it is within the context of this certain social reality that Jesus gives his disciples a clear set of instructions before they go out on a teaching/preaching journey.  'Do nothing, say nothing, carry nothing that might distract people from what you are to offer to them'.  Humility is the key to everything Jesus is asking of His disciples even to the point of refusing to engage in religious "debate": "... if they refuse to hear you, as you leave shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them."  That is, leave that contentiousness and hard-headedness in the same home in which it was found, leave them to wallow in their own filth, and move along.  It is also noteworthy that while the disciples "proclaimed that all should repent", they spent most of their time "casting out demons and anointing with oil many who were sick and cured them."  They were not sent as "judges" but rather as "witnesses".  So, too, are we.

Notice also the twist in Mark's text.  At the point of Jesus telling His disciples that "prophets are not without honor except in their hometown and among their own kin and in their own house", Mark also adds that Jesus "could do no deed of power (not "would do no") except that He laid His hands on a few ... and cured them.  And He was amazed at their unbelief."

How is it is possible that the healing power of Messiah was somehow restricted only to a few?  Could this imposed restriction have influenced Jesus' instructions to His disciples before He sent them out?  I think maybe it is not that Jesus "learned" a lesson from this experience more than He used the experience to make His point; that whatever people know about you even from their earliest recollections and first impressions will influence how you will be received from then on.  I hear it from folks in my own hometown, friends of my parents who remember me as a "polite" kid but not a future preacher! 

It is love in the context of the Lord's grace, however, that makes not merely a "good" impression but the best and truest impression of an Eternal Reality; and it is this same love in which we as ambassadors of Christ are compelled to offer this same grace rather than judgment and condemnation.  Imagine the impression Jesus would have made if rather than teaching redemption, He preached only condemnation.  Imagine the impression if rather than casting out demons, He would cast out those who did not lead a perfect life!  How would the people then have received Him?  How would YOU have received Him in the beginning if "fear" were your only motivator?  Would we not eventually learn to resent Him and HATE Him and keep Him at a safe distance?  Could this be a significant, contributing factor to the continuing decline of the Church?    

For the sake of the Gospel of our Lord which we have been entrusted with, let us be found blameless before the Lord and before our fellow Magnolians, doing nothing and saying nothing and carrying nothing that will detract from the Gospel of Life!  Let us be the ambassadors of Peace and Grace, not condemnation!  Let us be the earnest faithful witnesses entrusted and equipped with the Divine Love that makes the best impression of all!  Our community is hungry for it, and our mission field is ripe for the harvest! 

Let the impression we leave with others be the impression made upon us that gave us hope for the future and peace for the day.

In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.  Amen.