I
think that even for Jesus things didn’t quite go as he expects. We pick up in his story here probably just a
few weeks after his small town hometown rejection. The elders of his hometown, really the whole
town, couldn’t see past the Jesus they knew to see Jesus their Messiah. All they knew was that Jesus, the eldest son
of his family was shirking his family responsibility of looking after his
widowed mother and unwed sisters to go play kingdom of God. Then, just after this rejection Jesus got the
news that John the Baptist had been so senselessly executed. Rejection and senseless execution was there
any reason for him to expect any other end to his ministry.
Well…there
were some indicators that things might go a little better for him. Our reading this morning picks up with Jesus’
disciples returning to tell him all that they had done on what was the first
time Jesus sent them out as an expansion of his own ministry. They had been amazingly effective in
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God being at hand and inviting the
people to come along in the way. Just
like Jesus they had cast out demons and healed the sick – the very works that
Jesus had sent and empowered them to do. At least Jesus could know that if something
bad happened to him, his disciples could carry on with the mission of bringing
in God’s Kingdom.
And
there was also the wild popularity Jesus and his disciples had. People were coming from every nook and cranny
in the countryside bringing their sick to be healed. Jesus and the disciples were so popular that
they could get no rest, no time even to eat.
I think Mark tells the story here on the polite side. I think Jesus probably said, “I’ve had enough
of this ___. Get in the boat boys. We’re going to the cottage for the weekend.” Jesus needed to teach them that rest from the
ministry was as important as the work of the ministry.
They
got in the boat and headed for a deserted place in the wilderness. But that
crowd, that relentless crowd, they see where Jesus was heading and they run, on
their feet, to get there before him to meet him and carry on with the
craziness. When Jesus gets to shore he
doesn’t get upset at the crowd. Rather,
he was moved with compassion for them.
To him they looked like sheep without a shepherd. They weren’t looking for or needing “follow-the-law”
religion. They needed to know how God
really is. They needed a king who really
cared about them. They needed a God like
Jesus.
Jesus
began to teach them and his lesson ended with a profound miracle that proved he
was God’s Anointed One, the Messiah King they were expecting, a community
dinner. Jesus fed this crowd that likely
numbered over 15,000 on five loves of bread and two fish. The Kingdom of God
was at hand. No one could deny that.
The
day ended and Jesus told the disciples to get in the boat and go to
Bethsaida. Bethsaida was hometown to
Peter and Andrew. They would have a place
to stay that was family-like and familiar.
Jesus stayed behind to dismiss the crowd and then he went up the
hillside overlooking the lake to pray.
All night he watched his disciples down there in that boat struggling in
vain against an adverse wind. There was
no way they could get to Bethsaida and rest.
This
moment was a bit of a sign to Jesus.
Without him in the boat there was no way they could get to where he had
sent them. So, he walks on the water to
the boat and the disciples are terrified because they hadn’t quite yet caught
on to who he is. Jesus got in the boat
and the wind ceased and they smooth sailed it on to their destination of
Bethsaida and some much needed days of rest.
Right?
No. Not even with Jesus in the boat could they
get to where Jesus had sent them for the rest they needed. They came ashore in Gennesaret, which was in
the completely opposite direction, and there the sideshow started yet again and
this time it was even weirder. As soon
as the people recognized Jesus, they started bringing the sick to him on mats
so that they could just touch the hem of his cloak and be healed just like that
lady who had a haemorrhage for twelve years back in chapter five. Those who touched him were healed. Healed means made whole. They were restored to full and meaningful
lives.
Twice
in these passages Jesus and his disciples have unexpected and un-hoped for
outcomes to their plans. They want to go
to a quiet, deserted place in the wilderness and yet get mobbed when they get
there. They want the family-like familiarity
of a home to rest in and yet get challenged by nature and wind up completely
opposite to where they want to be and again they get mobbed. They are tired and there is no rest. The vital need that people have for Jesus and
his healing kingdom is too great that even Jesus himself seems powerless to get
away from it. He always seems to wind up
in the middle of his own ministry.
There
is a lesson in this for us. Like the
disciples in the boat, we small and aging congregations in this cooperative
seem to be rowing against an adverse wind trying to get back to a family-like place
we are familiar with so that we can rest and the young folk can carry the torch. So few people are so tired from having to do
so many things for “the church”. Fatigue
rather than wonder and amazement at Jesus and his Kingdom ministry is the most
expressed feeling I hear.
All
the while the church seems to be going nowhere on the lake if not in the
completely opposite direction. Instead
of people crowding in to find wholeness in Jesus here in our midst, we struggle
and worry about our survival as a church.
To cap it all off in a few weeks we will be down to one minister and some
of you are going to discover gifts for ministry you didn’t know you had as we
share in Christ’s ministry less dependent on clergy and which hopefully will
become more involved in Jesus’ wholeness giving ministry.
The
lesson these passages teach us is that if we are tired and looking for rest God
may not give us the luxury of rest.
Maybe what he has in mind for us is to feel Jesus compassion and his
desire to teach people the truth and to impart wholeness to people who want
nothing to do with institutional religion.
I am hoping that rest in the family-like familiarity of Bethsaida or
quiet rest in the wilderness of deserted sanctuaries is not where we are
headed. But rather, I hope our
destination is in the completely opposite direction of discovering the Kingdom
of God reality in the midst of exhausting community dinners where people sense
the presence of the Lord in their midst and we feel compassion and people find
wholeness. The Kingdom of God is at
hand. Jesus is in our boat. Let’s see where he takes us. Amen.
