Work and
Rest
(Based on
Mark 6:30-56, but mostly just 30-34)
The Lectionary reading
for today actually serves as both an introduction to the story of Jesus feeding
the 5,000 and as a conclusion to the story that began in the first part of this
chapter when Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs to do mission. Now it was time for the disciples to return
and report these ministry experiences to Jesus.
This missionary
reporting was important so that the disciples might share their experiences
with Jesus. You can probably imagine
their excitement at the retelling of their journey through the local towns --
the miracles, the people, and the hardships they encountered.
However, in the
process of reporting, Jesus apparently sees their fatigue, and knowing that
they needed time away from ministry to decompress and to prepare for what would
come next, he realizes that they also need some quiet time to get away from the
pressing crowds, for it seems that the crowds had become so overwhelming them
that they didn't even have time to eat!
So, Jesus leads
them to cross the lake to a deserted place so that they might rest.
"And they
went away in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. Now many saw them going
and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and
arrived ahead of them. As he went
ashore, he saw a great crowd…" (Mark 6:32-34)
Well, so much for
that time of rest…so much for that quiet deserted place to recharge…so much for
that day off.
It happens…in
fact, it happens a lot.
We can probably
imagine the look on the disciples face when their hide-away suddenly becomes flooded
with the next opportunity to provide ministry. A great sigh, perhaps. “Really?
Can’t we have just a few moments to recharge?”
But then on the
other hand, maybe they saw the same thing Jesus saw when he looked at the
crowd:
"When he
disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for
they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many
things."
Remember last
week’s story about Herod and the beheading of John the Baptist. N.T. Wright comments about this particular
passage, he writes:
"Think back
through the story Mark had told just told us. Herod is off in his palace, probably far to
the south of the Sea of Galilee carousing with his cronies, winking at pretty
girls, beheading prophets. His henchmen
on the ground are grasping bullies. Here
are his people, desperate for leadership. And here is a young prophet to whom they
flock. Is he the king-in-waiting? That is the echo we must hear behind the
story?" (Mark, pg. 78)
This moves Jesus
to compassion. Something must be done.
Someone must lead. Someone must show them
the way, the new way to be GOD's true people. This was his calling, of course, and so, the
text tells us, even out of his own fatigue and even out of the fatigue of his
ministry partners – the disciples, Jesus "began to teach them many
things."
To be sure, there
is weariness in ministry. We know this
is true, but weariness is no excuse to quit.
Of course, this is a very difficult statement to hear for those of us who
have been “at it” for a long time; for those of us who have filled roles in the
church as an elder, as a deacon, as a treasurer, as an usher, as a choir
member. It can sometimes be tiresome for
all of us who seem to endlessly prepare lunches or dinners, dust pews and
vacuum rugs, who take out the trash and tidy up the place, to replace
lightbulbs or even help with Food Bank, or our Kid’s programs or whatever comes
up on the calendar to create the next ministry opportunity.
Often, we must
think to ourselves, “Well, we've done our part; we've served out time, now it's
up to others to carry on the work.” As
our trailblazer, Jesus here models the determination to finish well the task
before him. He let nothing stand in his
way, not even weariness.
But is there never
a time to rest, his disciples might wonder, just like you and I might
wonder? Well, we’ll get to that in a
moment. First, there’s work to
do….(hesitate) with this passage….
Somehow, we, too,
must discover Jesus’ compassion for the crowds within our own hearts, but this
is not as easy as it sounds. In order to
do that we need to think about our own motivation for ministry -- Just why do
we minister? and What is the cause and design of our ministry actions?
We’ll need to
admit – if we’re being honest - that much about ministry is ego driven. On the surface it might seem self-less and
caring about others, but on a deeper level it’s often self-serving and about
building our own need to be needed, which (in essence) is about repairing our
own broken self-worth. To be sure, to
some extent, this is unavoidable. We are
fallen people after all, with imperfect motives, possessing prideful incentives
hidden even from our own hearts.
But, in Jesus’
continued compassionate response to the crowds we see the lesson of selflessness,
which screams to us:
This story is not
about us! It’s not about our connivance,
or our weariness, or our need. Instead,
it’s about our calling to this mission, to this ministry. It’s GOD’s story, and how GOD is trying,
through us, to reclaim the world and its wearied people from the battering and
marring that mark daily life. And to be
a counterbalance to a culture that constantly says to us, “I want what I want
when I want it and, literally, to hell with anything and anybody else.”
And as much as
this ministry and our ministry actions aren’t supposed to be about us, they’re
also not about the crowds, either. As
these people crowded the shore when Jesus got out of the boat, asking for
healing and compassion, wanting to hear Jesus speak words of truth and a balm
of perfect love, many of them will also be those who clamor and cry out weeks
later for his crucifixion.
Again, this means,
not only must our ministry actions not be about ourselves, but these actions
must not be about the crowds either, finding what works to "bring them
in." For, the crowd is fickle,
having itching ears, and they will stay as long as what we say agrees with
their disposition.
Again, I’ll point
out that this story is not about the crowds and how large the audience might have
been. No, this story is about GOD and
his push to reclaim the world in the truly human person of a young Jewish
prophet named Jesus.
So, ultimately,
the goal here for us is to be found faithful to GOD and his calling on our
lives, faithful to the very end.
Does ministry get
crazy busy? Does it feel sometimes that
the work will never end? Yes. And there will be times when we simply can’t
rest, or rather that we can’t rest….just yet.
Sometimes you
simply need to grab rest, the moment it presents itself. If we continue to read in this passage. Jesus feeds the crowd of 5,000 plus with five
loaves of bread and two fish. And when
they had eaten, Jesus immediately tells his disciples to get in the boat and go
on ahead of him while he dismissed the crowds.
He knew how tired
they were. He knew that this was their
one and only opportunity to get some rest and he tells them to immediately take
it.
And when his work
was over, Jesus too went up on the mountain to pray. (Mark 6:45,46).
Episcopalian Bishop
Michael Curry, the Bishop who gave the wedding homily at Harry and Megan’s
royal wedding in England once gave a sermon with the mantra, “we need crazy
Christians”. His point was that
Christians need to buck the trends of the world, and go against the grain—and
when we do that it looks “crazy,” but it looks so much more like the life of
Jesus.
A huge part of
such craziness is do-ing stuff. Do-ing justice. Do-ing acts of love. Do-ing
forgiveness.
But…if we’re going
to buck the trends of the world, one such trend is bucking the idol of
busy-ness.
We need to rest,
too.
We have worth, but
it doesn’t come from our seventy hour work-weeks, or our month straight with no
days off. Those things aren’t a badge of
honor. They are marks of an imbalanced life, an imbalanced ministry, and an
arid spiritual life.
When the opportunity presents itself, we need to get away from the grind of ministry, no matter our
office in the church. We need to steal
away to Jesus and have some quiet time, alone, in a deserted place, to rest
awhile.
Curry says, “This
isn’t laziness. It’s not a perpetual
state. It’s temporary. It’s for a while. But, for
that while, it’s about rest. We cannot
just minister to others day by day, month by month. There are always going to be needs and
sometimes we’ll need to have compassion and fill those needs, but we also need
to rest. If we don’t rest, we won’t be
able to take care of others. If we don’t
slow down, we will be of no use to anyone, especially God.
Put down the
iPhone. Don’t update your status. Set the away message on your voicemail and
email, and don’t even think of checking on it.
For in so doing
you’ll be embracing the spiritual practice of rest. And, while the rest of the world may think
you’re a little crazy…you’ll be crazy in all the right ways.”
AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment