“Pausing on Purpose”
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
July 23, 2006
St. Paul United
Rev. John Fleming
In what I believe in his latest
book, Finding Your Sweet Spot, Max Lucado tells the
story of what happened one day to Ernie Johnson, Jr. Ernie’s dad has announced games for the
Atlanta Braves for more than thirty years.
He has seen some of the greatest games in all of history. One game stands head and shoulders above the
rest. It was a game that his then nine
year old son, Ernie, Jr. played in. Ernie Jr was dutifully playing his position of shortstop for his
Little League team when a player on the opposing team hit the ball to the
fence. The ball bounced just right and
it hopped over the fence. If you know
baseball at all, then you know that when the ball does that, it is a ground
rule double. The runner can move no
further than second base.
The center and left fielders scampered to the fence and when they saw that it had hopped over it, the two scaled the wall to retrieve it. The game could not continue without that baseball (apparently the league operated on a very tight budget!). The fence was tall and you could not see beyond it. Both teams, both umpires, the scorekeeper and all of the fans waited and waited and waited and waited. The boys did not reappear. Concerned coaches finally jogged into the outfield and scaled the fence hoping to find that all was well with the boys. Curious players, including Ernie Jr, followed them in hopes of finding them. The story has a happy ending. The two outfielders, the missing duo, were found a few feet beyond the fence. Their gloves were dropped on the ground. The missing ball was at their feet. Smudged blackberries and smiles were on their faces. Max Lucado writes, “The two players (for a time) had stepped away from the game.”
Which for us, I
think, is hard to do. There are
kids to take here and there. There are
birthday parties to attend. There are
games here and there. There are yards to
mow and meals to fix. There are
machines, organizations, and budgets to run.
You see, you have to run. There
is no getting away from that, it seems.
On my way to the church the other morning I heard one of my
favorite songs on the radio. The song is
sung by the country music group
Well, for sure I think that Jesus was trying to tell the disciples something in our gospel lesson for this morning taken from parts of the sixth chapter of Mark’s gospel. The lesson is a continuation of the one of a couple of weeks ago. Jesus, you will remember, went to his hometown to preach, but without success. He was not accepted there. The people in his hometown put him down and told him to get out of town. With that news, Jesus gathered his disciples around him, and gave them their marching orders. He sent them out, two by two. He told them what to take on their journey. He told them where they should stay when they entered a town. He even told them what to do when they weren’t met with success. And so now the disciples are returning after a time of doing that. Some Bible scholars believe that the disciples were worn out from their journeys and their work. That makes sense. Mark does write, “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure to even eat.”
They may have been tired. But I believe that they were also excited, perhaps even anxious to tell Jesus about what had happened, what they had been doing. They are probably going to have a pot-luck meal together. Someone will need to set up the computer for the power point slide show. Peter may have wanted to tell about the man with the broken foot that he healed. John may have wanted to talk about the crowd that he preached to that hung on to his every word. Andrew probably wanted to talk about the man with epilepsy that he was able to heal. Well, you get the idea.
Because Jesus has the knack of
knowing exactly what disciples of his day and ones of our day need, he invited,
“Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and
rest a while.” The New International
Version of the Bible calls this place a quiet place. I will have to tell you that the invitation
of Jesus appeals to me. A retreat with
Jesus away from the world, just the small group sounds like a good idea. Maybe there would be nothing but resting,
eating, and sharing testimonies about what had happened. I would go on that retreat in a
heartbeat! I’ve been invited to a
retreat by our superintendent, Phil Hathcock. It’s supposed to happen in late August, at
The disciples like the idea of the
retreat, a time of rest, a July vacation from the rigors of their work. Look and see what happens. When the thirteen of them arrive at the retreat
center and check in at the front desk, a crowd is there waiting. Mark tells us that they saw Jesus and the
disciples get in the boat, and walked around the shoreline to meet them when
they landed. These people are not
interested in a retreat. They are not
there to get away from life. They have
followed Jesus and the disciples there because they are desperate to survive
life. Jesus sees them and has compassion
on them. He has pity for them. The truth is that there is no English word to
describe the emotion Jesus felt. He is
stirred, to the depth of his soul, at the needs of the people standing in front
of him. Now it is not clear to me
whether Jesus said the words or just thought them. Mark simply writes, “...and he had compassion
for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd...”
Suddenly the retreat is over. Abruptly the need of a break for the disciples takes a back seat to the great needs of the oppressed, the hurting, and the poor who have come out to this deserted and quiet place in hopes of a blessing from Jesus.
Now it seems to me that there are at least a couple of sermons in our lesson for this morning. One, obviously, is the need for a retreat, to take time for yourself. We all need time to recharge our batteries and to do things that give us energy and a renewed spirit. You can do that with a Sabbath day, as the Bible tells us we should do. Or you could do it with a retreat a time away, a vacation. My family often does this in two week increments in the summer.
I have a friend who honors a Sabbath day every Sunday. She does nothing but go to Sunday School and worship on Sunday morning. Her family eats at home in hopes that someone else will honor the day. She prepares the meal on Saturday evening. She told me about this when I was her pastor. With a smile on her face, she said, “I won’t be caught dead at Wal-Mart on a Sunday!” Good for her.
Eugene Peterson, the great author
and pastor for more than thirty years sets a good example. He tells that he takes Mondays off. It is his Sabbath day. Nothing is scheduled on Mondays. If there are emergencies, he responds. He admits that there are surprisingly few
emergencies on Mondays. He and his wife
pack a lunch and drive anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour away. Sometimes they head toward mountains. At other times they go to a lake. He says that the two of them walk leisurely. He says that they empty themselves and open
their lives up to what is out there, to birds and squirrels and rain and
snow. When their stomachs growl, they
eat. They drive home by
mid-afternoon. They return home and
putter. They do a few odd jobs. They read.
After supper,
Sunday is no down time for those who work for the church or in the church. If we aren’t careful, Sunday is not a Sabbath day for any of us. My guess is that what Eugene Peterson does on those Mondays helps him to do the things that he does every other day of the week. So the first sermon is about the need of a Sabbath, of taking time for yourself, for finding the things that recharge your batteries, of taking a break. That is the first sermon.
Here is the second. There are a lot of people in our world we need for us to minister. They and us, both of us act as if we are sheep without a shepherd. Read the headlines on any given news day. Doesn’t it fit that we act like we are hopeless and without watching, we might destroy ourselves? I know that that sounds harsh, but there is truth in it.
The retreat is short lived for Jesus and the disciples. It last as long as it takes to row the four miles from one side of the lake to the other. Jesus saw the crowd. They were like sheep without a shepherd. They needed something. They needed healing. They needed hope. They needed to be loved.
This passage, in part, says something about the popularity of Jesus and how it was mounting. That is obvious, but it also says something to us about what we are supposed to do for others. Jesus acted with compassion because it really is the only way to live. It is what we are supposed to do. When we see those who are lost, when we ourselves are lost, when we feel like our lives are limited, we are to love. We are to show compassion and care.
A pastor from
At their weekly staff meeting, the
staff prays for the needs of the church, including the requests. The pastor came to the girl’s request. They prayed, though they all wondered about
the red lines on her hands.
That evening, the Minister to Children called the ten year old at home. She asked what was wrong with her hands. Well, as it turns out, t, the ten year old is a crossing guard at her school. She was seeking God’s help. She had written, “I have kids’ lives in my hands.” We all do. She speaks for all of us. We are all children of God and we hold each other in our hands.
Here is the trick. Here is the thread that links these two sermons. It takes balance in your life to be able to do that. It is a balance between rest and rejuvenation and meeting the needs of all around us. Balance and along the way blackberries. Let us pray.
(Special thanks to Max Lucado for the story about Ernie Johnson Jr., for the idea for the sermon title, and for the story about Eugene Peterson).