21 July 2024 Pentecost 9
2 Samuel 7:1-14a Psalm 89:21-38 Ephesians 2:11-22 Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
The disciples have just returned from what appears to have been a very successful first mission tour and Jesus takes them ‘away’ to a quiet place for rest. We all would recognise that need for R&R after a busy schedule and we appreciate having time to do ‘nothing’. But, as they say in the classics, the best laid plans of mice and men…. This ‘nothingness’ does not eventuate. They are ’seen’ and the public are anxious to ‘get more of what Jesus has been offering’. The way Mark describes it, it appears the crowd are not sure what they want, or need, but Jesus quickly perceives their need for ‘something’. And, as Jesus is want to do, he provides that ‘something’ in spades. We then hear of them crossing the lake again, but what we have not heard is the story between these two ‘sightings of Jesus’, and in this ‘in-between time Jesus feeds the 5000 and then walks on the water to meet up with the disciples who he has ‘sent off’ across the water. And when they again reach shore, Jesus is again ‘seen’ by the crowd who come to him and lay their sick on mats everywhere he goes so that they may just ‘touch his garments’ and be healed.
You can hear the exhaustion in, not just the disciples, but also Jesus who has just heard of the death of John the Baptist. After the disciple’s long and tiring journey, they were in need of rest, and Jesus needs time to process the devastating news of John’s murder, but rest is not what any of them can get. Jesus is ever ‘ready and willing’ to meet whatever need confronts him, and at no time, it appears, does he ‘back away’ from meeting the needs of those who come to him. What we have not heard, because it is in the feeding story, is that after Jesus sent the disciples ‘back over the lake’, he has gone up the mountain for some quiet time in prayer with ‘the Father’. In today’s society, ‘quiet time’ is not readily available, nor is it sometimes tolerated. We are so pressured to ‘achieve’ and be seen to be ‘doing something’, that being able to have ‘quiet time with God’ is difficult to achieve. But it is often only when we manage to have that quiet time that we have the energy to continue to do what we need to do. Being refreshed is about ‘stopping’ and ‘spending time with God’.
In these passages, we see the ‘human’ Jesus, the Jesus who needs to ‘withdraw’; the Jesus who desires solitary prayer; but these glimpses of Jesus do not diminish his ‘divinity’, they enhance it. They remind us that the Incarnation is Christianity’s best gift to the world. God – the God of the whole universe – hungers, sleeps, eats, rests, withdraws, and grieves. And in all these mundane, but crucial ways, God is like us. Our God rests.
Despite all Jesus’ plans for rest and recovery for himself and the disciples going awry, he does not ‘run away’, he does not demand they ‘leave him alone’, he has compassion for them and ‘teaches them many things’. And when their second attempt for isolation and rest is thwarted, Jesus’ response is unchanged, he has compassion on them and all who touched him were healed.
We often find ourselves telling ourselves that ‘other things’ can wait, nothing depends that urgently on me. But our Gospel this morning is about the ongoing and necessary tension between compassion and self-protection. And Jesus lived this tension as well. He was unapologetic about his need for rest and solitude, he saw no problem in retreating with his disciples and himself for a much-needed break. But he also did not allow his weariness to dull his compassion. He knew that he was needed by those aching, desperate crowds. He allowed his love for others, his own inner hungers, and the urgency of the world’s needs to exist in productive tension.
Jesus does not stop ‘giving’ of his time, his touch, his presence, and his compassion. Next week is ‘Commitment Sunday’ where we are all invited to ‘reassess’ and ‘confirm’ our commitment to the ministry of this parish. The tension for us next week is ‘where does my commitment lie’. We live in a world of dire and constant need. And the ministry needs of this parish do depend on all of us. So can you prayerfully assess ‘does my giving reflect what God is asking of me’.