Pentecost 9 B: It’s Jesus

Posted by DJL on Jul 20, 2018 in Dear Partner | 3 comments

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Dear Partner in Preaching,

So late in the week, I know (and apologize), so just a few thoughts for those who have been procrastinating. 🙂

“Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while” (Mk 6:31) – one of my favorite verses as it offers such a gracious invitation. I can almost imagine Jesus’ voice saying these words and always start to relax the moment I hear or read this verse. And yet…

And yet the get no rest. Crowds see where they are going and get there ahead of them. Or, I should say, crowds in need get there ahead of them and Jesus can’t refuse them. Not here, and not a little later in Gennesaret. So what are we to make of this?

Two lectionary cycles ago, I focused on rest anyway, knowing how much the disciples needed it and how much we still do. Moreover, I suggested that rest is essential to our living into God’s hopes and dreams for us and invited us to help our people commit to it. Last time this passage came around, I focused on how Jesus’ response to the crowds was marked by his compassion for them and his commitment to meet their deepest needs and suggested that we invite our folks, first, to name their deep needs (not just wants, mind you, but needs) and, second, to imagine how our congregations could commit themselves to meeting the deep needs of those around us.

This year, what I’ve come back to is that it is Jesus who invites rest and Jesus who, seeing the need of those around him, responds in compassion. I’ll say it again, it is Jesus who does these things. Jesus, not us. Certainly we can imagine our role, recommit ourselves (whether to rest or response), and live into God’s hopes that we care for each other and the community around us. But it struck me that we won’t get very far if we don’t recognize Jesus’ deep compassion for the crowds then… and for those gathering in your congregation today.

Jesus, that is, still responds to our needs in compassion and love and, when we realize that — that is, when we are stopped short by the depth of his compassion and caught up once again into the reality (or, really, reality-changing truth) of his love — only then can we look around us and see and respond to the needs of those in our community with like measures of compassion and love.

So tell your folks this week, Dear Partner, that Jesus calls us out of our congregations to meet the needs of those around us. Tell them that we’ve got work to do because, indeed, the needs are great, the crowds are still gathering, and so many, many people need to hear the good news. But tell them also that Christ also responds to their needs; that Christ calls only after Christ sees, attends to, and heals us; and that Christ is already out in front of us, and as we leave and go forth we will find him in the very needs of those we serve.

That’s a lot to tell, I know, but it’s a message worth telling, and I appreciate your commitment to do so.

Blessings on your preaching and your life.

Yours in Christ,
David

Post image: the chapel at Mount Olivet’s Cathedral of the Pines, a place where I am unfailingly reminded that Jesus responds to my needs and sends me back out into the world to share his love in word and deed. Thanks be to God for this sacred place!