Why did Jesus bother to...
Illustration
Object:
Why did Jesus bother to "heal many" when even many more were never healed by him? Why just scratch the surface?Why do I sweep my shop when, in fact, there are corners and boxes of unsorted items? Why do I tell my wife I love her when the words scarcely fathom the depth of my feelings? Why do I preach when Paul himself would call it foolishness?Why do I praise my sons if they never will fully understand my pride? Why do I clean the house when it will need it again so soon? Why do I live if all flesh is like grass? Why do I love if only for four-score and twenty years? Why do I labor if all is vanity?We do what we can do because it is doing something. And, like Jesus' ministry, it is the start of something others may pick up and run with. Others like Peter ... Paul ... or members of our congregations.Surface-scratching can lead to exciting things somewhere, some time. We'll let the Spirit prod where we leave off.
***
Mark 1:35 tells of Jesus going alone to a quiet place for prayer. He sets the example for us to follow. For unless we come apart for prayer we just plain come apart!Morning devotions are essential to a productive Christian life!A football team, you will note, does its calisthenics before the game begins, not afterwards. The same with the Christian life. Before the melee of people, demands, sicknesses, ignorance, whatever, it is important for us to warm up. We need to talk to God, allow Jesus to talk to us, get our priorities straight, scheme the day, limber up to do his will!
***
In a newspaper interview, actress Diahann Carroll described what happened to her after her husband died in a tragic automobile accident. She said she was absolutely inconsolable. She screamed. She threw things. She cried. She wouldn't eat. She couldn't sleep. She had to be given strong sedatives. But she told about how she came out of the experience in the weeks and months that followed, during which her life became completely transformed. The terrible frustration over her inability to control what had happened in her life began to disappear. And everything changed: the way she felt about herself and about others. When the reporter asked her to explain more fully how this change had come about, she replied, "The change in my life has all come about because I realize now that nothing in life is in your control. Nothing! When you accept that, you gain new strength." Then she added this telling sentence: "You pretend that you are in control but your heart knows better.""You pretend you are in control but your heart knows better." Listen to your heart and trust God. Let his power and love flow through you.
***
Remarkable medical advances have been made in every age, but perhaps never more than in the last fifty years or so. Hearts have been transplanted. DNA code has been cracked. Surgery without major incisions has become commonplace. Cochlear implants have made it possible that the deaf can hear. Surgeries take place to correct problems on babies while they're still in their mother's womb. The list goes on and on. Is it any wonder that the medical field is growing by leaps and bounds? People want to be healed and they want to have a good quality of life.Jesus could have set up shop, hung out a sign which said, "Jesus, Healer and Miracle Worker" and would have been busy helping people for what could have been a long and productive life. Instead, he chose to go on to other villages ... "so I can preach there also. That is why I came."
***
In an episode of the television series M*A*S*H, Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce begins to have sneezing attacks without ceasing after doing surgery on a wounded soldier who was brought in from a swamp. After all physical causes were eliminated, Dr. Sidney Friedman, the unit psychiatrist, was called in. Through talking, it was discovered that when Hawkeye was a child, a boy whom he thought to be his good friend pushed him out of a boat into the water. The boy he thought to be a friend was, in reality, mean to him. Until this was brought to the surface, this past haunted Hawkeye and the smell of the wounded soldier from the swamp acted as a trigger for his sneezing attacks.In Mark's Gospel, identifying the demons that are destroying people's lives is a tremendous source of power. Jesus even wants the demons to remain quiet about this source of healing. Throughout his gospel, Mark identifies the power of Jesus' ministry in his serving of others, not in being served. Jesus gave his life as a ransom so that demons of any kind might not have power over us.
***
Reading the story of Jesus as told by Mark, a modern reader might diagnose Jesus with a case of "urgency," that sense of being caught in a whirlwind and run off your feet until your physical, emotional, and psychological energies are sapped. Once something is labeled "urgent," everything else must be dropped until it gets done. The symptoms of urgency are: instant gratification, an inflated self-image, a loss of the sense of what is real, the need to infect those around them with the same sense of urgency, the sacrifice of personal relationships to the urgent task at hand, and, as "urgency" grows, the drive to self-destruction.Jesus was always on the move. Even when it seemed he had plenty of good work in one area, he moved on to reach new horizons. But as urgent as Jesus saw his ministry, he didn't suffer from "urgency" as defined above. He maintained close relationships with his disciples, with Mary and Martha and others; he knew who he was yet tried to keep his identity quiet. Jesus' ministry ultimately led him to the cross, but that was part of a divine plan that he willingly carried out.No, Jesus didn't suffer from "urgency." He simply knew his time was short and his workload heavy.
***
According to psychologist Hara Estroff Marano, one of the ways that humans can cope with the pressures of a busy world is through solitude. If we don't take time to recharge our batteries we soon feel overwhelmed and irritable. Solitude is that state of constructive engagement with oneself. During times of solitude, one can reflect, meditate, read, think, and be creative. Solitude replenishes us.Jesus had a busy start to his ministry. People flocked to him bringing their sick and demon possessed for healing. Jesus needed to be replenished. So he sought solitude in which he prayed, equipping himself for what lie ahead.
***
Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.-- C. T. Studd
***
"Get lost!" We've all heard those words -- though maybe not recently. Maybe they were spoken by an older brother or sister, annoyed with our nagging questions; or by that group of neighborhood kids we very much wanted to join in their tree fort or wherever; or worse yet, by that one, significant person we'd considered a friend.Those two little words "Get lost!" are painful. They cut... they burn... they carry the malodorous scent of rejection.For some of us, if we've ever really been lost, those two words also carry the feeling of fear. Whether it was as a child being left behind in a department store -- or at any stage of life feeling cut off from God -- being lost is no fun, to say the least.This reading from Mark's gospel tells of a time when Jesus got lost -- and it's not the time he got separated from his parents at age twelve, later to be discovered in the temple. No, this experience of lostness belongs to Jesus' adult life. He went to a deserted place, to pray. So thoroughly had Jesus done the job of detaching himself that his followers frantically exclaimed, "Everyone is searching for you."
***
Mark 1:35 tells of Jesus going alone to a quiet place for prayer. He sets the example for us to follow. For unless we come apart for prayer we just plain come apart!Morning devotions are essential to a productive Christian life!A football team, you will note, does its calisthenics before the game begins, not afterwards. The same with the Christian life. Before the melee of people, demands, sicknesses, ignorance, whatever, it is important for us to warm up. We need to talk to God, allow Jesus to talk to us, get our priorities straight, scheme the day, limber up to do his will!
***
In a newspaper interview, actress Diahann Carroll described what happened to her after her husband died in a tragic automobile accident. She said she was absolutely inconsolable. She screamed. She threw things. She cried. She wouldn't eat. She couldn't sleep. She had to be given strong sedatives. But she told about how she came out of the experience in the weeks and months that followed, during which her life became completely transformed. The terrible frustration over her inability to control what had happened in her life began to disappear. And everything changed: the way she felt about herself and about others. When the reporter asked her to explain more fully how this change had come about, she replied, "The change in my life has all come about because I realize now that nothing in life is in your control. Nothing! When you accept that, you gain new strength." Then she added this telling sentence: "You pretend that you are in control but your heart knows better.""You pretend you are in control but your heart knows better." Listen to your heart and trust God. Let his power and love flow through you.
***
Remarkable medical advances have been made in every age, but perhaps never more than in the last fifty years or so. Hearts have been transplanted. DNA code has been cracked. Surgery without major incisions has become commonplace. Cochlear implants have made it possible that the deaf can hear. Surgeries take place to correct problems on babies while they're still in their mother's womb. The list goes on and on. Is it any wonder that the medical field is growing by leaps and bounds? People want to be healed and they want to have a good quality of life.Jesus could have set up shop, hung out a sign which said, "Jesus, Healer and Miracle Worker" and would have been busy helping people for what could have been a long and productive life. Instead, he chose to go on to other villages ... "so I can preach there also. That is why I came."
***
In an episode of the television series M*A*S*H, Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce begins to have sneezing attacks without ceasing after doing surgery on a wounded soldier who was brought in from a swamp. After all physical causes were eliminated, Dr. Sidney Friedman, the unit psychiatrist, was called in. Through talking, it was discovered that when Hawkeye was a child, a boy whom he thought to be his good friend pushed him out of a boat into the water. The boy he thought to be a friend was, in reality, mean to him. Until this was brought to the surface, this past haunted Hawkeye and the smell of the wounded soldier from the swamp acted as a trigger for his sneezing attacks.In Mark's Gospel, identifying the demons that are destroying people's lives is a tremendous source of power. Jesus even wants the demons to remain quiet about this source of healing. Throughout his gospel, Mark identifies the power of Jesus' ministry in his serving of others, not in being served. Jesus gave his life as a ransom so that demons of any kind might not have power over us.
***
Reading the story of Jesus as told by Mark, a modern reader might diagnose Jesus with a case of "urgency," that sense of being caught in a whirlwind and run off your feet until your physical, emotional, and psychological energies are sapped. Once something is labeled "urgent," everything else must be dropped until it gets done. The symptoms of urgency are: instant gratification, an inflated self-image, a loss of the sense of what is real, the need to infect those around them with the same sense of urgency, the sacrifice of personal relationships to the urgent task at hand, and, as "urgency" grows, the drive to self-destruction.Jesus was always on the move. Even when it seemed he had plenty of good work in one area, he moved on to reach new horizons. But as urgent as Jesus saw his ministry, he didn't suffer from "urgency" as defined above. He maintained close relationships with his disciples, with Mary and Martha and others; he knew who he was yet tried to keep his identity quiet. Jesus' ministry ultimately led him to the cross, but that was part of a divine plan that he willingly carried out.No, Jesus didn't suffer from "urgency." He simply knew his time was short and his workload heavy.
***
According to psychologist Hara Estroff Marano, one of the ways that humans can cope with the pressures of a busy world is through solitude. If we don't take time to recharge our batteries we soon feel overwhelmed and irritable. Solitude is that state of constructive engagement with oneself. During times of solitude, one can reflect, meditate, read, think, and be creative. Solitude replenishes us.Jesus had a busy start to his ministry. People flocked to him bringing their sick and demon possessed for healing. Jesus needed to be replenished. So he sought solitude in which he prayed, equipping himself for what lie ahead.
***
Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.-- C. T. Studd
***
"Get lost!" We've all heard those words -- though maybe not recently. Maybe they were spoken by an older brother or sister, annoyed with our nagging questions; or by that group of neighborhood kids we very much wanted to join in their tree fort or wherever; or worse yet, by that one, significant person we'd considered a friend.Those two little words "Get lost!" are painful. They cut... they burn... they carry the malodorous scent of rejection.For some of us, if we've ever really been lost, those two words also carry the feeling of fear. Whether it was as a child being left behind in a department store -- or at any stage of life feeling cut off from God -- being lost is no fun, to say the least.This reading from Mark's gospel tells of a time when Jesus got lost -- and it's not the time he got separated from his parents at age twelve, later to be discovered in the temple. No, this experience of lostness belongs to Jesus' adult life. He went to a deserted place, to pray. So thoroughly had Jesus done the job of detaching himself that his followers frantically exclaimed, "Everyone is searching for you."
