“They’re Closing In”

Sermon-8 Pentecost-Proper 11-July 22, 2012

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Another passage from Mark-another sandwich.  Two short episodes with a big piece missing in the middle. 

Story of the man in the suit.

Sometimes the people who set up the lectionary, the weekly decision on what readings we will hear, look like the man in the suit.  Notice in the gospel for today we have five verses, then a gap of 20 verses, then 4 more?  It’s convoluted for reasons that you’ll get more of next week.  But see if you can remember 2 weeks ago.  Jesus had a bad time in his home town.  Essentially he “failed” as a prophet when he went there.  So what does he do?  He puts the disciples in teams of two and sends them out to proclaim the good news.  Remember that?

Then Mark, the gospel writer interrupts that story with the story of the death of John the Baptist.  Today’s gospel comes back in with the disciples returning after their stint as apostles:

So the disciples are back.  And they mob Jesus to tell him stories about their adventures.  And Jesus says, “listen you need to rest, and eat.  Let’s go across the lake and get away from people and get some r and r.”

Before anyone had ever heard of “compassion fatigue” Jesus is trying to take care of his tired and weary do gooders.  Taking time out to take care of ourselves is important,  Carving out room in our lives for quietness, and thoughtfulness is critical in a 24 hour world. Time for sabbath and rest are Christian values. 

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

Then, when the crowds followed Jesus and his friends, who were trying to go off and be by themselves, the crowds were actually waiting for them when their boat landed.  And it says in verse 34 that Jesus “began to teach them many things.” 

Mark Hoffmann, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg  points out that when Jesus really wanted to show compassion to the people he “taught them many things” .  His point being that teaching can be a form of compassionate evangelism.  Hoffmann goes on t say,  “I so like this verse that when we offered an evening worship service that focused on Bible study, we set the time for it at 6:34!).But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

Or how about Mark the gospel writer being such a good Jew, that he wove  the Old Testament into every story about Jesus that he recounted.  Tim Slemmons points out that :  “the occasion for Jesus' compassion, namely, that the crowd was like sheep without a shepherd" and again, his response is to teach them (6:34; Num 27:17) was from the Old Testament book of Numbers . ¹⁶‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation¹⁷who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd. The second recalls the original purpose of the fringes that the Israelites wore from Numbers 15:38: "You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God" (Nu 15:39-40).

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

The thing about listening to the Gospel of Mark, is that it makes more sense if you listen with your eyes closed and simply see the picture that is described.  Close your eyes, and listen:” ³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.”….. ³³Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.³⁴As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd;”… ⁵⁴When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him,⁵⁵and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.⁵⁶And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed…”

What’s the image that you get?  People are chasing Jesus, surrounding him, pressing against him..  First his disciples “gathering around”, then the crowds.  The sick, the needy.  What does this make you think of?  The first image I had was the counselors at last week’s Day Camp.  How about the paparazzi following around a movie star?  There is this constant picture of Jesus being pursued, chased, hounded.  Canon David Lovelace once wrote:” I was recently with a group of clergy when one person observed that in Mark's Gospel it seems like people are always rushing after Jesus wanting to be made whole.” 

That’s the sense that you get in Mark-hungry, hurting, needy people constantly encircling, pressing, closing  in on Jesus.  Even the disciples are portrayed this way.

Why does Mark show the people like this ? Why is the crowd in Mark always running after Jesus? Is this passage more about the people-and how desperate they are?  Or more about Jesus-his authority, his peacefulness at the center of great needs? 

Think about your own life, your own faith for a moment.  When are you most open to faith-when things are rolling along?  Or when you are hurting?  When do you most feel the need to be in church-when you are struggling?  Or when you are feeling self-sufficient and strong? When do you most think about Jesus-when things are going well-or when they aren’t? 

Mark has collected all these stories about Jesus and put them in such away to help his own church.  The people in Mark’s church weren’t always hungry, or needy, or hurting.  But when they were, when they were facing great threats or unspeakable violence-they needed a shepherd, they wanted a leader, they hungered for someone who could show them the way out. They sought a savior, they required a calm center in the midst of the chaos of their lives.

Mark wrote this gospel-so the people of his church would know that Jesus was there.  Mark didn’t promise an end to evil.  Mark’s Jesus didn’t guarantee that justice would prevail.  Mark’s Jesus never pledged that life would be fair.  In fact, just the opposite.  Mark devoted a whole chapter to the senseless beheading of Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist-on a whim of a young girl.  The biggest part of Mark’s gospel will be the crucifixion.  Mark was a realist.  Mark stared life in the eye, and he didn’t blink.  Mark understood what his church needed, and why Jesus came.  And he showed that Jesus.  The Jesus Mark revealed was someone who made people whole especially in a broken world-and taught them not to be afraid-despite the fear and tragedy in their life.

Listen to a cousin of one of the Aurora shooting victims: "I hope this evil act ... doesn't shake people's faith in God," .  Mark would say that evil acts are what drive people to faith-not away from it. 

This is the gospel story for today, it’s a story about people who are hungry, tired, hurting, and needy who rush at Jesus looking for healing and hope. 

It can be a tough world at times.  It can be senseless, and angry, and random.  It can be overwhelming and daunting. Mark’s church knew this.  His church knew how difficult life could be.  And so when they heard Mark’s stories about Jesus-they knew that the center would hold, and that they would find wholeness-even when surrounded by brokenness.

It was a tough week.  We saw yet another example of pain and evil.  It hurts us to witness these-it hurts us as Americans, it hurts us as Christians.  Mark knew that people hearing his gospel would encounter weeks like these-and so he put down in writing the story of Jesus.  It is especially for weeks like these that we gather with one another and listen to the story of people who went looking for a shepherd.  Amen.