Sunday
22 July 2018
The
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
LESSON 2 Samuel 7:1-14a
or Jeremiah 23:1-6
CANTICLE Psalm
89:20-37
or Psalm 23
EPISTLE Ephesians
2:11-22
GOSPEL Mark
6:30-34, 53-56
Preaching Text
Mark 6:20-24,
53-56
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they
had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by
yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no
leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by
themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there
on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw
a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep
without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. When they had crossed over, they came to land
at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at
once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the
sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And 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.
In the name of
the Father,
and of the
Son,
and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
This Gospel marks the return of the disciples whom Jesus had
sent out in his name in mission and ministry.
Now they are eager to tell Jesus about their experiences. And how does Jesus receive them? He invites them to come away with him to a
deserted place. What is happening here
is that Jesus is setting aside a time of sabbath for the disciples. They have labored, and now the time has come
to rest and to reenergize, for there is more work yet to be done. But for now, that work can wait.
Jesus’ invitation to the disciples to come away says volumes
about Jesus’ views on Sabbath in ways that might surprise us. At times we may be tempted to believe that
there was some truth in the accusations against our Lord that he did not honor
the Sabbath. But when re remember this
Gospel, we are confronted with the reality that Jesus honors Sabbath while addressing
how it is kept. His critique is with the
letter of the Law associated to the keeping of a day rather than the spirit of
the Law that is far more focused on what Sabbath does for us than what we do on
Sabbath. And how we need to be mindful
of that distinction.
But why do we need to be mindful of Sabbath? That is a question for Christians to struggle
with and honestly answer. Some have
turned Sabbath-talk into discussions of Sunday activities. That was certainly my experience as a child
in a very strict legalistic Methodist tradition under the umbrella of
Protestantism. And when we turn such
discussion of Sunday as Sabbath into merely the expectation that on Sunday we
as Christians go to Church, we can with lightning speed sound a lot like the
Pharisees who kept Sabbath simply to have something in which to boast in ourselves
and how good and holy we are by our Sunday attendance. Meanwhile other Christians point out rightly
that Saturday, not Sunday, is still the Sabbath. Some of them even remind us that the early
Church gathered to worship on both days, with a different focus on each of
those days. Jesus, after all, never
replaced the Sabbath. Unfortunately,
some of them believe and will say that Jesus abolished the Sabbath, and that
Christians need not pay attention to Sabbath any longer. And this is simply untrue and unfortunate,
for such a view completely misses the beauty of Jesus’ words and actions about
Sabbath.
Jesus shows us that Sabbath, on whatever day we heed the Lord’s
invitation to come and rest, is a gift.
Sabbath provides us with a break from our daily routine and duties that
we might be attentive to God and to the wellness of our souls. Sabbath is intended to be a benefit that
strengthens us. In today’s Gospel, the
disciples needed such a gift. Jesus knew
that! There are verses omitted from
today’s Gospel. That missing portion contains
a moment we will hear in weeks to come when over a period of five Sundays we
will read the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel.
Jesus feeds a large multitude of persons with a meager amount of
food. And after the leftovers have been
gathered, Jesus sends the disciples to the waterfront to get into the boat and
go to the other side with the assurance that he will catch up with them. Then Jesus retires to a private place,
withdrawn from all, even from his disciples, that he might spend the night in
prayer, in the depths of the bonds of the Most Holy Trinity, to be in Sabbath
time as an act of preparation for the continuation of his ministry among the
people. And in the late hours of the
night, in those final hours of the darkness of night, Jesus returns from
Sabbath, walking on the very waters being crossed by the disciples in the boat,
joining them in the boat not long before they reach the shore. And with the typical speed of Mark’s Gospel
in particular, we pick up in our Gospel reading at that moment when the people
on the other side immediately recognize Jesus and his disciples, and suddenly mission
and ministry are once more engaged in full force.
But what does that have to do with us? Make no mistake about the fact that we all,
even now, need Sabbath time that we might reconnect with God and to be renewed
for mission in the world as participants in what our Presiding Bishop has so
wonderfully coined “The Jesus Movement.”
How well I know this. Until
recently, for a period of nearly eight years, I was engaged in what is called
these days “bi-vocational ministry.”
Monday through Friday, I was engaged in ministry within the hospital as
a chaplain. Saturday and Sunday, I was
engaged in parish ministry as the rector of a parish. My typical work week was seven days a
week. There was precious little Sabbath
time for me in these years, and I paid dearly for the lack of this gift. Life and ministry for me simply became a “rat
race” in which I was going through the motions even as my soul was famished and
starving. Years ago I saw a cartoon that
said something along the lines of “You know you might be driving too fast if”
below the image of a crucifix handing from a rear-view mirror in which Jesus is
grasping on to the cross as if he and the cross were in a wind tunnel and the
wind was striving to separate one from the other. In the last year, I no longer laughed at that
image. I felt like it was me and not
Jesus, trying with all my might to hold on to my priestly ministry and to my
vocations as a husband, a brother, an uncle, and so forth. I felt like I was loosing my very self and
identity.
Thankfully, I no longer feel that way. I had the blessing of seven weeks in between
leaving the hospital and entering full-time parish ministry in two parishes
that gave me ample opportunity to engage in Sabbath. And now, within this new ministry in two
parishes, I have that Sabbath time built right in to my schedule.
As I sit with this Gospel, I wonder how many who hear these
words feel as I have recently. I wonder
how many of us need Sabbath but feel as if it simply isn’t possible. Remember that famous definition of insanity:
“Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different
results.” Jesus calls us regularly to
take Sabbath time to rest and reenergize not in order that we can feel good
about ourselves, but rather than Jesus might feed our souls and equip us for
work that awaits us when Sabbath ends and mission resumes. And make no mistake about this fact that the
mission of the Gospel in the world belongs to each one of us. We are called like the disciples to share
Jesus with the world, to comfort and heal, to feed and clothe others in the
strong name of Jesus. And if we are to
accomplish this mission, we must first be comforted and healed, feed and
clothed, by the one who invites us to rest and recover, to embrace Sabbath, that
our souls might be strong for the healing of the world.
In the name of
the Father,
and of the
Son,
and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Rev’d Timothy Alleman
Priest-in-Charge
St. Stephen’s Pro-Cathedral
Rector
The Church of the Holy Cross
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