First Lutheran Church
July 18, 2021
The Eight Sunday after Pentecost B
Mark 6:30-34 30The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31He 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. 32And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 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; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
“Divine Transitions”
Pastor Greg Ronning
When I think of the life of Jesus, one of the first words that comes to my mind is “adventure.” What an adventure! Jesus is on the move, and everywhere he goes, something incredible happens. People are healed, lives are transformed, demons are confronted and are exorcised, social norms are challenged and boundaries are erased, bread and fish are multiplied and water turns to wine, - in the life of Jesus - heaven and earth collide! I picture Jesus frantically crisscrossing the countryside with passion and a sense of urgency announcing the Kingdom of God is at hand! The life of Jesus is a quick paced action / adventure movie.
When I think of the life of Jesus what I often forget about is the transitions, the things that happen in between all the drama, action, and adventure. I forget some of those short scripture passages that complete the whole story of Jesus. I forget that Jesus was very intentional about caring for himself and his disciples. I forget that in between all the adventure, Jesus took intentional time to transition, Jesus took time to rest and to reflect.
Some examples from the Gospels …
In the Fifth Chapter of Luke, Jesus helps the disciples bring in an incredible catch of fish that nearly tears the nets apart, he heals a man with leprosy, he invites a paralyzed man to stand up and walk, and in increasing numbers the crowds descend upon him to be cured of all their diseases. Amazing things are happening, but what we often miss in this chapter is verse sixteen, a short but not insignificant detail, "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."
In the Eighth Chapter of Matthew, astonishing things are happening; Jesus stretches out his hand and a man’s leprosy is cleansed, he speaks a word and a Roman Centurion’s servant is healed in the moment, while staying at Peter’s house that evening “many” suffering people are brought to him, and they are healed. The Eighth Chapter continues with Jesus calming a storm while out on the waters of the sea. And when he reaches the other side, he casts a bunch of demons out of a couple of people and into a herd of swine who promptly rush into the sea and drown themselves. Amidst all this action it’s sometimes easy to miss Matthew 8:24, “Jesus was asleep.”
In the Seventh Chapter of Mark, in the midst of tense and heightened conflict with the Pharisees, the dramatic encounter with the Syrophoenician Woman, and the curious healing of a deaf man (Ephphatha!); we often miss verse twenty-four, where Jesus enters into a house with instructions to not let anyone know where he was staying.
Which brings us back to today’s appointed gospel reading, and the often-missed transitional verse, Jesus invitation to his disciples, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” These words are preceeded in Chapter Six with the story of how Jesus sent out the twelve disciples, two by two, to announce the coming of the Kingdom of God, cast out demons, and anoint the sick with oil. As the disciple come back, successful in their mission, they are excited, energized, and ready to go! But Jesus slows them down, invites them to take a deep breath, to pause and to reflect deeper on their experience, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” Or as another translation of our text puts it, “Come away with me.” Then, and only then, after that is done, the adventure continues. Next up in Mark’s Gospel, the feeding of the five thousand, and walking on water! After a pause, the adventure continues.
Today God is inviting us to shift our focus away from the adventure for a bit, to ensure that we know what shapes and fuels the adventure, - rest and reflection! Life is filled with many escapades, risky encounters, quests, and even odysseys, but how those “chapters” in life play out depends greatly on “the short verses” that help us make the transition. Jesus moved from town to town, miracle to miracle, encounter to encounter, healing to healing, transformation to transformation, new beginning to new beginning, by taking time to transition correctly, by taking time to get away, reflect, and rest.
And if Jesus needed to take a break – So do we! The incarnation of God, God fleshed out in Jesus, reminds us that it is OK, even divine, to pause, to get away, to withdraw, to take a nap, - to rest. For it is in the doing of these things that we are made ready to continue to engage the journey before us, live out our unique calling in life, be a part of the ever-emerging Kingdom of God.
So, how do you transition? How are you transitioning from pandemic to post pandemic life? How are you transitioning from old work to new work? How are you transitioning from work to retirement? How are you transitioning from month to month, week to week, day to day? Are you taking the time that you need, are you creating that divine space of rest and reflection, are you doing all the things that will allow you to continue faithfully and boldly with your life?
To be honest, I don’t think we are very good at such “intentional transitions.” Just as we skip over those verses in the story of Jesus, we often don’t write those verses into our own life. It is in our fallen human nature not to rest, not to reflect, not to pause, but rather to keep going onward. And it is deeply embedded in our culture not to practice sabbath but rather to always see and value time as something measured in terms of productivity and transaction. Unfortunately, we are better at “doing” than “being.” And what is not practiced and valued all around us, easily can become not valued or practiced with us. Without thinking we conform, even to our own demise. So, we skip over the transitions of life, we miss out on those liminal and life-giving spaces, as we just - keep on keeping-on.
However today we have been gathered up by Christ the Good Shepherd. We have been tended away from the busyness that so often consumes us and have been invited to lie down in “green pastures” – “beside still waters.” And even in “the valley of the shadows of the fear and death” that seek to lead us astray, we are restored, and put back on the right path, the path that leads to abundant life. That’s one of the chief reasons we gather together on Sundays, to practice some kind of sabbath, to learn the pattern and bring it more fully into our, sometimes, weary life.
In the story of Jesus, in the transitions along the great adventure, it has been made perfectly clear that we are called to make faithful transitions, to be intentional about creating time to reflect and spaces in which to rest. Once again, if Jesus needed to do it, so do you and I! It is in this divine transitional time that adventures are truly shaped and formed, inspired and energized, engaged and lived out. And in the end, and even now, and unto tomorrow - the kingdom comes. Amen.