Sermon for 6 Pent Yr B, 20/07/2003
Based on Mk 30-34, 53-56
Grace Lutheran Church, Medicine Hat, Alberta
By Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson
According to Bill Heider, “The only thing wrong with being retired is that you never get a day off.” I know in my conversations with some of you, you have told me that you’re actually busier now that you’ve “retired” than when you were working! Some of you still live such full and active lives that you need an hour stretcher to make your days long enough in order to complete your busy tasks. We are all familiar with the old adage: “No rest for the wicked.” If that’s the case then some of us church-going people must be very wicked! J However, there is also an add-on to that old adage which you may have heard before: “No rest for the wicked, even less rest for the good!” Even though we cannot rest as much as the wicked, lest the powers of evil get the upper hand—nonetheless, WE ALL, ON OCCASION, NEED OUR REST!
A traveller in Papua describes how his guides and carriers would sometimes sit down by the road-side and refuse to go any further without a rest—they explained “We must give our souls a chance to catch up with our bodies.”
Tiredness is not just a physical thing—a person may feel weary at the thought of cutting the grass as Dr. Leslie Weatherhead once said, yet go off cheerfully for a round of golf.
Prayer and meditation, mental relaxation, the stimulus of some consuming interest, the delight of doing something to help someone else—these are different kinds of things, but they all have this in common: they can revive our energy, banish our tiredness and “give our souls a chance to catch up with our bodies.” 1
Contemporary philosopher, Anthony O’Hear a couple of years ago wrote an insightful piece on our “life in the fast lane,” and our need for rest and solitude. Here is what he had to say:
To those of us accustomed to a life of modern diversion—TV, cell phone, Palm Pilot, laptop at the ready—this essential solitude and quiet will seem hard. It may even seem boring. But there is an old saying, beloved to ascetics, that it is because the trees are still that the birds come to them… Each of us… has the potential to bring to the world a unique perspective, a unique kind of wisdom even. But to realize this, even for ourselves, we need space and quiet to escape the clichés of the conventional. 2
Now that we here in Canada no longer observe Sunday as a holiday-Sabbath and our malls are open nearly every day of the year, seven days a week; I believe that we are all losers because of it. ALL OF US NEED A SABBATH—WHICH LITERALLY MEANS A PERIOD OF REST. Yet, because families are running in every direction and having to work on Sundays, there is precious little opportunity for all of the family members to gather together for rest and relaxation; to do the enjoyable things in common that strengthen the bonds of marriage and the parent-child relationship. How can we live a healthy, full, meaningful life if there is no time for us to rest as individuals, or together as a couple or a family?
In today’s gospel, the apostles have returned from their mission of preaching, teaching and healing, which Jesus had sent them on earlier. Jesus, being the excellent listener and caregiver that he is, sees how tired they’ve become. Indeed, Mark tells us that the clamouring crowds are still milling about so “they had no leisure even to eat.” How could these crowds be so insensitive and lacking in understanding or empathy for Jesus and his disciples? Didn’t they realise how demanding they were? At any rate, Jesus sees the disciples are in need of a rest. A time of peace and quiet. So he invites them to come with him to “a deserted place… and rest a while.” Here we see that Jesus cares for and has compassion on not only the crowds, but also his own followers.
So it is for us too, there are times when we can become so overloaded, so run down, so tired, that we, like the apostles, need our deserted place to stop and rest awhile. All of us need that resting place and resting time. Hopefully by coming to church faithfully every Sunday that you are able to receive some of that needed rest and renewal for your life. All of us need times out to reflect, to meditate and pray. Peace and quiet times help us all to recharge our spiritual batteries; to sharpen our focus and see the larger picture and meaning of our life; to be drawn closer into our relationship with God; to be more aware and appreciative of God’s holy presence in our life and in all of life. We, like the disciples and those Papua guides and carriers, need to “give our souls a chance to catch up to our bodies.” So I complement each of you for being here today and doing just that!
However, notice in our gospel that there is kind of a rhythm or balance in the movement of Jesus and his disciples. Too much solitude; too much peace and quiet is not good for us either. Then we become too self-centred and self-serving. It is true that we cannot give to others, unless we have something to give; and for that we need rest, peace and quiet. However, it is also true that we cannot give to others if we forget about them altogether or refuse to give to them what we ourselves have received.
When I was doing my chaplaincy training and taking my year of clinical pastoral education; I can remember how, oftentimes I hated, with a passion, having to carry a beeper and be on call—sometimes for several days at a time. Inevitably the beeper would go off in the middle of my beauty sleep and I’d have to get up in the dark of night, completely disoriented, and make a rushed trip into the hospital to respond to the call. At first, I felt this was such a hostile interruption to my life and I resented it. However, as time went on, after I realised the nature of the calls; I grew to accept them; and indeed, even was enriched from them; for I was able to offer comfort, counsel and compassion to patients who were dying or in very traumatic circumstances. Such people needed my compassion, just as the clamouring crowds in today’s gospel needed the compassion of Jesus and his disciples.
Jesus, of course, knew that their greatest need was compassion—that’s why they had flocked in such large numbers to him, seeking out his healing. Jesus, being who he was, offered compassion to those in distress, willing to give them his help and care. Mark describes it like this: “he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Dr. William Barclay captures something of Christ’s own emotions and commitment to the clamouring crowds in his translation of verse 34: “he was moved to the depths of his being with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
To be deeply moved like Jesus is towards these crowds—is this not what we as his followers are also called to do? How do we respond to the needs of others around us? Hopefully if we take the time to rest, to be filled spiritually through solitude, prayer, meditation and reflection; we then can go back out into the busyness of our lives and give of ourselves what we have received from God. It is interesting that Jesus and his disciples are often with others, meeting them on their turf, and responding appropriately to their needs. We too are called and inspired by our Lord’s compassion to do the same. In the movement of Jesus’ ministry, notice too that so often he is with people who have the greatest of needs—people who were written-off as outcasts. In today’s gospel, it is the sick on mats, Mark tells us, who were brought from far and wide seeking Christ’s healing. Jesus didn’t judge or avoid such persons whom the religious establishment of his day may have been more inclined to write-off. No, Jesus always remembered that every single human being is created in the image of God—hence, for that reason alone, they deserve to be treated equally in a compassionate and humane way.
So it is with us too, in our practice of compassion. Hopefully we too shall not forget that every human being is created in God’s image, therefore deserves to be treated as an equal, in a compassionate, humane way. This includes not only the well, the so-called normal folks of society, but also the outcasts: the homeless, the mentally and physically challenged, the people struggling with addictions of all kinds, the homosexuals, the prostitutes, those of another race or creed, even prisoners and enemies—all are in need of compassion. In fact, the outcasts may have the greatest need of our compassion, since the lack of it is likely one of the major reasons why they are outcasts in the first place—some of them have experienced precious little, if any compassion in their lives.
According to Dr. Leo Buscaglia: “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” Think about that the next time you are called to show compassion towards someone whom you find it difficult to even give the time of day! We never know how a simple act of compassion might be inspired by God working through us to reach another person. The following story illustrates this very well:
A little girl was sent on an errand by her mother. She took much too long in coming back. Mother, therefore, demanded an explanation when she finally did return. The little girl explained that on her way she had met a little friend who was crying because she had broken her doll. “Oh,” said the mother, “then you stopped to help her fix her doll?” “Oh, no,” replied the little girl. “I stopped to help her cry.” 3
That little girl had more sense of caring than a lot of adults do. We often forget that the English word care comes from the Gothic word kara, meaning, “to lament.” In other words, we show our care by, as this little girl did: crying with those who are crying; doubting or questioning with those who are doubting and questioning; laughing with those who are laughing; rejoicing with those who are rejoicing; being willing to journey with people where they are, rather than trying to “fix them.” In our simple acts of compassion and solidarity, God is at work and is able to change and heal peoples’ lives—just as Jesus does today in our gospel.
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1 Cited from: F. Gay, Friendship Book, 1982, meditation for June 4.
2 Cited from: Anthony O’Hear, “The Soundness of Silence: Palm Pilot, Cell Phone, Walkman, Laptop. Forget Anything? Your Mind,” Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2000.
3 Cited from: James S. Hewett, editor, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton, ILL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1988), p. 113.
