Everywhere Jesus went, people flocked to him. They wanted what he was offering. They wanted inspiration. They wanted healing. They wanted God.
Mark’s gospel tells us that “so many people were coming and going that Jesus and the apostles did not even have a chance to eat” Even before Jesus got to a town, the mass of inquisitive people rushed ahead of him and waited for his arrival carrying the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was”.
Sometimes our lives have similar chaotic times. Work deadlines – sporting commitments – church commitments – community commitments – family commitments. Nearing my retirement age I even hear from those who are retired that their lives have never been busier. And yet in the midst of this chaos Jesus said to his apostles, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. Do you get time for this “rest”? Don’t we often keep working because we don’t have time to take a break?
So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place” Chaos came to Jesus because people were attracted to him. The needy and the sick came to him. The people who were waiting for their Messiah came to him. The people who wanted to hear the truth about life came to him. Jesus was a man people flocked to like a moth to a flame. Everyone wanted a piece of him. The poor and downtrodden wanted him to help them. The sick and suffering wanted healing from him. The lonely wanted fellowship with him. The ostracised wanted acceptance from him.And they got it.
Where do people go today for this help? With many of our churches mostly empty or on the verge of shutting down where are people going for this spiritual relief? Or maybe they’re not. Maybe they’re just dealing with it themselves which accounts for the high level of anxiety and depression. We are seeing a rise in use of alcohol and drugs – and with children vaping.
Surprisingly people were attracted to Jesus’ authority. “No one speaks like this man,” “He speaks with authority.” And yet today there is such distrust in authority especially church authority.
Jesus held no office, no official position and yet he spoke as one having authority. The apostles, who followed him day and night, were constantly amazed by his commanding actions. During a storm on the Sea of Galilee “… they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this that even the wind and waves obey him?’ But Jesus’ authority was a message of love, hope, and compassion. He not only taught that we should love God above everything else and our neighbors as ourselves; Jesus lived what he taught. He loved the outcast Zacchaeus – he loved the woman caught in adultery. He showed compassion to the woman with an issue of blood and Jairus’ daughter and the 5,000 hungry people
You could see hope that he brought. Which explains the pain of the the 2 disciples going to Emmaus with downcast faces after his death – we had hoped. He gave hope to the hopeless: Healing the blind, the deaf, the mute, and even the demon possessed.
Where many others looked down at people, thinking themselves superior, Jesus always looked out for people, from their level – like the short statured Zacchaeus. Even the children, who were diminished by the apostles, were treated as valuable people by Jesus. Children, as well as adults, flocked to Jesus because of the compassion they saw in him.
With a message of love, hope, and compassion, Jesus was so unique that multitudes wanted to be where he was. Can we, as church, recapture that hope for people?
Today people tend to abstain from a relationship with Jesus and his Church. Even though people reject Jesus, he never rejects anyone but has compassion on them like sheep without a shepherd. There is no doubt that there is chaos in the world we live today. The speed at which we live, the noise that surrounds our days, the pressures, the stress, the expectations people have for us today, the demands and the hectic pace of modern life all combine to the chaos of our world in which we live.
In our busy, chaotic, and hectic lives, we need to see the one who touched the minds, hearts, and lives of thousands of people and make time for him. That’s what Jesus provided for his apostles when he guided them to rest. That’s what God gave us with a Sabbath rest that so many ignore today. And yet the invitation goes out to all people – come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.
Our hectic lives must be met by meeting God in a quiet place. That’s why Jesus took his disciples to a deserted place, a place of solitude. We need time to refresh ourselves in the presence of God. Daily devotions, Prayer, worship, reading our bibles – these are all gifts from God to keep our lives balanced. We will always find an excuse as to why we don’t have time to pray – to read – to come to church. But look at the example Jesus gave in his chaotic life still taking time to rest and pray to God.
But we also find something interesting about God in our Old Testament reading. The people misunderstood the relationship they had with God. They didn’t expect a God that would reach out to them. After receiving his rest from his enemies David wanted to build God a temple. A place where people could go and honour God. But God was seemingly offended at this gesture: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”
In our busy chaotic lives it is easy to put God to one side. We’ll take him out when we need him. In difficult times we’ll eventually pray to him. Out of a sense of duty we’ll come to church on Sunday to pay our respect. But we discover in our Old Testament that God is a God who goes with his people wherever they go. As Jesus promised in our Baptism – I am with you always till the end of the age. Not sometimes – always. In Psalm 23 we read about God travelling with us. Even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death I will not be afraid – for you are with my. Your love and mercy follow me all the days of my life.
In busyness it’s easy to say I don’t have time for God. But God always makes time for us. When Jairus asked him to go with him – he did. When the woman on the way touched him – despite his rush to get to Jairus’s daughter – he stops and speaks with her. And maybe, as the children of God – as God’s holy temple, as Paul says we are – perhaps that is our challenge. To go to where the people are who need God To go to people go don’t go to God.
Our churches may be declining but Jesus says the harvest is plentiful. In fact, that is Paul’s challenge to us in our 2nd reading – as ones who have been brought near to God. He says: Remember that you were without Christ, being aliens and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; And now he sends us out, just as he sent the disciples out who come to him today to tell him all that they had done and taught
The harvest indeed is plentiful and it is ripe for a message of hope, but sadly the workers are getting fewer. So may God bless you as you go out to sow a seed of hope today.
