Eighth Sunday after Pentecost - The Pastor's Sermon - 22 July 2012

(My apologies for my absence. It has been busy and it has been hot, and I like neither situation.)

"Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."

• I think there are times in everyone's life where the question get to be too much. I have to change to “first person” for a while, for I can only speak for myself about all this.
• The questions can be too much. A young man in Colorado enters a movie theatre and kills 12 people and wounds 38 or more... and I wonder why. I ask where God is found in all this.
• Gunfire erupts at a neighborhood party in Scarborough. A number of people are killed or wounded, and now the pay-back killings begin - the hall-mark of gang activities.... and I wonder why.
• I hear of corruption in the financial world where millions of dollars disappear, seemingly without any accountability... and I wonder why. Why must the poor continually suffer and the less-than-wealthy continue to pick up the cheque.
• I see continued wars and on-going conflicts, with constant and escalating revenge on all sides. I wonder why, in particular when those wars, killings, bombings, and acts of terror are done in the name of God, justice, and liberty.
• I see my treasured beliefs mocked, spit upon, and ridiculed. I hear things I've held dear called worthless, infantile, and delusional. And I wonder why and I even wonder why I hold on to those beliefs.
• I see hungry people, sick people, homeless people, angry people, forgotten people, lost people, frightened people... and I wonder why. And I wonder why I do so little to help. And I wonder why I can do so little to help.
• Then I hear Jesus' words to his apostles: “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”
• These word don't solve my problems, calm my fears, or answer my “why” questions. These words actually do something more for me.
• The apostles finished their two-by-two mission trip, and had returned to tell Jesus how it had gone. It sounds like they came back to a real circus. Mark puts it this way: “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.” On their journey, they had probably been mobbed, jostled, questioned, and watched. Now they return to more of the same, with Jesus as the centre of attention, which would make it even more busy.
• Jesus understands. This is a man who often went into the desert to pray. He understands that there is no way the apostles can recover their balance and energy in the face of a demanding crowd. The only cure is the desert, the deserted place “all by yourselves” where they can see themselves and the things around them as they really are. It may sound selfish at first hearing, but we all know that we be for others if we are not there ourselves. To go aside was necessary for Jesus and the apostles.
• Of course, as we've heard, this was not to be. “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…”
• The crowds actually beat him to his retreat, where he saw them as they were, “like sheep without a shepherd”, and out of compassion began to teach them. For some reason – who knows why – the planners of the lectionary skip to the end of the chapter. They skip over Jesus feeding the 5000, praying all night long in the wilderness, and walking across the lake. We will hear these next week and the weeks following. (Listen for them; there's plenty to preach about in those passages.) It is all part of the story which Mark tells in an almost breathless manner, showing Jesus on the move, healing and preaching, although he does not note what exactly Jesus preached about.
• For us, Jesus' invitation to “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” is far more than a recommendation to take a vacation, for there is no vacation from the concerns that burden our hearts.
• What it is is nothing less than an invitation to be with him and share those burdens. We may have to take them up again before too long, but for a time, we can hold them up to him, discuss them with him, find new insight and fresh strength to carry them and to carry on.
• There will be times when the questions are too much and the burden is too heavy. In those days, we can go to a deserted place, which might be a real place in the world or a place in our own hearts, but in going there, remember: “As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
• We may be like those people, looking for a shepherd, maybe without knowing it. But we can remember that in that place and time, Jesus is there in compassion and concern.
• Today's Gospel story is full of motion, activity, sound, and fury, as a poet might say. And through it all, Jesus is the “still point”, the point of calm and power in the midst of so much activity and demand.
• He is still that for us today, no matter what our questions, fears, and needs. He still calls us to “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” but not alone; always with him and our fellow Christians.
• If we need to find it, this is the “Good News” today.