In this time of Covid, we all hope and pray that we avoid the virus that has killed to date more than 2,240,000 (million) people around the world, 441,000 in the US alone. As the virus mutates and infections again rise in the middle of our coldest months of winter, many are flocking to get the newly released vaccines. We feel an urgency to protect ourselves from the raging death toll and from even mildly infecting ourselves and others with an illness that seems to have no bounds as to the type of havoc it can wreak upon our bodies and minds both now and in years to come.

Still, despite our desire for change, for us, it can’t come fast enough. Hospitals remain filled to the brim with patients, both ill and dying. Urgent care centers and testing centers continue to try to keep up with cases. We continue to wear masks and to socially distance, but we are growing weary. We are in urgent need of reprieve, and so our scientists and manufacturers continue to work feverishly in order to deliver the maximum amount of vaccines in record time, hoping to slow the spread and put a stop to the pandemic.

One of the hallmarks of the virus is a fever that persists, spiking off and on sometimes a month or more after the primary illness has passed. Like a ghost, it continues to haunt us, threatening to derail our lives. 

We are as an entire world locked in a kind of long-term “fight and flight” response, immersed in a perpetual level of stress that we in our generation have never before experienced. And it’s taking its toll on our psyches and our bodies.

We are tired. We are burnt out. We want a break from the relentless “fever pitch” we seem to be on.

How many of you now watch the news each and every day, obsessively looking for hope in the latest headlines? How many of you try to escape the realities of virus and loneliness in the solace of Netflix? How many of you are missing your children and grandchildren? How many of you are stress eating or have developed other forms of stress-related illness?

For some, the virus has ended budding relationships and challenged even the best marriages. It has caused some to lose loved ones without the ability to say goodbye. It has left others without resources, company, or the outlets that might keep them from depression, wellness, and financial security.We feel an urgency for this all to end. And yet an urgency to keep on fighting. Such is the human spirit.

Urgency scares us, it challenges us, and depletes us. But urgency can also be a good thing.

In our scriptures for today, we see Jesus near the beginning of his ministry on a “feverish” mission to spread the news of God’s future plan for humanity throughout the entire region. With his newly called disciples by his side, he has embarked on a relentless journey through all of Galilee, “proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” He would pause briefly in one place, and then while still in the early morning hours, he would again set out for the next destination.

This must have felt overwhelming for his disciples. They were used to a different kind of lifestyle, a more consistent lifestyle in which they would root their identity and existence in one place, creating families and a livelihood, social connections, and in some cases prestige. This itinerary of their rabbi Jesus to move from place to place every couple of days felt exhausting and pointless. Why wouldn’t he just take the time to minister to the people already at hand?

This was the question they posed to him that morning as we read today. Jesus had gone off by himself to pray and refuel his spirit for the next part of the journey. His disciples however hunted him down, and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you!” They didn’t understand why he couldn’t just stay where he was with the people who already wanted to be with him and learn from him.

Jesus however replied: “Let’s go on to the neighboring towns, so that I can proclaim the message there too, for that is what I came out to do.” And so, the scripture tells us, he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.”

Jesus disciples wanted him to do what was expected, what was usual, what the people wanted, what they preferred. They wanted a break from the relentless traveling. They hoped Jesus would put down roots at least for a while and build up some momentum in the people he had already touched. But Jesus was determined to keep on walking.

Jesus’ urgency comes from the same kind of passion, drive, and initiative that drives us onward in the face of a pandemic, even though we desperately want to stop and take a breath. Deep in his heart, Jesus must have been aware of the scant time he had in order to fulfill his mission, the vast numbers of people he would need to reach, the urgency of his message, and the vital importance of his salvation potential as messiah and Son.

In a sense, Jesus was the “vaccine” for his society’s sin, and his mission had to proceed with an urgency his disciples had never before seen.

For God, the state of humankind had reached a “feverish state.” Corruption was rampant. The faith had been corrupted. Thousands were cast out, had become lost, or were displaced. People were scared, oppressed, depressed, and hopeless. They needed hope. A Jesus kind of hope.

And yet despite the hope Jesus offered, the human penchant for familiarity, sameness, resistance of change became a constant challenge even for him. His own disciples failed again and again to understand the urgency of Jesus’ message. They didn’t truly believe, he only had three years to complete the ministry of a lifetime that would change the world. They couldn’t imagine that his salvation message to the world would end in death. They didn’t really believe that resurrection was real. They remained grounded in what they could see and hear, what they knew and understood, what made sense to them from within the framework that they knew.

Recognition, familiarity, is a powerful aphrodisiac.

But Jesus did go on. His disciples, loyal as they were, resistant as they sometimes could be, continued to follow him, as he urgently preached, taught, and healed throughout every region he could. And he did change the world.

His disciples learned from Jesus not just how to navigate life, but how to inaugurate a future. That despite feeling tired and longing for reprieve, they would need to push through and keep on walking.

Today, Jesus calls the church to do the same. He continues to offer us hope no matter how much sorrow we experience, and he continues to push us forward into mission and ministry when we would rather curl up with our popcorn and Netflix. For Jesus knows that now more than ever, there is an urgency to the gospel.

People need to hear it. People everywhere need to see Him. He needs to heal not just one community, but an entire world.

When we feel weary, we all would rather default to the familiar or as Jonah did, sit under a tree and wait for things to pass. But Jesus instead tells us, now more than ever, this is the time for mission. This is your chance to proclaim a hope and a different future.

Don’t let the doldrums keep you from being the apostle Jesus designed you to be.

Don’t let the familiar keep you from doing the spectacular.