And the whole city was gathered around the door. -- Mark 1:33
Jesus was mobbed by the crowds. Because he taught with authority and healed those possessed of an unclean or evil spirit, the crowds sought him out. Everyone with an ailment joined the demanding and pressing mob of people. The text tells us that the entire city was at his doorstep. The crowds came with their brokenness and said, "Fix me." People who were sick, hopeless, and desperate came to him because he offered a glimmer of hope in a hopeless and dismal world.
The demanding crowds came because they wanted something. They did not come to capture a new vision for life. They did not come to seek the kingdom of God. They came for one reason, the reason that most crowds come: to get something. They came because he had what they wanted most. He had what they could not find anywhere else -- health of mind and body. Wholeness. Most who seek God do so during crisis. For every prayer of thanksgiving and praise offered to God there are ten offered as demands and requests. God often hears the words, "Lord, get me out of this mess and I'll serve you the rest of my life." Does that sound familiar to you? Those who never pray to God when the sun is shining begin to pray when the clouds come and the cold winds of adversity blow. For most people religion is a "crisis affair." However, there is much to be said about the fact that God is not one to be remembered only in misfortune, but every day of our lives. The remarkable thing is: regardless of how or when we come -- God is there!
The Need to Withdraw
The demand of the crowd upon Jesus' life was great. So much so that "in the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed" (Mark 1:35). Jesus realized he could not give out to others anymore. He went someplace where he could be alone, away from the cries of the needy, the demands of people, the insistence that he do something. Jesus was not trying to get away from the demands of the people or to dodge his responsibilities. It wasn't that he was uncaring about the needs of others or those that surrounded him. Rather it was a matter of staying connected with the Father so that he could maintain a clear sense of purpose.
How easy it is for our lives to be cluttered with the needs and demands of others. We find ourselves going in several different directions at one time. We end up doing a lot of things, but there is no sense of fulfillment or accomplishment. We find ourselves on the edge of burnout. It has been pointed out that burnout is not the result of too much activity. It is the result of the wrong kind of activity. Instead of energizing us and building us up, it wears us down and saps our energy. Jesus needed time to get away and put things in perspective and to gain a clear understanding of God and God's purpose. If Jesus needed to do this, how much more do we need to do it? There is always that possibility that we are busy doing the wrong thing. We need to do what Jesus did -- get away and spend time in prayer with God, meditate, and seek God's will, instead of always responding to the demands and needs of others.
Determining The Nature Of Ministry
There are several important factors in this passage. First, Jesus was not going to allow the demands of the crowd to determine the nature and purpose of his ministry. When the crowds were beginning to gather and Jesus was nowhere to be found, his disciples came looking for him. They found that his bed was empty. The text tells us that they went "hunting" for him. Finally they tracked him down and they gave to him what they considered a favorable report: "Everyone is searching for you." They felt that Jesus' responsibility was to comply with the wishes of the crowd. This is the same mistake that the church makes. Too often we convince ourselves that our responsibility is to comply with the demands of the crowd. But the demands of the crowd and the demands of the gospel can often be different demands. This is the most glaring shortcoming of the church growth movements. God is treated like a commodity to be marketed. The church allows the crowd to determine its marketability and to package it in a manner that makes it attractive for public consumption. But God and the gospel are so much more. The message of the gospel often is not what the crowds want to hear. Second, Jesus knew if he was going to meet the demands of the crowd he needed re-enforcement. Here he reveals to us the power of prayer. If he was going to meet the demands of others successfully, he first had to meet with the Father. If he was going to speak meaningfully with the masses, he had to first allow the Father to speak to him. Prayer will never do the task for us. It will, however, strengthen us for the task to be done.
Jesus discovered that only by turning to God when the crowds were pressing so hard against him could he ever hope to maintain a sharp focus on his true reason for being. We need to know when to walk away, when to shut the door, and when to be alone to re-group our thoughts and to re-think God's will and purpose for our lives. If we do not take this time, we could possibly crack under the load, go off in the wrong direction, say the wrong words, or do the wrong things. It is possible that the stress and strain could cause us to go in an opposite direction of our purpose. Suddenly we discover that life is counter-productive from our intentions. In the movie Bridge Over the River Kwai the British officer is so busy and so consumed by the bridge he builds that he forgets his responsibilities as an officer, the battle he is fighting, and the human lives for which he is responsible. The purpose of his life at that moment is to lead his men and not to defend his bridge. How easily we can develop a fortress mentality regarding our church and forget the human needs that exist on our doorsteps!
Are We Busy Doing The Wrong Things?
In our busyness are we the church that God intends for us to be? Are we busy doing the right things? What is the right thing? Our task is to hear, proclaim, teach, and spread the good news of God's love for all people in Jesus Christ. We do many things through support groups, self-help programs, recreation of all kinds, sports teams, and social and mission outreach. Every one of them is related to the gospel in some way or another. We must not forget in all of our activity that our purpose is to proclaim the Word and administer the sacraments. No other institution in the world has this responsibility. The church is a social institution like all institutions. As such it has power -- institutional power and authority. But the source of the church's power is not the result of being an institution. It is the result of being called by God to proclaim God's Word. When God's Word, the enacted Word (sacrament), the written Word (scripture), the proclaimed Word (Jesus Christ), is properly presented through the Holy Spirit, then the church has power. We need to be faithful to the Word.
Our Responsibility To God's Word
Christians are responsible to declare the Word. Like many of you, I was filled with empathetic pain as I watched Schindler's List. Krakow, Poland, had a history for centuries as a stronghold of the Christian faith. One has to ask, "Where was the church?" when all of this was taking place. For fifty years historians have been asking the same question. It is yet to be answered. The church was present, but silent. For over 150 years there was slavery in our land. Where was the church? For the most part, it was silent. Prominent church members were slave holders. The church was so embroiled in the practice of slavery that it became divided into the Northern and the Southern church. What about the Word today? Where is the Word being proclaimed in regard to violence, war, and those deep social issues such as abortion, human sexuality, and race? Where have all the prophets gone?
Every morning when the sun comes up, a gazelle wakes. He knows that he must outrun the fastest lion or he will be eaten. When the sun comes up, the lion wakes. He knows that he must outrun the the slowest gazelle, or he will starve. In the end it doesn't matter whether you are a lion or gazelle; when the sun comes up, you better be running.1
How true. We run from sunup to sundown. Chasing and being chased by responsibilities and expectations. Little is left after we deal with all of the demands of the workplace. The little that is left is gobbled up by community and family activities. But, often times, even when the sun goes down, the race still goes on. This morning we come to the table of the Lord. The pace is slowed. It is a moment of withdrawal. A time to catch your breath. A moment to reflect upon the bread, the body of Christ, and the cup, the blood of Christ. God's love for us at this moment has became so visible, so personal, so close, and so reassuring. It is here in these elements of humble access that God through Christ again offers himself to us.
1. Lectionary Homiletics, Vol. 4, Number 4, March 1993, p. 17.