LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

Pentecost VII + Proper 11-B + St. Paul’s, Lake James

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel for today begins where last Sunday’s reading ended. Last week the focus was the sending out of the Twelve Apostles, two by two, to teach and to heal in the Name of God. This morning, the attention shifts from the sending out to their triumphant return. It seems likely, reading between the lines of St. Mark’s characteristically terse description, that the Twelve were on what young people today would call a “high.” They were excited and emotionally stimulated, but they were also physically drained and exhausted. As always, Jesus was considerate of their needs, the real needs of others, and so, his response to the Twelve was “come apart and get some rest!” The Twelve had gone to all sorts of places, talked with many people – to individuals, to small groups, and to large crowds. Perhaps to their surprise, quite a few of their hearers had been receptive, even hungry for the Christian message and its strong note of hope. Now, the Twelve had returned, bursting with excitement, impatient to report it all to Jesus.

I remember an occasion (I think I was about 11 or 12) when I was a member of our neighborhood football team. We were not a very good team – we usually lost most of the games we played, but we were mighty enthusiastic! One Saturday morning, of all things, we won! We actually beat another team, and a good team at that! In fact, we beat them quite soundly, and I scored one of our touchdowns! Even today, more than 60 years later, I can still feel some of that amazed, glorious joy, and the excitement I felt as I ran home, burst into the house, shouting to my parents “We won! We won! I scored a touchdown and we won!” Can you relate to that? Can you identify not only with the thrill of success (especially unexpected success) but also with the intense need to tell about it to someone important to you?

That’s the scene which opens today’s Gospel reading. Our Lord’s response, “come apart and get some rest” is not a put-down, it doesn’t reflect disinterest. Rather, it is his understanding that what the Twelve most needed at that moment was the chance to assimilate the astounding experiences they had had, and to do so prayerfully with Him. Today, we’d call it “de-briefing.”

One of the things we know about the way the human mind and body work, is that when there has been a big emotional build-up toward something of importance, whether that be a wedding, a new job, a neighborhood football game, or going on a missionary journey, when the event is over, there is usually quite a let-down. The electrifying charge of energy and intense pleasure which the triumph brought, is replaced by fatigue which may be physical, emotional, or, quite likely both, as mind and body seek to return to a more “normal” level. The command to “come away and rest” is a wise one, one which makes sense for people of every time and culture, but one which may have special relevance for us now in summertime when life may slow down a bit. I suggest that one of the lessons to be learned from today’s Gospel is that the watchful care of one’s health and strength: physical, mental, and spiritual, is not just a “good thing” but truly a religious duty. If we fail to take that care of ourselves, we sin, for we are then taking away from God our availability to serve the way we are intended to do. That’s part of what is meant when, in the Prayer of Consecration in Rite I, the Priest says that we have come to the Eucharist to offer “our selves: our souls and bodies” to God as a “reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice.” If we consider those words seriously, we may discover whether we believe we belong to God, or that it’s truly the other way around! And isn’t that worth pondering!

A fascinating aspect of the account we have just heard of the miraculous feeding of five thousand people, is that Jesus began by using whatever it was the people already had. The small offering of five barley loaves and two little fish became the basis of food sufficient to feed the entire multitude. That’s typical of the way God works in our lives! God uses whatever it is we have to offer, and turns what we may see as being small and inadequate things into wonderfully effective means for meeting both our needs and those of others. We see that so clearly in the great sacraments of the church. God takes ordinary water and uses it to wash away separation, welcoming the newly baptized into the community of faith called the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. In the Eucharist, our offerings of simple bread and wine are turned into the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, the very Body and Blood of Jesus, feeding us with new strength to be and to do that which, on our own, we could not be or do.

Think of how God takes our often clumsy attempts at prayer and uses them as a means of communication and guidance for us. Even our frequently all-too-human institutions such as parishes, dioceses, or larger expressions of “church” can be grace-filled instruments of salvation. In the same way (and this is so very important) so can whatever skills, interests, or self-offerings we give to God. After almost 45 years as a priest, I am painfully aware that my knowledge, wisdom, faith, and love, are all woefully inadequate to carry me on their own, and I think that is likely true for most other priests, ministers, and rabbis. When one of us is called out at 3:00 in the morning to comfort the spouse of one who has just died, or to help a teen-ager whose mother has just tried to take her own life, we have no magic words, no infallible formula memorized in seminary, the recital of which will assuage grief or take away pain. We have only our very limited gifts to offer – but those are what God often seems to choose to use.

The point is that one of the main ways God acts in our world is through people. That’s what the Twelve discovered in their missionary journeys, and it’s what Christians have discovered in the centuries ever since! As Jesus sent out the Twelve in His Name, so Jesus sends us! As Jesus was with them, so He is with us! As He fed and sustained them, so He feeds and sustains us now! The work God gives is not something which was unique to the first century, it is not something uniquely given to members of the clergy, nor even to folks who are particularly religious! It is the vocation given to all who have been baptized into Christ – it is the vocation given to you! Whatever abilities or talents you may have, however limited they may seem, they are what God uses as a starting point. That’s why you have them! God’s call to you is to let them be foundations on which all sorts of wonderful things may be built by God’s grace.

May this be a time of prayerful reflection in which each of us considers what God is calling us to be and do. Take time to thank God for all that has been, for what is now, and for whatever God may be leading you to in the weeks, months, and years ahead. It is through prayer that we come to a sense of what God wills for us. That “us” means everyone of us: even you, even me. Everyone, regardless of age or health, regardless one’s level of education, wealth, even regardless of one’s occupation, everyone of us is called to use whatever gifts God has given us in some ministry.

Consider that! That’s really good news, even, if you think about it, exciting news. You know, it even beats winning a sandlot football game!

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Rev’d Alfred T. K. Zadig, Sr.

This page last modified on Friday, April 11, 2008 09:39 PM