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Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 Ephesians 2:11-22 Do
you ever wonder if God gets annoyed with the fact that we are very needy
people? Do you ever wonder if God gets overwhelmed with our constant
prayer requests and our constantly asking him to make sure thing turn
out our way? I love this part of the movie because it’s a great illustration of what Jesus seemed to be going through in our gospel lesson today. Jesus and his disciples are so overwhelmed with requests for healing and speaking engagements, that it says that they didn’t even have time to eat. Because they’re so busy, Jesus finally has to say to his disciples, “Fellas, come away with me to a deserted play all by yourselves and let’s rest awhile.” So they get in a boat, say goodbye to the crowds and set sail for this deserted place – finally a chance to rest. Yet, the people on the shore saw where they were sailing and ran along the shore so that when Jesus got off the boat, the exact same people who they just said goodbye to were there to great them and bombard them with more requests. I would imagine that pre-school & kindergarten teachers know exactly what it felt like to be inundated with irritating and annoying little requests, except that these were adults begging to Jesus and undoubtedly, their concerns were very real – much like ours often are. Had I been Jesus, I probably would’ve gotten right back into the boat and said, “Forget it! Give me some space, people!” Like Bruce said, “It’s too much!” Well, it’s a good thing it was Jesus there that day and not me. And it’s a good thing that its Jesus who hears our prayers and not me. Because, you see, even though the people wouldn’t leave him alone, even though they crowded around him and were exhausting to him, even though he was so busy he couldn’t even find time to eat, Jesus went ashore anyway. He stepped right back into the messes of their lives and the Bible says that “Jesus had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” He stepped right into the lives of the people who had just heard about the death of their beloved John the Baptist. Right into the lives of the people who had just learned what a tyrant their governor was by murdering John the Baptist on a whim. Right into the lives of the people who were sick, needy, broken, and in need of a savior. Jesus walked right into their lives and he had compassion for them. In an interesting twist, the way that Jesus had compassion for them was to teach them. Now, it doesn’t say what he taught them there on the seashore, but we can surmise a little of what Jesus might have said based on his actions. At this point, he was still talking to a Jewish crowd, he was still on their side of the lake, yet he was about to do a new thing and to stretch their thinking. Jesus was about to cross over to the other side and open to them a whole new way of looking at God. They had to be asking themselves, “Why would God’s prophet go across the lake to where the Greeks and the Gentiles lived? Why would God have anything to do with them?” After all, they were God’s chosen people and they were the ones who needed his healing. Those other people, those outsiders certainly didn’t have the same connection to God, did they? Our country is deeply divided by red states and blue states, by liberals & conservatives, by religion – Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Our world is deeply divided by the war in Iraq and trying to decide who’s right and who’s wrong. The Middle East is deeply divided over Israel and Lebanon and Hezbollah. And everyone I just mentioned seems to think that God is on their side. Jesus’ actions are speaking loudly to all of us this morning. Jesus crosses over to the other side of the lake. Jesus leaves the needy on one side of the lake to hang out with the needy foreigners on the other side. And do you know what? They recognize Jesus too. In fact, they rush to the seashore and they bring him their sick and needy, and they beg for him to be with them also. Jesus gets out of the boat and he walks right into their messy lives also. Is it possible that Jesus is on both sides? The new reality, the new way of thinking that Jesus offers to these people is the same one that he offers to us today – the possibility that God is not just on our side, whatever side that may be. Is it possible that God is also on the side of our enemies? Is it possible that God agrees with both Democrats & Republicans? Is it possible that God is on the side of the Israelis, but also on the side of the Lebanese? At Cruzando, we learned about crossings, that Jesus crosses borders of race, creed, color, class, abilities, and ideologies. This means that it is entirely possible that Jesus on both sides – our side and the sides of those who differ from us and even disagree with us. Paul certainly seems to agree in our Ephesians text where he says, “He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.” Jesus & Paul are trying to make a point that that just because we are different or we disagree, it doesn’t mean that we are enemies. There are ways to talk about things, there are ways for us to come together, there are ways for us to work things out without hate, without war, without self-centeredness. If we stopped trying to get everyone to see it our way, but rather took some time to listen and tried to see it someone else’s way, we might learn to get along a little better. As most of you know, we had two international guests attend the National Youth Gathering with us. Our guests were from Lebanon and we learned on the 2nd day of the gathering that they weren’t going to be able to go home as planned because of the fighting. One evening I stayed up til about 3 in the morning listening to Barakat talk about Lebanon, the politics, the issues, and why all of this fighting was happening and what was at stake. What he told me differed in some significant ways from the ways that our American media portray his country. While I listened to him, I gained a deeper understanding of the situation, my heart went out to him, and my gut reaction was that Israel is wrong. If you’ve heard me talk about it at all this week, my strong feelings against Israel and in support of Lebanon probably showed through a little too much. But that was before I started wrestling with this text. I am now confronted with the very real possibility that God is with the Lebanese, but God is also with the Israelis. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to come to grips with this right now because I am so concerned about the fate of my Lebanese friends. Yet, as a Christian, I have to make room for this possibility. Our God is bigger than just my concerns. Our God is bigger than Lebanon or Israel. Our God is certainly big enough to be with the suffering innocents in both countries. How this is possible, I have no idea. Like with Bruce Almighty, God’s ways overwhelm my human thinking. I just know that people on both sides of that lake recognized Jesus and he willingly spent time on both sides. He crossed the border and broke down that dividing line. He was all about tearing down walls of separation, not creating them. Healing happened wherever Jesus went and this is the new reality that we are invited into. So, to answer my original question, “Do you ever think that God gets annoyed by our constant prayer requests and our constantly asking him to make sure things turn out our way?”, the answer has to be no. If Jesus was able to look on both groups of people with compassion and offer them his ministry, we know he’s going to do the same for us. We can always go to God with our concerns and requests, no matter how big or small and we know that God will have compassion on us. BUT, what we also learn from today’s story is that while God doesn’t get annoyed, he does challenge us to new ways of thinking about ourselves, our enemies, our neighbors, and our world. Amen.
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