Church of the Redeemer | Iglesia del Redentor

Based on the chapter 6 of Mark, click here for the text

I have never tried Xanax but if the allegations result to be true, Michael Jackson needed 30 to 40 pills at night to be able to sleep and his death allegedly was caused by a powerful narcotic. It is a truism in America not only that we are exhausted most of the time, but we cannot even rest when he have the time.

Have you seen the Verizon commercial? The one that what appears to be the whole company, following the customer wherever the customer is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ItKo5LN9Q seems to be a good image of what is happening us, not only we can not rest because can not put our minds at ease, but now we have devices that allow people to follow us wherever we go.

The chances of being by ourselves without some kind of demands made on us are very slim.  Downsizing increases the problem, since fewer people have to do much more work. People, who are lucky enough to have a job, get home an empty shell of former vibrant individual, now devoid of creative energy or desire to be in contact with anyone, even his or her own family.

At one point or another, we all have felt exhausted, short in resources, unable to articulate a remedy or plan for our condition, paralyzed. Speaking with someone who was sent home to die the person said “Father I feel helpless, and I have never felt this way in my entire life”. American culture does not like helpless, does not do well -I cannot-, the whole American experience is predicated on the given of unlimited possibilities.  Not to be mistaken, we have gone a great deal far, but sometimes our own development has become our worst enemy.  We not only have learned to cure many illnesses, but as unintended consequence we have extended life beyond its own possibilities. In communication technology, we are turning the world into a global village and in the process, we are exterminating personal time.

If you include the passages taken out in the selection for today, it seems to be a good contemporary example of a rest that never comes. The two miracles not included are the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walks on water.

The disciples have come back from the first mission that Jesus gave them, and they have preached, healed and taught and they are coming “home” to tell Jesus all that had happened, all the victories, all the conversions, all the things they have done in his name. They received a new title, since now they are no disciples, but apostles, that is “messengers”, a new relationship has been established, now they do things on their own yet in His name. It is obvious to Jesus that they are tired, worn out and he plans a time for retreat and solitude.

They take their boats and cross the Lake of Galilee and when reach the shore they found out that the people have followed them. Different to the crowd in the Verizon commercial these are not there to assist, but this is a needy crowd, one that have lost their moral compass, leaderless “sheep without a shepherd”, a crowd hungry for meaning and Jesus had compassion and started teaching them.

Now the crowds have been spiritually fed but their bellies are rumbling, the night soon comes and the apostles now ask Jesus to send away the crowds so they can fend for themselves, however Jesus ask the tired, worn out disciples, probably suffering from compassion fatigue for them to give them something to eat. They have only five loaves and two fish. With these Jesus by being grateful for little, feeds them all.

The disciples still working and no rest, are straining at the oars because the wind was against them, they have left Jesus ashore so he can have his own time alone and he walks to them, get into the boat and go with them to Gennesaret.

They try again and soon as they disembark, then this time is the sick who finds out and circle Jesus and he began then to heal many. “And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed”.

The disciples like in the Verizon commercial cannot get away from the company of people that follows them everywhere, gaping mouths open and hands outstretched wanting more. This lake crisscrossing is like a dog chasing his own tail, I know very well the feeling; yesterday afternoon while working at home, I was interrupted at least five times while I was putting this sermon together.

What to do? How to keep Sabbath balance of necessary work and necessary rest? How can we rest in Christ?.

I noticed in the reading today, including the portion excluded, that in three instances it is not the disciples who are the active participant of the narrative but Jesus.

The disciples cannot feed the multitude by themselves, Jesus does that and he does it with very little that at the end is more than enough. Secondly,  the disciples cannot go against the wind unless the Son of God –the one that walks on water-  is with them. And thirdly, the disciples do not heal, but it is Jesus the center of the healing mission at Gennesaret.

Says Martin B. Copenhaver: Even when the apostles were empowered to teach, preach and heal as Jesus did, they still could not reflect the constancy of his compassion. It is immediately after their greatest success that the apostles encounter this most persistent human limitation. The apostles were able to offer care, but not constantly. Only God can extend constant compassion. God is the only one who never suffers from "compassion fatigue." In the constancy of Jesus' compassion, his kinship with this God is revealed.

Ministry in the name of Christ is an exhausting business. It seems to demand a constancy that is not in us. When a friend of mine resigned from his pastorate he told his parish, "I can no longer meet all the needs of this parish, any more than I can chase down all the crickets on an August night." Which made me wonder: Who had told him that he could meet all the needs of his parish? John Westerhoff has remarked that atheism in the modern world is characterized by this affirmation: "If I don't do it, it won't happen."

Resting in Christ is the acceptance of our limited resources and the abundance that flows only from God. Resting in Christ implies a kind of surrender of our pretended autonomy to the feet of the Crucified one, the one who once took a stroll over the chaos and danger of deep water, the same one who had his blessed feet firmly secured to the Cross for you and for me. Resting in Christ is the acceptance that the power of God can be at work through us, and that God can be at work without us. Resting in Christ will allows us to cross the last and ultimate threshold of our lives into the light, with the confidence the child that jumps from his trampoline for the first time, knowing that daddy will be down there to catch her.

Theresa of Avila, Spanish mystic, died in 1582, accosted by considerable pains and sufferings, she wrote this small doggerel on the edge of her prayer book:

Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing frighten you,
All things are passing.
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing.
God is enough.

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