EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodical authorized minister. The journey together these past seven years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on July 24, 2024.
This week's gospel: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.
Faith Family … a serious question to begin with.
Healing the Sick in Gennesaret
53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54 When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him 55 and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 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 message:
Have you experienced true desperation?
I’m not talking about the everyday feelings of loss or hurt or anger. … The emotions that derive from a car breaking down, or being jilted by another or a fight with a loved one.
I’m talking true desperation … the kind of desperation that leaves you clinging to the hope that only Jesus offers.
I’m talking about the phone call that confirms a life-altering diagnosis.
I’m talking about the news that informs you of a loved one slipping away.
The feeling of watching a loved one’s addiction slowly draining the life out of them.
The call that tells you, thank you for your service, but your employment is no longer needed.
True desperation, Faith Family. … Have you ever experienced true desperation?
No need to answer, of course. … I can’t imagine that anyone has never experienced desperation at least once in their life.
Oh, nowadays, we like to believe that almost every negative twist and turn in our lives is the absolute worst moment of our lives. … Don’t we? … We somehow have convinced ourselves that the most trivial of issues we encounter are all mountains. … Every mole hill is a mountain now, as the old saying goes, right?
But today’s gospel text isn’t referring to mole hills. … Today’s gospel text is trying to paint a picture of the true desperation that Jesus walked into in his ministry.
The gospel text, the writer Mark is conveying to us the enormous frenzy that surrounded Jesus’ ministry in the first century when news of his -- and his disciples’ -- miracle began taking place.
Faith Family … Mark is sharing that the world was crying out for relief!
Just consider …
In talking about the disciples, Mark writes: “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure to even eat.”
There were so many people in need that Jesus’ disciples didn’t even have time to eat! … They were working themselves to exhaustion!
And even when Jesus pulls them away for a retreat … a sabbath … there were only more people who found them. Mark writes that the people “hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.”
Faith Family … Jesus and his disciples couldn’t get away from the hunger for relief. … They couldn’t get away from the desperation.
Even when they jumped in a boat to get across the Sea of Galilee, the folks ashore learned to anticipate where Jesus was headed … and they met him there! … Great crowds had already gathered to meet him and the disciples when they came ashore.
Mark further tells us that once people recognized him, they “rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.”
Didn’t matter where … cities, small villages … the countryside. They chased down Jesus … and “begged him that they might tough even the fringe of his cloaks.”
Faith Family … that’s desperation. These folks are in a frenzy to seek out Jesus … because they have heard of the solace that he offered. … The relief the heavenly kingdom provided that this earthly kingdom doesn’t.
I don’t know about you … but I can share that I’ve been this desperate multiple times in my life. … More often than I care to count, really. … Times where I no longer had a grip here in this earthly life, and could only count on the relief that Jesus provides.
And it’s a dark place, isn’t it?
Theology describes this place as the “long, dark night of the soul.” … A time of crisis in your faith … a time in your life so painful you can’t imagine coming out the other side whole.
As I studied the gospel this week … it made me wonder if the situation has ever improved since Jesus and his disciples walked the lands around Galilee?
I mean as our group walked the streets of New Orleans last week, you could see the desperation all around us. It didn’t take long for our students to come face to face with life on the streets in a major urban center. … And some of it was very, very real.
But just read the headlines in our own backyard, and they will reveal that desperation isn’t owned by big cities alone, is it?
No, we’re all aware that desperation also is prevalent in small towns and farm communities and everywhere else … thanks to the immense brokenness of this world.
You don’t have to look far to find someone in desperate need of Jesus’ salvic touch … do we?
So knowing all of that … knowing that the gospel teaches us that there’s never an escape from the suffering of this earthly kingdom … you may be wondering … well, Pastor, then … just what is the Good News this week?
And I would say that the Good News is … that the gospel text also teaches us that no matter the extent of the desperation in this world … Jesus is capable AND willing to bring the healing.
To all of us … despite the never-ending sea of pain. … Jesus’ healing touch never runs out.
In the beginning of this text, Jesus meant to take away his disciples for some much needed and deserved rest.
But when he found that they couldn’t get away from the need, he didn’t turn away. … No, the gospel tells us that he met the multitudes with compassion.
In other words, there is no cap on Jesus’ mercy.
Further, the Good News is that the gospel assures us that wherever, whenever Jesus is there to offer healing. … Whether that is in big urban areas, or small towns … or rural communities that are dots on the map. … Doesn’t matter where … Jesus finds the need and Jesus responds.
Faith Family, the gospel teaches us tonight that all who seek out Jesus will be healed. … Mark tells us so when he writes that the people “begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.”
We must remember that is the promise of our lord: He will heal all … if only we seek him out in our desperation. … And that is the Good News for this Wednesday, July 24, the ninth week after Pentecost. … Amen.
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