Mark 6 is a busy chapter that begins with Jesus’ rather disastrous return home to Nazareth. When he began to teach in the synagogue, he quickly discovered that you can’t go home again. That experience leads to his decision to send his twelve closest disciples out on a mission trip. That leads us to the story of John the Baptist’s execution by Herod after Herod’s rather infamous dinner party. It’s after John’s execution and the return of Jesus’ disciples from their mission trip that we pick up the story in this morning’s Gospel reading.
When Jesus’ disciples, whom Mark calls apostles, return from their mission, they tell Jesus all about what they had done. Although Mark doesn’t go into details here, if you read between the lines you can tell they’re excited about all the powerful things that happened along the way. It’s also clear that they are exhausted from this effort. So, Jesus invited them to join him on a retreat to a deserted place so they could rest and recover from their work. Mark tells us that they got in a boat and headed off to what they hoped was a deserted place along the lake. But their retreat got cut short because the crowd took off on foot and arrived at the chosen spot before the little band of disciples. There would be no rest for the weary.
This word from Mark’s Gospel comes to us after we’ve experienced nearly eighteen months of living through a pandemic that has proven challenging to everyone. That includes churches and their pastors. I’m just a few weeks into my retirement, so my memory of this reality is fresh. I know from many conversations with colleagues, that clergy have been pushed to the brink as we’ve tried to keep our churches alive. While the worst seems to be over, no one knows what the future holds for the church at large and for individual congregations. So the words of Jesus here in Mark 6 speak to the hearts of many pastors: Yes, as Jesus says to the disciples: “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile.”
Of course, the invitation to rest can conflict with the needs of the moment. So, when Jesus’ small band of disciples arrives at the “deserted place” they discover that they’re not alone. A large crowd had gathered to greet them. Mark writes that when Jesus saw the crowd he had “compassion” for them because they were like “sheep without a shepherd.” So, he sat them down and began to teach them many things. This ends part one of our reading.
The creators of the lectionary ask us to skip down to verse 53. As Paul Harvey famously said on his radio programs after a commercial break, “now for the rest of the story.” We skip more than nineteen verses to get to part two. When we pick up the story, the band of disciples has crossed the lake and landed at Gennesaret. Maybe Jesus thought they would find a quiet spot on the other side of the lake, but a crowd quickly gathered when people heard that Jesus was in the neighborhood. Mark tells us that wherever Jesus went, whether in cities, villages, or even farms, the people brought their sick and injured and laid them before him so he could heal them. In fact, they begged him to let them touch the fringe of his cloak and everyone who came to him was healed.
The verses we skipped over record some of the more exciting moments in the Gospel of Mark. You will find Jesus feeding the 5000, which is followed by the story of Jesus walking on water and stilling the storm that threatened the boat carrying his disciples. The reason why Jesus was walking on water is that he decided to get away for a moment of rest and prayer after a hard day of work. Yes, even Jesus needed downtime! If that’s true for Jesus, then it’s true for all of us. (Mark 6:35-52).
There is a lot to take in as we ponder this passage. Mark tells us a bit about Jesus’ ministry. He emphasizes Jesus’ compassion for the sheep who lack a shepherd to guide them. He also reminds us that those who are called to ministry need to take time away to rest and reset. That’s why pastors need days off, vacation time, and time for continuing education.
While the lectionary offering for today skips over the feeding of the 5000, that story speaks to the important role that tables play in the life of the church. We can start with the Table churches gather around to receive the signs of Jesus’ body and blood. Then there are the tables around which we gather for fellowship. Tables also serve as a place where compassionate ministries take place. It’s worth noting that while Herod fed his friends, Jesus fed the multitude that lacked a shepherd.
It’s good to remember that compassion defines Jesus’ ministry. If Jesus is the incarnation of God’s presence on earth, then compassion defines the nature of God. Theologian Douglas John Hall puts it this way:
Since for Christians Jesus, supremely, is revelatory of God and indeed God’s unique representative in history, compassion must be said to be the essence of the One who created us and before whom all life is lived. [Feasting on the Word, p. 260].
Although Herod should have been the shepherd of his people, he failed at that calling. But Jesus, who proclaimed and embodied the kingdom of God, did what Herod failed to do. He took on the role of the shepherd of the sheep.
This is where our reading from the Twenty-third Psalm comes in. The Psalmist reminds us that “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake” (Ps. 23:1-3). Jesus’ actions reflect the words of the Psalm. He takes up the role of the Good Shepherd as he invited the people to lie down on the green pastures that sat alongside the still waters of the Sea of Galilee. When they are properly seated, he prepares a table for them, offering both the bread of his teaching that fed the souls of the people and the material bread that gave sustenance to the people.
If Jesus embodies the compassion of God and serves as a shepherd to the sheep of this world, then shouldn’t this compassion define our relationships with the world around us? If that is true, then where would God have us go, and what would God have us do as we embody God’s compassion as revealed in the life and ministry of Jesus?
Oh, and remember that ministries of compassion shouldn’t crowd out those necessary moments of rest and spiritual refreshment. Yes, there is a certain rhythm to the Christian life. This is true for church members, but especially for pastors.
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall, Minister-at-Large
Pulpit Supply at Community Presbyterian Church
Waterford, Michigan
July 18, 2021
Pentecost 8B
Immage Attribution -- Mauve, Anton, 1838-1888. Landscape with Shepherd and Sheep, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=51139 [retrieved July 17, 2021]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27Shepherd_and_Sheep%27_by_Anton_Mauve,_Cincinnati_Art_Museum.JPG.
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