IMMEDIACY IN MARK
When we read the Gospel of Mark, we read a story moving at breakneck speed. Mark is the shortest gospel, and in it we don’t find a genealogy, or narratives from his childhood, or even much of a prelude before Jesus is baptized. And once he is baptized, it seems like he is constantly on the move, first calling his disciples, then healing and teaching, healing and teaching, all throughout Galilee until he rushes to Jerusalem at the head of his disciples where he is crucified. In fact, in the earliest manuscripts, we don’t even have an account of Jesus’ post resurrection appearances. It ends with the empty tomb and the frightened women who witnessed it. Mark seems to be in such a hurry to tell Jesus’ story, that the entire gospel can be read in about an hour and a half, if you read it straight through.
And peppered along the way is the Greek word, “euthus” or “immediately.” It is used over 40 times in Mark, more than the rest of the New Testament combined.(1) It almost seems like the need to do everything *right now* characterizes Jesus’ ministry throughout the Gospel of Mark. Mark doesn’t sweat the small details or give us much background info, instead seeking to build a narrative which puts us right in the action all the way through Jesus’ ministry and right to the cross. In some ways, Mark’s gospel strikes me as the first century equivalent of a summer action movie, with explosions and car chases right up to the ending credits.
In the rush to move from one event to the next in the Gospel, we tend to focus on the big stories in Mark. The big lessons, the big speeches, and the big miracles. And yet, our reading from Mark’s gospel this morning includes none of those things. Honestly, at first glance, it seems like an oddly unnatural selection. It begins with the apostles returning from their mission, where Jesus sent them out to preach repentance, heal the sick, and cast out demons. But we aren’t given any details about their results, rather their success is hinted at by the crowds which recognize them. And just as Mark is about to tell us about Jesus feeding the 5,000 and his walking on water, arguably two of his most spectacular miracles, we skipped right to the end of the episode where the crowds are again rushing to meet him, and he and his disciples are swamped with people in need of healing, renewal, and restoration.
Now you might be asking yourself, “Wait a minute, why did we skip all the good stuff?” Well, one of the tools I use when deciding what to preach on is called a lectionary. It’s basically a three-year tour through the entire Bible, where passages from both the Old and New Testaments are read each Sunday. It’s used by denominations and churches all over the world, and has been developed by pastors and leaders through the centuries. I don’t use it rigidly, because I still want to be sensitive to when the Holy Spirit may be guiding me to preach on something else. But the selection from Mark which it assigns to this morning intrigued me. By skipping over the two stories which would naturally draw our attention the most, we are forced to look at what I call “the connecting pieces” of Mark’s gospel.
In this case, the connecting piece brings out another very important theme in Mark, one that is often overlooked, and that is Jesus’ insistence on taking time to withdraw and rest. In fact, it’s so important to Mark’s gospel, that he explicitly refers to Jesus taking the time to withdraw, rest, and pray at least nine times; including here in verse 31, where his concern is for his disciple’s well-being. There’s almost a pattern of rushing between big ministry events, withdrawing and resting, then rushing to the next task or event. Some of you might be familiar with the Army saying, “hurry up and wait.” Well, Mark is the “hurry up and wait” gospel. In Mark, Jesus knows that without time to rest, where the disciples can be alone with him, they won’t have the strength to rush on to meet the challenges ahead.
ADDICTED TO WORK
The same applies to us today, perhaps more than ever before. We, as Americans, tend to pride ourselves in our work ethic. I mentioned last week that we often find our identity in “what we do”, whatever our job or profession is. And so, when we aren’t actively engaged in that profession, we often feel lost or worry that we are being lazy or forgetting something important that needs to be done. In fact, I’m sure almost anyone here has had moments where we find a break in our busy schedule, and instead of enjoying it, we are overcome with anxiety that we we are supposed to be doing something else. This cultural trait is reflected in the most recent statistics detailing just how much our lives are filled with work.
In the U.S., 76% of adults work over 40 hours a week and 70% of American children live in households were all the adults are employed full-time or more.(2) And though the average number of hours worked my a single American worker is only a bit over the average compared to other industrialized nations, a recent survey found that 59% of Americans check their work email while on vacation, 81% check theirs over the weekend, and 6% checked their work email while either they or their spouse is in labor, while another 6% said they’ve checked their work email at a funeral.(3) All told, on average Americans spend 72 hours a week maintaining job-related contact and work-related tasks.(4) And this doesn’t even include all the chores and every-day tasks we are expected to accomplish outside of work, like cleaning, paying bills, yard work, the dishes, and the laundry. Even our kids are busier than ever before, with increasingly long sports seasons and the myriad of extra-curricular activities available.
We are addicted to work! And this [holds up cell phone] has become the means by which we feed our habit. On average, Americans spend more than 10 hours of their day looking at a screen in one form or another, with much of that time devoted to work-related topics.(5) But psychologists have shown that increased screen time is linked to increased reports of depression among users of technology.(6) Additionally, the increased stress brought on by constantly being bombarded with tasks (and being constantly reminded of future tasks through email and social media) adversely affects our health. Stress has been linked to increased risk for heart disease, obesity, depression, diabetes, accelerated aging, and even the formation of brain lesions associated with Alzheimer’s.(7) We’re constantly on the move from crisis to crisis, and it seems like the end of the world if we don’t complete each task. And this busyness is working us to an early grave.
And somehow, we think this honors God. We tend to think that in order to please God, we need to be doing something. But here, in our Markan passage, in the midst of crushing crowds, demons being cast out, and even the forces of nature being overcome; he makes the point to note that Jesus carves out time to rest. It’s no accident that the next story involves the feeding of the 5,000 or that Jesus tells the disciples who doubt their ability to feed the crowd, “You give them something to eat.” What they didn’t understand was that the ability to feed, care for, or feed crowds didn’t come from their own power. It came from Jesus. And they were only able to do these things because they took the time to rest with him.
We as a culture seem to have been afflicted with the same blindness the disciples exhibit in this chapter. When we are looking for stories which inspire us to greater faith, we tend to be drawn to those which tell of murderers or thieves who suddenly have an encounter with Jesus and are totally changed; or of a patient who faced an incurable illness and was miraculously healed; or of any number of crises who found their sudden, unexpected resolution in God’s grace. And these are indeed beautiful, uplifting stories which can sustain us in tough times.
THE NECESSITY OF CONNECTING MOMENTS
But what this morning’s passage is meant to teach us is that God is just as present in the “connecting moments” as he is in the “crisis moments”. It is these connecting moments where we take the time to put down our phones, remove our thoughts from work and all the tasks we need to accomplish, and just rest in God’s presence that enable us to face the crises which will inevitably vie for our attention. Between rushing and waiting, Mark establishes a rhythm in Jesus’ ministry. A rhythm of alternating periods of busy work and rest. We, likewise, need to learn establish regular rhythms of rest, throughout the day, throughout the week, and throughout the year.
This might mean establishing a rule that there are no phones, tablets, or screens at family meal times (this is a rule we have in my house), so that you are guarantee time each day to thank God for what you’ve been given and to enjoy it with your family and friends. Or it could be stepping outside each day for a short walk with your family or alone with God, away from other distractions. I needed this exact thing just yesterday. I was feeling overwhelmed with all of the things I needed to accomplish over the next few days (preparing this sermon being one of them) and I found myself freaking out a little bit. So I stepped outside into the church parking lot, took a deep breath, and just looked around. And I saw the most beautiful sunset I had seen in a while, with ribbons of gold surrounded by pink and dark gray clouds, and just opposite it a beautiful rainbow with the moon in full view all while the smell of rain lingered in the air. I realized in that moment that God had given me the senses so that I could enjoy this perfect moment, and I knew that even though there would be other beautiful moments where I could marvel at the works of God’s hands, one would be exactly the same as this one. The clouds would never be exactly the same, and neither would be the light bouncing off them and or the water vapor hanging in the air. Each particular bird with its own song was unique in that moment, and if I hadn’t stepped away from my desk and taken 15 minutes outside, I would have missed it completely; and I would have missed an opportunity to thank God for it.
Just as we need daily moments where we rest in God’s presence, we also need the weekly practice of keeping the sabbath and corporate worship. We may not be inclined to think of it this way, but Sunday morning services where we worship and fellowship together are meant to be part of that restful experience. And then we need seasonal and yearly periods of rest as well. Everyone knows there are busier times of the year than others, and the holidays especially come to mind. The same is true even in the church calendar. For a pastor, beginning the church year with Advent, moving into Christmas, then into Lent and finally into Easter can be eventful, exciting and exhausting. That’s why we also have what’s called “Ordinary time” in the church calendar. Contrary to what some might think, “ordinary” doesn’t just mean regular, or worse “dull”, instead the concept is related to the word “Ordained,” meaning it is a time set aside by God for rest and establishing those rhythms that sustain us
throughout the rest of the year.
CONCLUSION
So, as we go out today, and are faced with trying to accomplish all the tasks on our collective plates, I encourage you to carve out time each day to rest with Jesus, recharge your batteries, and enjoy the little “connecting moments” that you find here and there between all the other things trying to grab your attention. I think you will find a greater appreciation for the beauty of those moments that will sustain you throughout the day, the week, and the year.
FOOTNOTES
(1) Wessel, Walter W. and Mark L. Strauss. “Mark,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Revised Edition. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 689.
(2) Miller, G.E. “The US is the Most Overworked Developed Nation in the World,” on 20Something Finance. Web. Updated January 2, 2018.
(3) Kelleher, David. “Survey: 81% of U.S. Employees Check their Work Mail outside Work Hours,” on TechTalk. Web. Updated May 20, 2013.
(4) Deal, Jennifer J. “Welcome to the 72 Hour Work Week,” on Harvard Business Review. Web. Updated September 12, 2013.
(5) “US Adults Now Spend 12 Hours 7 Minutes a Day Consuming Media,” on eMarketer. Web. Updated May 01, 2017.
(6) Lardieri, Alexa. “Study: Greater Screen Time Associated with Depression and Insomnia in Teens,” on U.S. News & World Report. Web. Updated June 05, 2018.
Delivered July 22, 2018 - First Church of the Nazarene, La Junta, CO.
(7) Griffin, R. Morgan. “10 Health Problems Related to Stress That You Can Fix.” on WebMD. Web. Retrieved Jul. 21, 2018.
