Mark 6:30–34, 53–56
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Lord, may we hear your voice in the words spoken in your Name. Amen.
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This morning Mark offers us a snapshot of the twelve disciples coming
back together after a time of separation. We don’t know how
long they’ve been away, whether it’s been for days or
weeks. We just know they have been out on the road in
pairs – sent out by Jesus to minister to others in his
Name. And now, as they finally come back together again, they have
stories to tell, experiences to share. Some of them are excited,
proud of what they have been able to do in the authority Jesus gave
them. Others, who had more difficult encounters, are still
experiencing mixed emotions. But they all want to
share – with Jesus and each other — what they have
learned. And they’re all ready for some down
time – because, at the moment, they are exhausted. They
have no more to give. So Jesus invites them to go with him a
little way down the coast to a quiet spot he knows about, where he
will be able to listen to them and minister to their needs.
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But, oh, they’re not the only ones who are in need! As
the people on the shore see the disciples pile into the boat with Jesus
and head toward the wilderness area he has in mind, they too want
Jesus’ attention. They too want someone to listen, someone
to care, someone to heal them. So they race ahead of the boat on
foot, running along the shore. And by the time Jesus and his
disciples reach the spot he had in mind – there is already a
crowd of people waiting for them, clamoring for a word, a healing,
an ear to listen.
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What will Jesus do now, caught between the needs of his disciples
and the needs of the crowd? Mark says he had compassion on
them, because he saw them as sheep without a shepherd. He has
compassion on them because that is who he is. He is
One – with God the Father, whose middle name is
‘Compassion.’
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Do you remember the time when Moses, up on Mount Sinai, asked if God
would allow him to see His glory, would reveal Himself to him?
Against all odds, the Lord does what Moses has asked. He hides
Moses in the cleft of a rock and passes before him, proclaiming His
holy name as he passes by. The New English Version of the Bible
offers that name as –
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Jehovah, the Lord, a God compassionate and gracious,
long–suffering, ever constant and true, maintaining constancy
to thousands, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin, not sweeping
the guilty away; but one who punishes sons and grandsons to
the third and fourth generations for the iniquity of the fathers.
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Now, that’s a mouthful of a Name. And I will probably
spend my whole life trying to understand that Name, and the
implications of all those qualities. But I do remember that the
Lord’s middle name is Compassionate and Gracious,
Long–suffering. And it’s that name that stands
out to me now as I try to understand how Jesus, who – just like
the disciples — had also been ministering and probably also
was tired. It’s that name that helps me understand how he could
immediately begin to minister again to a growing crowd – without
the slightest hint of impatience or annoyance. He behaved
compassionately — to them all — because that’s who
he was – a man acquainted with grief and suffering. For
that’s what ‘compassion’ means, literally. It
means “with suffering.” Jesus immediately saw and
identified with the crowd’s need, their suffering — just as
he’d understood his disciples’ needs – because he
was compassionate. He ministered to everyone’s needs from
the depths of his being, depths that immediately grasped what people
had been through. It’s just who he was – and is today.
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And it wouldn’t be the last time Jesus allowed a crowd’s
needs to overrule his own plans. In fact, the very next morning,
after Jesus had fed and taught the crowd that by that time had grown
to 5,000 people – Mark tells us that Jesus and his disciples
take off again in the boat, still trying to find some down time, still
hoping for a few quiet moments by themselves. This time they
head for the region of Gennesaret, on the western side of the Sea of
Galilee. But once again they are spotted. They are
recognized for the healers and teachers they
are . . . and are becoming.
Jesus, especially, is besieged by people clamoring for healing,
for a touch or a word. And once again, he complies graciously
with the crowd’s demands.
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He complies because he sees – with the eyes of his
heart — that these people are sheep without a shepherd. They
are lost, confused, disoriented, nearly panicked. So he ministers
to them with deep tenderness, understanding that they are not an
interruption: they are why he has come. He’s been sent
to the lost sheep of Israel, to be their shepherd. He is the
Great Shepherd of the sheep whom the Lord God promised to Israel long ago.
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And, you know, he still is that Great Shepherd. He is
our shepherd, who understands that we have come together
again after a long separation – and need some time with
him. So he meets us here in this church every Sunday – in
our prayers, in our praise, in his Word and in the Eucharist. He
sees that we need him in a world where nothing feels predictable
anymore – not the weather, not our health, and certainly in no
clear consensus about the right path forward. He sees we need
his direction to put one step in front of the other. And he
knows we need his assurance that he holds us all safe – in the
palm of his hand.
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But there’s one other way he is with us these days – just
as he was with those first disciples. And it’s such a great
mystery, I’m struggling to put it into words. You see, as
Mark presents the story to us this morning, those disciples never
did get the time they thought they needed with Jesus. The crowds
interrupted them every time. But my guess is that those
disciples – the ones who thought they weren’t ready for
ministry, the ones who thought of themselves as inexperienced
learners – my guess is that they ministered to those crowds all
the same. My guess is that as they reached out – with the
same kind of loving compassion they had seen in Jesus – somehow
the ministry was accomplished. Because God was in it.
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And that’s the word I’d like to leave you with this
morning. That as we reach out to others in charity and love
the Great Shepherd of the Sheep will draw near to us. And we
will receive everything we need.
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Amen.
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