Seventh
Sunday after Pentecost / Year B
Jeremiah
23:1-6, Psalm 23, Ephesians
2:11-22; Mark
Pastor
Gayle M. Pope
Gathered and Sent
Before I start this morning, I think we need to do a
little breathing exercise. Are you
ready? OK. Here we go.
Everybody take a deep cleansing breath. Hold it for just a second. Now let it
out. And another one. Breathe in.
Hold. Breathe out. Ok, that’s
good. Now one more. Breathe in … hold …
Oh, yeah, we have to breathe out again, don’t
we? Of course! If we don’t breathe out, we can’t breathe
in. If we don’t keep breathing in, the
oxygen we need gets all used up and we die. Breathing is a rhythm in our lives
that is not only natural, but absolutely essential!
There are lots of rhythms like that in life …
sleeping and waking; working and resting; eating and exercising; listening and
talking.
Just like with breathing, if the rhythm is
interrupted, or the ebb and flow gets out of balance, things start to fall
apart and, sooner or later, something dies – body, mind or spirit.
There is a
rhythm to our lives as children of God and followers of Jesus, too. This rhythm can be seen in our gospel reading
today. And it can also be seen somewhere else, but we’ll get to that later. First, let’s look at the gospel.
Right off the bat, the first words are, “The apostles
gathered.” Do you know what the word
“apostles” means? It’s actually a Greek
word – apostolos {ap-os'-tol-os} – and it means “the sent ones.” So the first sentence literally says, “the
sent ones gathered.” And what or who did
they gather around? Jesus.
It’s interesting that the Greek word for “gathered”
is sunago {soon-ag'-o} – like the word, Synogogue, where Jews gather to hear
God’s word.
The rhythm for children of God that we see revealed
in this gospel is the rhythm of gathering and sending – sending and gathering.
But there’s even more to it than that.
Just before today’s gospel reading, Jesus had sent
the apostles out two by two with detailed instructions and the authority to
carry them out. We heard about this a
couple of weeks ago. “They went out and preached that people
should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with
oil and healed them.”
At the start of today’s gospel, the apostles are back
together again with Jesus, telling him “all
they had done and taught.” It was a debriefing session. They were probably pretty excited about their
experiences, but they must have been exhausted.
They had been pushed outside their boxes. They had
been “doing” – teaching, healing, pouring out their energy. And still, people
were “coming and going” – there it is again, that rhythm. But the disciples
didn’t even have time to eat – another rhythm interrupted.
So Jesus says, “Come
away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile.” In other
words, “You were sent out. You went. You did good. “Now gather, rest, spend
some time alone with me.”
So they did, but not much time, as it turned
out. Just the time it took to cross the
lake because, when they got to the deserted place it wasn’t deserted
anymore. It was full of other people who
came to gather around Jesus.
When Jesus saw the crowd gathered it says, “He had
compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
Now what are sheep like without a shepherd? They are
either hungry, thirsty, afraid, scattered, lost, sick, at risk to predators and
thieves, or all of the above.
These people had gathered from all over because they
all needed SOMETHING. When Jesus saw them, he saw they needed a shepherd and it
says, “He began to teach them many things.”
Like the apostles, they gathered around Jesus – the
Word of God made flesh – and from him they heard the Word of God.
Now if you look closely, you’ll notice that the
gospel skips here from verse 34 to verse 53.
What happens in between is the disciples realize the people are going to
get hungry – literally – and there’s nothing out there in the wilderness for
them to eat. So the disciples tell Jesus
to send the people away so they can
get something to eat.
There it is again – “send” – not to mention
“eat”. But Jesus says, no – it’s not
time for sending yet – YOU give them something to eat. YOU apostles – you sent
ones – YOU give them something to eat.
The disciples don’t have a clue so Jesus ends up
doing the miracle of the loaves and fishes and feeds 5,000 men plus women and
children.
Then Jesus sends
the disciples away in the boat back across the lake and THEN he dismisses the crowd, and THEN HE
goes up to the mountain to pray. Even
Jesus goes away to be by himself to gather himself around God the Father.
After that, he sees the disciples in the boat in the
middle of the lake struggling against the waves, walks out to them on the water
and gets in the boat and they had back to land. That’s where the story picks up
at verse 53.
And, again, we see the people gathering around
Jesus. This time, the focus is on their
need for healing. Jesus is like a magnet for people who are sick and want to be
made whole. They are begging for him and reaching out to him just to touch the
fringe of his cloak – which, incidentally, symbolized God’s Word – and all who
touched it were healed.
So … you can see in this gospel reading, this rhythm
of life as children of God and followers of Jesus – this rhythm of gathering
around Jesus, hearing his Word, eating, and being sent.
Now, earlier, I said that this rhythm could be seen
somewhere else this morning. It you
look, you can see it in the bulletin. We
are right in the middle of it. The
rhythm of our service is the rhythm of our lives as believers. That’s why I
always include these headings in the bulletin.
We gather in God’s name, as children of God. We hear God’s Word of forgiveness and
promise that nurtures our spirit. We receive
God’s Word made flesh – Jesus Christ – as we eat and drink bread and wine. And THEN, we are sent into the world.
Gathering. Word. Meal. Sending. That’s the rhythm.
Now, think about that little breathing exercise, and the point of it. If the rhythm is interrupted or the ebb and
flow gets out of balance, something in us will die.
As children of God and followers of Jesus we NEED to
gather around Jesus – not only gather ourselves in private around Jesus in
prayer, which is important – but also gather together as brothers and
sisters. I’ll say more about that in a
minute.
We NEED to hear God’s word in the liturgy and
Scriptures and songs. We NEED to receive Jesus – the Word of God – in Holy
Communion. Just as our bodies need food to live, our spirits need God’s Word to live.
And then, we NEED to be sent. Have you thought about
that? For the life of our spirit, we
need to BREATHE OUT. If all we do as
Christians is RECEIVE, we will die, because the spirit of God is BREATH. It’s
the breath of God in us.
Individual Christians as well as congregations that
become focused inward on themselves – that exist ONLY to feed themselves – become
stagnant. Their light is hid under a bushel. Congregations like that eventually
die, and there are a lot of them.
But Christians and congregations that focus ONLY on
doing, doing, doing without taking time to gather around Jesus and feed on the
Word, also start to die – they lose energy, they become tired and anxious and
sometimes forget the reason they are doing and doing in the first place.
The rhythm is essential … like breathing in and
breathing out.
And why is it we need to gather TOGETHER, and not just
by ourselves out in the woods? Well, you
can see that in the gospel, too.
See how the apostles are sometimes “sent” out there
to serve, like shepherds. And other
times in need of being gathered and fed like sheep.
We’re like that, too. We don’t’ all breathe in and
out at the same time. We are all in different places. Sometimes we are like the needy people – sick
and begging to touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak.
But, since Jesus isn’t here physically anymore, we
need to receive Jesus’ word and Jesus’ touch through others. So, sometimes we need to BE Jesus for each
other.
We come to church not only to receive, but to give. Some days you may be giving more than
receiving here. In fact, just by being here, you are GIVING. You are making
yourself available to be Jesus for a brother or sister. You are telling each
other, by your presence, that, “You are important to me and that’s why I’m
here.” And the way it works, in giving you DO receive.
Breathe in.
Breathe in God’s word of promise that you are loved and forgiven. Breathe in God’s Holy Spirit. Breathe in the
free gift of God’s grace that comes by faith in Jesus.
And then, breathe out. You are the sent ones. Go out and be Jesus for the ones who need to
be gathered and fed and taught and healed.
Breathe in.
Breathe out. And may the peace of
God, which passes ALL understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus.