Epiphany 5B
February 8, 2015
Mark 1:29-39
Isaiah 40:21-31
This week
Michael was out late at a meeting one night, so Klaus the Dachshund and I had
the house and the night to ourselves. We decided to spend it binge watching a
new-to-us TV show called Parenthood.
I know many of you are familiar with it, but in case you aren’t, here’s the
story: it’s about four grown siblings and their families, as they all learn the
joys and challenges of being parents, as well as learning how to start being
more parent-like to their own aging parents. There is the wild, youngest
brother, who has recently found out that he has a 5-year-old son, and he has to
learn how to be a responsible adult. There is the high-powered lawyer sister,
whose husband is a stay-at-home dad. There is the sister who is doing
everything she can to help her teenage kids in the aftermath of her painfully
broken marriage. And there is the responsible eldest brother Adam, who serves
as chief confidant and mentor to all his younger siblings, solid and
responsible rock for his parents, supportive husband to a wife who would love
to go back to work, and father to a 15-year-old daughter and a newly diagnosed
autistic 9-year-old son. In addition he works a demanding job to provide for
his family. All of this responsibility is a lot to manage, even for “perfect
Adam.”
After a few
episodes of trying to juggle all the responsibility he has taken upon himself,
he finally has a meltdown, after not being able to carve out even a little time
for a walk with his wife. In response, his wife says, “So take a break!” He
retorts that
The fight is
never resolved, per se. But in the last scene of the episode, Adam, whose
daughter has just ditched early on their father-daughter-date, is donning a wet
suit and walking out toward the ocean, surf board in hand, and a determined
smile on his face. The very last scene shows him jumping into the waves in the
background, and in the foreground, his ringing cell phone left unanswered.
Now, I’m not
anywhere close to being in Adam’s position in life, but still this closing
scene spoke to my heart. The pressing needs of this world and those we love do
take a toll on us sometimes, don’t they? And it may seem impossible to take a
break, to put aside all responsibilities and just go jump into the waves while
our phones are left ringing and unanswered. I know that I, for one, have a hard
time taking real rest for myself – I do it, don’t get me wrong, but I find it a
challenge. There is just too much else to do, too many things to tend to.
Resting seems self-indulgent and irresponsible. Shouldn’t the third of my life
I spend sleeping be enough rest?
Perhaps the
reason I was so moved by Adam’s character finally taking a much needed rest for
himself, is that I was already thinking this week about how Jesus does the same
thing in our Gospel text for today. Today’s text is sort of strange because it
is three stories, all crammed into one short reading. That’s very
characteristic of the Gospel according to Mark, which has from its very start a
sense of urgency, a sense that we have to get as much information about Jesus
as possible out there in as short a time as possible. And so today we first get
the story of Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law, a beautiful story in which
Jesus takes this sick woman by the hand and lifts her up and immediately the
fever leaves her and she is ready once again to serve. Then we hear about how
quickly Jesus’ fame as a healer spread, such that “the whole city” was soon
enough crowded at his door, wanting to be healed. Poor guy! People with
everything from a runny nose to a demon possession are begging for his
attention, begging for his healing touch. And Jesus delivers, healing many of
them and casting out demons left and right.
It is no
wonder that he needed some time to himself. And so the very next line, Mark
tells us that Jesus got up early the next day, before the dawn, before anyone
I need to
read this brief verse in Mark every day. I need to remind myself every day that
Jesus carved out time from his day, even as he knew that people were clambering
for his attention, even as he knew how much more work needed to be done – he
carved out some time to spend in a deserted place all by himself, and there he
prayed. It is a sharp contrast to the bookending stories, which are nearly
frantic in mood as people hunt for him and beg and need need need – but here we
see only Jesus, in the quiet darkness. And there he prayed.
Jesus, we
say, is the only sinless human ever to live. If he is without sin, then by
gosh, it turns out taking time for myself must not be self-indulgent and
irresponsible after all! On the contrary: making time for Sabbath and prayer is
something that is so important to God that God did it, too. On the seventh day,
after creation was complete, God rested. God found rest so important that it
was included in the 10 commandments: Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy. It
is so important, that God continues to remind the Israelites about it
throughout the Hebrew Bible, urging rest for slaves, servants, kings, aliens,
wanderers, everyone.
And it is so
important that Jesus himself practices it. He does it here, in our text today.
He does it before he is about to endure a most humiliating death, when he goes
out to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray by himself. He does it at other points
in his ministry. Rest and prayer, it would seem, are an essential part of a
faithful life.
And yet,
notice too that Jesus doesn’t stay there. His disciples find him, and tell him
of all the needs he still has to tend to. “Everyone is looking for you!” they
tell him. And Jesus gets right back up and says, “Okay, let’s go. I was sent
here to proclaim the message of God’s kingdom, and that is exactly what I will
do.” And they go on to the next city to continue doing God’s work. The time for
rest that he took was necessary – after all, not only is he only human, he is
also divine, and the Bible shows us that human and divine alike need their
rest! But it was necessary so that he would be able to continue to do God’s
work.
This, too,
is something I need to remember. Rest is not self-indulgent. It is not
Our reading
today from Isaiah echoes well this sentiment. As our closing prayer today, I
would like to read it again for you. Let us pray…
God, you give power to the faint, and
strengthen the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young
will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their
strength. They shall mount up with wings of eagles. They shall not be weary.
They shall walk, and not be faint. May it be so with us, Lord. May it be so
with us. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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