February 7, 2021
Mark 1:29-39
Isaiah 40:21-31
INTRODUCTION
Jesus’ first impression last week, a dramatic healing of a man possessed by an unclean spirit, set the tone for his ministry, and today we see it continue to play out, as his fame spreads. Mark offers us today “a day in the life of Jesus,” as we watch him go from the synagogue to his friend’s mother-in-law’s house to heal her, to the city where everyone with any sort of ailment comes knocking for help. His reputation as one who confronts evil and brings healing is growing. But Mark also feels it important to mention that Jesus takes a rest – notice that he actually will stop and take a moment for himself to pray, before moving on to keep proclaiming the good news. Good modeling, Jesus!
Isaiah also speaks to the fatigue that comes from, well, from life! Today’s reading brings us back to the time of exile, actually just as they are learning that they will be returning to Jerusalem after being in exile for 70 years. The Israelites are understandably worried about the long trip – 1000 miles journey, on foot! God assures them that, while it will be long and arduous, they will be able to make it, because God will not let them fall. A wonderful promise as we, too, continue to trudge through our own exhausting moment in history!
In both of these stories, and in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we will see a theme of God empowering the weak and weary, and that this strengthening is ultimately for a purpose: the next step of healing (in body, mind or spirit) is service. As you listen, consider from what you need healing, and how such healing would equip you for serving God and neighbor. Let’s listen.
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
This week, on one of my favorite podcasts, On Being with Krista Tippett, I listened to an interview with civil rights elder, Gwendolyn Zahorah Simmons, who is now a member of the National Council of Elders. She was interviewed by Rev. Lucas Johnson, who is the Executive Director of On Being’s Civil Conversations and Social Healing project, and is also an American Baptist Minister. “Mother Simmons,” as he called her, was raised Christian, and is now a practicing Muslim, so their conversation was laced with spiritual, faith-filled language about connection with God and time for meditation. All of this spiritual reflection was around the interviewer’s primary question to her: When you are utterly exhausted from the work of social healing – holding government to account, reconciliation in the midst of relationships and families, and simply staying alive and healthy during a pandemic – what do you do to be well or find healing in the midst of all that? Mother Simmons recalled her days with the grueling Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964 (if you don’t know what that is, I encourage you to read about it, especially during this Black History Month – Mississippi Freedom Summer was an effort to register black voters in Mississippi, which was met with much resistance and violence). Simmons spoke in the interview of the work she has continued to do with civil rights organizing and deep social healing, and that was all great stuff… but I admit I was really taken with and stuck on the initial question: how do you find healing from your exhaustion?
The reason it piqued my interest, I think, is that I don’t normally think of needing healing from exhaustion. Rest, yes, but healing? But now I don’t know why I never made that connection, because indeed, exhaustion can be debilitating. It can break us and our relationships. And when that exhaustion is a result of so much important work we are doing (like the healing work that Mother Simmons did, on a social level, and that so many people in many different realms are doing today!), when we believe so deeply in the importance of the work we are doing, it can be even harder to pull away for a moment to get the healing we need. But healing work is exhausting, and the healer needs to be healthy in order for their good work to continue.
If you’re anything like me, you know this in your head, but may not be as good at practicing it. In fact, just a couple weeks ago, our own council chastised me (“finger-wagged” was the word they used) for not taking all of my vacation last year. The next week, my colleagues did the same. “Johanna!” they urged, “You need to get away somewhere and rest!”
But that’s difficult for many of us, isn’t it? I think many of us struggle at least at times to balance the pressing needs of this world and those we love with our own need for rest and healing. And it may seem at times impossible to take a break, to put aside all responsibilities and just go for a hike or get immersed in a hobby or pray for goodness sake, while our phones, texts, and emails are left unanswered. Resting just seems self-indulgent and irresponsible. Shouldn’t the third of our lives we spend sleeping be enough rest?
Of course, if you need biblical precedent for the importance of rest, especially for the healer, you need look no further than our Gospel text for today. Maybe it doesn’t seem that way at first: in characteristic Markan form, the narrative of this “day in the life of Jesus” is rapid fire, three stories, all crammed into one short reading. Jesus first heals Peter’s mother-in-law. 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 indigestion 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 in the very next line, Mark tells us that Jesus got up early the next day, before the dawn, before anyone could come begging for his attention, and he went to a quiet and deserted place by himself. And there, he prayed.
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 busy day and life’s demands, even as he knew that people were clamoring 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 God, it turns out taking time for ourselves must not be self-indulgent and irresponsible after all! In fact, Mother Simmons said the same thing, as has Mother Theresa (who took time out from her important work to pray 5 times a day), as have countless other spiritual leaders. And of course, even God said the same thing; right from the beginning, God showed us the importance of Sabbath rest. 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 continued 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. They are essential to bring healing and endurance to those who pursue the kingdom of God.
Because notice what happens next: Jesus doesn’t stay there, resting and praying by himself. 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. Let’s go and bring new life to this aching world.” And they go on to the next city to continue doing God’s work. The time for rest and prayer 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 also 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 irresponsible. It is not lazy. It is time that is essential for healing, and for gaining the strength necessary to work for the kingdom of God: to be present with the sick, to comfort the brokenhearted, to tend to the poor and hungry, to work for justice and proclaim truth. These things cannot be done without spending time resting with God.
As our closing prayer today, I would like to read a part of our passage from Isaiah, which echoes so well this same sentiment. 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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