Jesus needed a little time off, a little time for retreat and prayer, and for grief. He had just learned of the brutal death of John the Baptist, beheaded at the whim of a party girl and her vengeful mother. So he planned a spiritual getaway. He was modeling excellent self-care, as we say in clergy circles. But even Jesus’ plans can be interrupted:
“Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.” (The whole passage for Sunday is here.)
I wonder if his heart sank as his boat approached his “deserted place” and he saw it teeming with people, people who had walked the long way around the lake to get to where he was going to be, because they wanted to be healed. If he thought, “Darn, there goes my quiet time…” or, “Sorry, it’s my day off, and I really need one this week,” or “I’m grieving and I need a time out…” the Gospel writers don’t tell us. He saw the crowd, he had compassion, and began an impromptu healing service that lasted all day.
Are we to be always ready to give ourselves away when people need us? That’s a good recipe for burn-out – but I wonder if burn-out is even an operative principle in the Realm of God. Good personal boundaries are important, of course – and perhaps we're best off when we allow the Holy Spirit to set those boundaries for us. Jesus had an impeccable (literally...) sense of self, and did not allow himself to be manipulated by the needs of others. But he did respond to needs as led by the Spirit.
And when he gave, he did not give out of his own human resources. He allowed himself to be a conduit for the power and love of the Spirit. Yes, he felt tired at times, and there was an occasion when he said he felt power go out of him when someone touched him for healing. But for the most part, he demonstrated extraordinary stamina, preaching, teaching, healing, on the move all the time.
That is his gift to us, his followers united with him in baptism. When we are running on Holy Spirit power, we know when to stop and talk, when to keep moving, when to offer healing, when to act on our dreams. And when we’re on Spirit power, our energies are renewed and replenished. I can always tell when I’ve gone back to Kate-Power – it runs down, and I get discouraged and testy. Holy Spirit Power jazzes me up, energizes me, even if my to-do list has been disrupted.
How about you? Can you think of a time when your plans were interrupted by something that turned out to be ministry? Did you make the decision to go with the interruption rather than fighting it, or did you ignore the ministry opportunity in order to stay focused on your plans? How did you decide? How did it feel?
Today let’s sit quietly in prayer, coming into God’s presence with thanksgiving, and asking the Spirit to lead us to godly interruptions. And let’s ask the Spirit to fill us, to increase our capacity to carry God’s power and insight and love and peace and strength – other people need it.
We might say it is our mission as agents of healing and restoration in the name of Jesus to bring people to where he is going to be. We don’t always know where that is, but he did give us a few clues: in the Word, in the bread and wine at worship, in the poor and those in need – and, indeed, everywhere two or three of us gather in his name. Bring your friends – Jesus will be sailing up any minute now.
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