July 21, 2024, Come Unto Me – There’s Work to be Done! Mark 6:7-13 and 6:30-44 – Mtr. Kathryn Boswell

saintphilipsnorwood ♦ July 21, 2024 ♦ Leave a comment

Click the link above to listen to the sermon. A synopsis of the sermon is below.

I’ve always loved the verse “Come unto me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” – knowing that Jesus understands our human need for rest, for quiet, to be replenished

But in the reading today Jesus models something different, less comfortable, maybe

The 12 have just returned from their first mission – to teach, heal, cast out demons: excited, astonished, and exhausted – ready for a retreat – feeling they’ve earned a rest, I’m sure

But then things happen, as they so often do. Brennan Manning quote in bulletin: “if God tears up your beautiful game plan….” Well, God tore up their beautiful game plan.

They went to a quiet, desert place, and people followed them – went ahead of them – lots of people, masses of people. The disciples looked out at the gathering multitudes, and their hearts sank. But Jesus looked out over the crowds and he felt compassion. His heart went out to them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd: directionless, afraid, needy, vulnerable

Jesus had compassion and began to minister right away, speaking to them, teaching them. His heart went out to them, all of them, thousands of them. He gathered them in like a shepherd. And then, he gave his tired, worn-out disciples the job of feeding them. (because the part we didn’t read, the verses that got left out in the lectionary, are about how they fed all those people with a few loaves of bread)

There is a kind of paradox we live out as normal human beings who are also followers of Jesus – our needs are real and important, and God cares about the least detail of our lives. That’s the part the world can understand. But when we follow Jesus, we set out on a journey of self-giving, patterned after the life of our Lord. He called you and me to follow the way of the Cross, and that way is illumined and guided by compassion — not comfort – not ease – not safety, That’s the part that looks like foolishness to the world, or masochism, or being a doormat.

Sometimes our reward for a job well done is another job, an even bigger job, like feeding 5,000 men, not to mention the women and children……..Sometimes when we come to the end of a long, hard day, it’s followed by a long, hard night………Sometimes when you’ve given all you have to give, Jesus asks for a little more. He turned to his weary disciples, who were ready to put their feet up and reflect on a job well done, and he said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

The way of the Cross is illumined and guided by compassion, which is just our old friend love, set in action. It’s the way Jesus lived. It’s the footprints he left for us.

Jesus knows all about the needs and limitations of the human mind and heart and body. He offers us a rest and a light burden – he reassures us that the Father knows all about our needs, before we even ask him.

But he calls us to follow in his footsteps, and that means being guided, not only by our own needs, but by the needs of others. He doesn’t call us to be a doormat; but he does call us to be like him, who called the disciples away for a time of much-needed rest, but when he saw the crowds of people, when he saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd, he was filled with compassion, and he began to teach them…+