Sermon: Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
July 21, 2024
Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church
Pastor Jonathan Linman
Picture the scene: the apostles had just returned from a busy mission trip where they performed many works of healing and did a lot of teaching. Crowds were milling about, people coming and going. I can’t help but be reminded of streets of New York City teeming with people. Or huge numbers of people standing in line to get into a baseball stadium. Busy. Crowded. Noisy. A frantic pace. Lots of anxious energy. And the apostles had no leisure even to eat. I, for one, have to be extremely busy to skip lunch…. Picture yourself in the crowds. Feel it. Maybe your life feels like that now.
There’s so much need in the world these days that even life in the church can feel frantic and too busy even to eat. Your own personal lives may feel crazy busy and demanding, too. Your lives with family members. Your lives at work. Your lives trying to keep up with all the frightening things happening in our nation and world. The pace of change these days is simply exhausting and all of this weighs heavily on us. It can feel as though we are sheep without a shepherd – as if it’s left to us to try to manage things on our own.
But Jesus does not leave his followers. And Jesus was not a taskmaster demanding more from his followers than they could handle. In fact, he was compassionate towards the disciples, for out of loving regard and concern for them, he said: “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”
They tried that, leaving by boat, but the crowds hurried to their deserted destination and got there ahead of Jesus and his followers. So much for their time of rest….
But here’s the thing: even amidst the ongoing demands of the throngs of people, Jesus had compassion for the crowds, his heart, his guts went out to them and he taught them and then fed them. For the feeding of the five thousand story occurs in Mark next, right after Jesus taught the crowds many things.
Jesus has the same compassion for us that he had for the crowds and for his original followers. In fact, Jesus invites us to a place set apart from the demands of the world to rest awhile. For Jesus doesn’t want us to bear the burden of the crowds. Jesus himself is the lightning rod that attracts all of the energy of the demanding crowds.
For Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the prophecy we heard in the book of Jeremiah today: “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, who shall reign as King and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” (Jeremiah 23:5) Jesus is that King and Good Shepherd.
In Christ is the focal point of all of the world’s needs and burdens. All of the crowd’s neediness finds its way to the cross where we discover reconciliation and peace, as we heard in today’s second reading from Ephesians.
Moreover, in Christ we are made “members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone; in Christ the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” (Ephesians 2:19b-22) Christ is our bedrock cornerstone that cannot be shaken. In Christ we have our safe, secure dwelling place with God 24/7. In short, when it’s all said and done, Christ carries the weight and bears the burden, not us.
In the heat of the moment of the demands on our time and energies as Jesus’ followers and as human beings just trying to live our lives, we need to be reminded of this, that Christ is the one who invites us to lay our burdens on him.
Again, Jesus continues to invite us to come and rest a while. Each Sunday is such an occasion of Sabbath rest. Jesus continues to teach us even as he taught the teeming crowds when we walked this earth two thousand years ago. We learn from him in the beloved words of scriptures about him, like the 23rd Psalm: The Lord is our shepherd; we shall not be in want. The Lord makes us lie down in green pastures and leads us beside still waters. The Lord restores our souls…. And the Lord prepares a table for us…. (cf. Psalm 23)
Indeed, the Lord Jesus prepares this table for us to come and dine with him, to come and dine on him as we share in his true body and blood in a simple meal of bread and the fruit of the vine. In this Sunday place of rest, a place set apart from the busy world, we discover that our faith, our trust in God, is renewed and rejuvenated.
And we have this time of refreshment so that we can be sent back into the crowds to offer the same brand of Jesus’ heart-felt, gut wrenching compassion in our ministries of love and justice with all the people who are like sheep without a shepherd.
But for this moment rest awhile, and lay your burdens down at Jesus’ feet. I had a chance to do just that on my weeklong retreat. During our final worship service, we were invited to write words of burden on a rock. And then we literally laid our rocks at the foot of a wooden cross outdoors in a lovely prayer garden. It was moving and freeing. So, today, when you come forward for Holy Communion, I invite you to imagine laying down a burden at this table when you receive Christ’s real presence. Then go back to your seats and to your busy lives lighter, refreshed, so that others may know through you the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
