Defining the Job and Then Doing It

Mark 1: 21-39

 

 

          I had a meeting this week with a lay pastor friend of mine. We got caught up on each other’s ministries and families and then we spent awhile talking about spiritual formation. Sometimes, he acts as my spiritual advisor. As we are both more “doers” than “talkers,” it was hard to get a conversation going about things that are internal, but we finally got around to it. I had done an exercise in which I was asked to name those things I long to let go of in order to become more open to God’s activity in my life. I named the same three things I’ve been trying to let go of for years. My old friend laughed. Then he said something pretty perceptive. He said, “That’s just what the labels are. If you get rid of them, then what? If you’re not very careful, you will just replace them with new labels. Your problem is that you’re a workaholic. That’s what you need to let go of or tame. He laughed again. “At least now, you’re working for God,” he said.

          I was down at the church this week. It was Wednesday afternoon and I still had nothing for a sermon. I spent hours trying to just hear God or gain an idea. Everything I tried was coming up blanks. I stepped outside the church to call my wife. She was just as bad. She had spent the previous evening dealing with a hit parade of petty problems and went to bed with a cluttered and worried mind. She had spent the whole evening doing “good” but somewhat petty projects that left her tired and lacking meaning. So we complained to each other about how busy we were.

          Jesus suffered from some of the same burdens of business and multi-tasking that we do. The problem surfaces in the very first chapter of Mark’s gospel. Jesus is starting his earthly ministry. He gathers his team. He begins to teach, giving his first recorded lesson in the synagogue in Capernaum. He rebukes an unclean spirit in a man and does it in such a way that he is speaking not with hope or invoking the power of another, but rather is speaking with the authority that can come from only one source. The unclean spirit departs and Jesus’ fame begins.

          Jesus left the synagogue and went to Peter’s house, where he commanded a fever to leave Peter’s mother in law. She was healed instantly. You can imagine what happened next, after two apparent healings back to back. Before the day was over, or rather when the day was over, the town and the region were glutted with people coming to see the miracle man. Remember this was the Sabbath, but Sabbath ended at sundown. So then, the people could bring their sick friends to the house of Peter without breaking the Mosaic Law. Jesus said nothing of who he was, made no claim, but it didn’t matter. He healed people. He cast out demons. Mark tells us that the whole town was at the door of Peter’s house that evening.

          At some point, the day ended and the door to Peter’s house finally closed. The next morning, Jesus rose early, very early. It was still dark outside. He left by himself and went to a desolate place where he could be alone. He needed to have a talk with his spiritual advisor. He needed to pray.

          This is not the only record in Mark of such action by Jesus. He did it again after feeding the five thousand. Mark tells us that “…he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray” [6:46].  The night of his arrest, after what was to become known as the Last Supper, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Although he took Peter, James and John with him, he went off by himself. [14: 32-41]. It is clear in the gospel accounts that Jesus regularly sought the counsel of God through prayer.

            Of course, on the morning after that first healing, Peter and the others searched for him. Eventually they found Jesus and told him that everyone was looking for him. Jesus didn’t miss a beat. He didn’t even bother to say no to their request to return. What he did say was “Let us go on to the next town.”

          What in the world! People were waiting in line to meet Jesus and he told his disciples that they were leaving. And they left. They went to the next town. No matter that people wanted to meet him, touch him. He left. He was not being cruel. He just knew his job and he set out to do it.

          My pastor friend was telling me in his own way to know my job. If it is being a lawyer, that’s fine. If it’s dealing with real estate, that’s fine. But if it isn’t, then why is that stuff taking up so much room on my plate of life? And if it is removed, with what will I replace it? What is my real job and can I focus on it? My wife was up to her ears in civic projects and dealing with the petty details of life, but is that really her job?

          As we read this passage in Mark, it should not escape our notice that even this early in his ministry, Jesus had choices to make. From the beginning, Jesus came into conflict with Satan. The man possessed with demons was shouting at Jesus, but he was only an instrument. He was under Satan’s control. Satan was shouting at Jesus. Satan was not new to him. He had already encountered Satan in the temptation in the desert before he began his ministry. What should be significant to us is that Satan is always around. Today, he is much more shrewd than in the first century. We seldom confront demons bodily, though it does happen. But there is no lack of evil wandering around. Satan has learned the art of misdirection. He can exercise his power over us in the very chores and deeds we do in the name of goodness.

          Jesus said to his disciples: “Let’s go on to the next town, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” The disciples didn’t understand. They were too new and they didn’t have the gospels to read. We do. We can see that Jesus came for more than healing. Healing was a way to get attention so that he could tell his message. Healing was a good thing to do, but it was not the main event. The people’s immediate needs clouded their ability to hear the truth that Jesus offered. “…that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” What does Jesus mean? He says: “this is why I came out.” Is he referring to coming out of town? Or is he referring to coming out of hiding and getting on with his ministry? I suspect that both ways might apply.

          Jesus withdrew. He prayed. He connected with God. And he moved on. He had a message to deliver. He had a job to do. There is a nice model for us when we are multi-tasking or overloaded and starting to get irritable about all the do-gooding we are up to. Is that the job we are called to do?

          It would have been easier for Jesus to give in to the crowds in Capernaum, throughout Galilee, in Jerusalem. It would have been easier for him to provide the food, to do the healings. But Jesus had a job to do. He knew what it was and he continually set out to do it. Jesus’ job was to tell the gospel, live the gospel, save those who were lost. He never let the other needs of life get in the way of his true calling.

          God has given each of us a job to do. Have you found yours? If you are not finding time to spend with him in prayer and reading the Word, how will you hear him? Even the Son of God had to separate himself from the crowds and the pull of the details of life in order to hear what his heavenly Father had to say. The time you spend each day communing privately with God is the time when you can hear him. It is the time when you can know your place, define your job for the day. Then you can go to the next town, or the next task or the next conversation, even if things remain to be done where you are. Let God define your job…and then set out and do it.