Feb. 8 Is. 40:21-31, Mk. 1:29-31, I Cor. 9:16-23
You are making some progress with a project: the doorbell rings and it’s a JW, or the cell phone beeps or the computer beeps. You try to get a moment’s peace and the clamor starts: where did I put my socks, where are my keys? We get a sense of needs clamoring for the attention of Jesus. He responds to the situation decisively. Like Paul suggests, he will do what it takes for the cause, no matter how it looks to others.He will adapt to the situation. he sounds a bit like Proteus, as flexible as the need requires..
Jesus healed. Faced with all of that crying need, jesus does not blame victims for their plight; he does not tell them to develop a positive attitude; he does not tell them to find meaning and purpose in their suffering; he does not tell them to overcome it; he heals them.I always feel a bit for Simon’s mother-in-law. That is healing in itself to have sympathy for a mother in law, perhaps. What does she do when she is healed-pray-rest- receive visitors, no she starts serving folks-I think of Edith Bunker running to serve her family in the dining area
To be bold, healing seems to affect Jesus. Maybe it was the sheer crush of crying human need.To heal, to be resotred, Jesus goes to a solitary place and prays. Jesus needed to find sabbath rest beyond the sabbath itself. he needed to create sabbath time for himself. Jesus faced the possibility of burnout right away in his work and took steps to keep a balanced life. Hear this with care. We call being alive being hectic, moving from task to task, feeling pressured and burdened. All the time, people say that they are busier in retirement than at work, as if that is a good thing.
Jesus connected perhaps to the words we just read from Isaiah.We are getting tired of winter, but the end is not yet in sight.Isaiah starts with God as Creator and then moves to it as fully capable of a new start, a new creation, if you will. A dispirited people receives the promise of a surge of energy.I have always loved its lyrical ending. Isaiah notes not only the power of God, but god;’s attention to detail. not only does god construct the universe, but god pays attention to the smallest detail, God names and numbers the stars as President George W. Bush once quoted in an important speech on the space shuttle Columbia tragedy. Reliance on that Creator can offer energy,powers renewal that move us past our normal way of reckoning. Irt envisions flying over trouble; it imagines being better than young again for both the long haul and a crisis moment. Here that well, while even the young will grow weary, God provides strength to those who have grown weak, in faith, in body, in spirit.I think of a minister whom I admired who was stricken with cancer at least three times and he would say he could feel a certain of prayer around him when he was too exhausted to move but found the strength to face the morning.
Who doesn’t grow weary sometimes?Who doesn’t get too tired to move another inch? No, no our way is not hiddens from God, God does not disregard us. God has stamina to stay with us. God continues to be at work with us and through and beyond our best imaginings. Yes, it applies to each one of us. yes,it applies to a graying congregation seeking new vitality. God heals. God restores.
New bldg at WTC site.
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