Third Sunday Before Lent

In the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him.

Every Saturday night from September until Christmas our television is booked from 7:30pm until 8:30pm by all other members of the family but me. Yes that’s it - The X factor; all those thousands of hopefuls and ‘wannabes’ looking for celebrity status.  They want not only fortune but also, and perhaps for them more importantly, fame. They yearn for the bright lights and the adulation of the crowd and all that goes with celebrity. The X factor and other programmes like it are part of the celebrity culture that has been built up. People with hardly any talent and very little ability who yet crave and sometimes achieve celebrity status – and you do sometimes have to ask yourselves ‘What for?’  Celebrity seems to be the new Royalty.

In a way Jesus had become a celebrity, but he had done so without seeking it. Everywhere he goes Jesus is followed by crowds of people longing to be with him to get near him, to be healed by him or to see someone healed or to hear his teaching. If  a celebrity is a crowd puller then Jesus was a celebrity. He is even hunted down by his own disciples while he prays. He cannot escape the clamouring crowds or the constant needs that surround him. Jesus’ ministry was taking off like a rocket.  He was a celebrity – even if an unwilling one. People would walk miles to see him. Sometimes the crowds become so pressing that Jesus had to resort to teaching them from a boat on the lake. People even followed him into the homes that he was staying in, making it difficult for him to find the space even to eat and to rest. One group even dismantled the roof of a house in order to get their sick friend to Jesus despite the crowds that surrounded him.

The scenes that St Mark describes in the gospel for today have a great deal in common with images of the paparazzi relentlessly pursuing celebrities for photo opportunities. Many Gospel commentaries describe this scene of the many miracles and crowds of people as a ‘typical day in the life of Jesus.’ And maybe it was just that - a typically busy day. But we need to remember that it was a Sabbath day – Jesus and his disciples had been to the synagogue- and even there on the Sabbath Day of rest he’d been busy meeting the needs of people by bringing them healing from God. And as sunset marked the end of the Sabbath Jesus was going to be even busier still. We are told they brought to him all who were sick and possessed by demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. Jesus must have been exhausted, totally drained.

Over the years I myself have taken part in many services of anointing and laying on of hands for healing. And when you are ministering in that way it is very draining both physically and spiritually. Jesus must have been both physically and spiritually drained. So, what does he do about it? As the Son of God he seeks the strength of his Father in prayer. Yes, Son though he was, even Jesus needed to be alone with his Father in prayer – how else could he minister the Kingdom of God to that great throng of people in their need? How else could he bring the healing power of God into people’s lives unless he himself was in close and personal touch with his Father? So Jesus sought the silence and the solitude of a deserted place where he could pray and be alone with his Father. Even Jesus could find his spiritual batteries could be so drained that he was running on low and the only way to top them up was through silence and solitude and prayer.

Jesus knew that prayer was an absolute priority. We do not know what Jesus prayed, but we can hazard a guess. I am sure that he will have prayed for the renewal of his strength by the strength of God. I am sure that he will have prayed for the ability from God to meet all the demands that were laid upon him. I am sure that he will have prayed for guidance from God as to how to meet all the pressing needs of those around him. I am sure that at times Jesus will have felt daunted by that was being asked of him. But if even he knew that his human resources were limited, yet the divine resources available to him from God were unlimited.

If Jesus was to do the work of God, then he needed to be with God, to receive from God, to be empowered by God. And that is true of us too. Churches can be busy places - too busy sometimes. Diocesan initiatives to respond to. Church growth to go for – even in the midst of secular apathy towards the Gospel and the Church. The dreaded Share to raise money for. Expensive buildings to maintain and develop.

Near to where I was brought up there was Anchor Church. Anchor Church was a cave off a bend on a path on a steep hillside – you could easily fall into it. Somebody had put up a warning sign – ‘Danger Church Entrance’! Some churches are such hives of activity that they are indeed a danger. We can so easily put undue pressure upon ourselves and upon families by asking too much of ourselves. Our primary work is to enable ourselves and each other to find and deepen our relationship with God our father through Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. Only when we understand that priority will we begin to be truly effective in our work for the Kingdom. Only when our lives are being transformed by God through prayer will we be able to bring God’s transforming love and power to the lives of the people whom we serve and the communities in which we live. And they all need that transformation. We all do.

The medics tell us that the great modern epidemic is so called ‘stress-related illnesses. Despite all the new technology available to us, which is supposed to make our lives easier, yet people seem busier and under more pressure than ever. Only last week a report published by doctors and social workers claimed that our children were far less happy and content than the children of previous generations. Two reasons were given: Already even at this young age we are putting too much pressure upon our children to succeed and to compete – their childhood is being lost. Many parents are too busy holding down demanding, and now, vulnerable jobs, that there isn’t the time or the energy left to give to the children – both parents working full-time to pay the mortgage and all the rest of it.

As Christians Jesus is calling us to demonstrate to the world, to our communities and to our friends a different lifestyle. To stop. To rest.  To be less frenetic in our activity.  To be more content with less – and above all to be people who pray. Your friends may think that you have gone mad. But as the comic film actor Robin Williams remarked: ‘You’re only given a little spark of madness.  You mustn’t lose it.’

A gentler word for ‘mad’ is ‘eccentric’. And that’s a good word in this context: for be ‘eccentric’ literally means to have your ‘centre’ somewhere else.