Psalm 147.1-12, 20c
1 Corinthians 9.16-23
Mark 1.19-39
We’ve all seen on television one of those day-in-the-life, fly-on-the-wall documentaries? You know the type where we follow some famous personage throughout their day; where we get a behind-the-scenes look at their fabulousness; where get a glimpse at how they balance their public persona with their private self; where we perhaps get a hint as to the secret of their success in maintaining a genuine sense of self in the face of the expectations and projections from their fans and admirers. What we hope to capture in these programmes is a microcosm of the person’s life. By looking at an ordinary day in their life we hope to discover not so much what their life is like, but rather what their life is about. This morning’s passage from the Gospel of Mark, taken together with last week’s gospel, reads rather like one of those day-in-the-life documentaries. In last week’s gospel Jesus went with his friends to the synagogue on a Saturday morning. There he taught and cast out an unclean spirit. Today’s gospel continues the story. After the synagogue, he went to Simon’s house and healed Simon’s mother-in-law and had something to eat. By sundown Simon’s front yard is crowded with people looking for Jesus. Jesus meets with them and apparently spent the night at Simon’s house. In the morning, before it is light, he goes out to pray, until his disciples find him; he then decides to leave Capernaum and go to the neighbouring towns to proclaim the message. There you have it, a day in the life. If we can read these verses from the gospel of Mark as a day-the-life programme, what do we learn about Jesus? What do we learn about how he manages the complexities of who he is in himself and the demands made of him, the expectations placed on him? And if we are his followers, as we confess we are, what can we learn from the way he does it? What then is the secret of Jesus’ success as we see it in the Gospel of Mark?
It seems the first aspect of that secret is his friends. Apart from the times when Jesus goes off to pray in private, he is always has his friends close to him. He worships with them and he stays at their house. Not only in Mark, but throughout the gospels, Jesus’ close friends are his constant companions. We all need friends who know us well to keep our feet firmly on the ground with regards to who we are and what we are about. We need friends with whom we can be ourselves completely, in whose company we can rest so that we are nourished to continue the work in which we are involved, whatever that work may be. For too long we have had an image of a completely self-sufficient Jesus, who calls his disciples simply so that he can teach them and so that they will spread the message of the kingdom. However, a self-sufficient Jesus is not a human Jesus; and perhaps we can understand Jesus not so much calling disciples, but as making friends. Together, they created a community of mutual interdependence, a community (as the gospels tell in various places) more important than that of blood relations, and which would eventually effect into being the kingdom Jesus preached. It is one of the secrets of Jesus’ success, that he had good friends; that he had people in his life with whom he could be himself; that he had people in his life with whom he could escape the demands and projections of the crowd.
At the same time, Jesus had respect for people and for their needs. Those who came to him came with genuine concerns and with real problems; and Jesus takes their condition seriously, and because he takes it seriously he is able to really address it. Last week we heard of the man who was liberated from an unclean spirit. If you remember Jesus does this by speaking directly to the condition. In no uncertain terms he orders the demon to leave the man. “Be silent and come out of him”, Jesus says. His popularity and authority does not make him deaf to the needs of others, in fact it is his openness to others and his willingness to to engage with them that gives him that authority. When the people crowded around Simon’s door it seems unlikely that Jesus did less for them than he did for the man possessed of that demon. He listened to them, engaged them individually and was able to release them from whatever it was oppressed them. To Jesus the crowds were never just a crowd, but a group of individuals – each with particular personalities, needs and voices. That is perhaps the reason that he is able to feel one person’s touch in a particular way in the midst of a great throng of people, if you remember the story of the woman with haemorrhage who touches the hem of Jesus’ robe. In his rising popularity Jesus never forgot the preciousness of each person and uniqueness of their story, and he made time to listen to those who came his way.
Finally, Jesus never forgets what he is about. Riding the crest of fame and popular acclaim, he could have bought the tales of his own fabulousness. He could have lost his direction and become simply one of the many miracle-workers known to have wandered throughout the ancient near-east. Jesus could have been driven off the course of his ideals and seduced by the power of it all. How many times have we heard of or known people who begin careers in politics, law or even the Church with noble ideals, but quickly lose them or distort them as they become more and more a part of a system which promises fame, power and wealth if they just play along and don’t rock the boat too much. The temptation is great and Jesus knows that. So, he finds a quiet place to pray before it is light, before others are up. He goes to listen to the will of his Father. He goes off on his own to get a perspective on the previous day and to discern what he should do next. And when his disciples come looking for him, expecting Jesus to continue the healing and miracle-working – because after all, Jesus’ public is calling him: “Everyone is searching for you”, they tell him – when his friends comte to him expecting more of the same, Jesus simply says to them, “Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came to do.” (Mark 1.38) Jesus’ mission is to proclaim the message which he began to proclaim shortly after his baptism: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1.15) The miracles are important, but only in so far as they are signs of the coming kingdom. When people begin to see them as ends in and of themselves, then Jesus knows that he must move on. He knows the proclamation of the kingdom to be his real mission and he does not allow either the acclaim of the crowds or the lure of popularity to distort his own self-understanding or what he came to do.
The Jesus we encounter in Mark’s “Day-in-the-Life” production is a human and humane Jesus; one who has the need for the companionship and support of good friends, and who deals with people as individuals. We encounter a Jesus who faces the same challenges and temptations which we face, not least of which the temptation to sell out on our ideals for the sake of popularity or an easy ride. In placing this in the very first chapter of his gospel the author of Mark sets the tone for the rest of the work. The author shows us what kind of person Jesus is: a person of commitment – commitment to his friends, to those in need, to his mission of the kingdom; a person of integrity who measures his external actions by his own internal ideals. Jesus is a person who is clear about what he came to do, his mission is his guiding principle. These three – friendship, the honouring of each person, and clear-headed integrity – seem the cornerstones of Jesus’ life as portrayed by Gospel of Mark. They are, one might say, the secret of his success. This day-in-the-life with which the author of Mark presents us is a perfect way to reflect on these qualities, not only so we can come to a deeper knowledge of Jesus, but also so we might imitate and follow him more closely, so that we might allow his own life and priorities to challenge and shape our own. Amen.
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