This morning’s gospel (Mark 6:30-34, 53-56) is part of a busy chapter in Jesus’ life.

First, some background. Earlier in the chapter ((Mark 6: 7-13) we read that:

Jesus sent out the twelve, two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money …He said, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there ... If any place will not welcome you and refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they went and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

**

This morning’s gospel opens when the disciples returned from this “training mission”.

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.

He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

Throughout the early chapters of Mark’s gospel Jesus wowed the crowds so that they surrounded him everywhere he went. They interfered with conversations or interrupted his meals and his plans.

After he cured Simon’s mother-in-law, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. (Mark 1:32-33)

When Jesus cured a leper, he went out and began to proclaim freely… so that Jesus could no longer go to a town… but stayed in the country; and people came to him from every quarter. (Mark 1:45)

When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; (Mark 2:1-2)

After Jesus cured a paralyzed man, who had to be let down through a hole in the roof, Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him…(Mark 2:13)

the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. (Mark 3:20)

The story of Jesus curing the woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years includes the following:

… a great crowd gathered round Jesus;… The woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years … heard about Jesus and came … and touched his cloak and was cured at once. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned … and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in; how can you say, “Who touched me?”’  (Mark 5:24-31

Jesus allowed himself to be interrupted; he almost seemed to welcome the intrusions as teaching opportunities. For example, he said to the woman, who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years, your faith has healed you. He affirmed that her personal belief in him was instrumental in her cure.

So it was on this day.

**

It must not have been easy for Jesus to talk to his disciples while crowds were calling for his attention. So, they decided to get away.

And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

They may have intended to be by themselves, but the crowd thwarted Jesus’ intentions. Instead of trying, again, to get away, Jesus had compassion on them and resumed teaching.

(Here, Sunday’s gospel slices out Mark’s story about how Jesus fed the crowd of 5,000 at the end of the day with five loaves and two fish. After feeding them Jesus and his disciples again tried to get away.)

**

The gospel for Sunday resumes,

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

**

Three reflections. First, I imagine that people left their encounters with Jesus saying a version of, ‘Did you see how quickly he healed that person!’, or, ‘Do you recall his exact words?’, or, ‘I never thought I would be able to walk, (or see, or hear) again!’ They were in awe of his powers. They wanted more.

Second. Jesus’ disciples may have resented the crowds’ constant intrusions into their conversations with him. After all, they were his ‘chosen’ ones. But they may have staunched their annoyance as they saw how Jesus cared for his petitioners. Eventually, perhaps only after his departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit, they may have come to understand that they should follow his example of response.

Third, I used to find interruptions annoying: phone calls, requests for help at inconvenient times, people approaching at church or on the street asking for money, housing or for support that others could (and should) provide. Often, people offer unwanted advice.

I now see that the requests frequently run deeper than their first expression. They may be isolated, lonely, feeling defeated by life’s circumstances and experiencing a spiritual hunger they do not fully understand even as they sense it. They may lack the language to express it.  

Jesus’ example is instructive. He wasn’t annoyed by the requests. He cared too much for the people and for the profound hunger at the heart of each person’s entreaty. He wanted to address that need more than to live his own tranquil life. He was on a mission. I try to remember this.

**

  • Did Jesus accept his popularity as the price he had to pay for spreading the good news? Or did he enjoy seeing people restored to health? Did he feel torn between wanting to teach his disciple, in depth, and cure those who came to him? Did he use the interruptions as a ‘teaching moment’? Was his depth of love for the people who approached him such that he overlooked the interruption? All of the above?
  • Did people see Jesus’ cures a sign of his divinity or were they content to walk away happy that they had been healed or entertained by seeing a healing? Did they relish his words?
  • Do you connect the crowds with the “community” of the church? After all, we may not know everyone else who gathers, but we are drawn by our common need to wonder at and worship Jesus. Is it too much of a stretch to link the crowds in the gospel with our experience? Could we learn anything from those first people who were attracted to Jesus (such as their attraction to him as a person rather than just a teacher or healer)?

Peace

Michael