Quiet with God
Epiphany 5
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The first chapter of Mark’s Gospel functions almost like a preview that we might see for a movie. There are two kinds of previews. Sometimes, previews deliberately mask the point of the movie. Take Jerry Maguire. The previews made it look like it was a sports movie. You remember the catchphrase, “Show me the money!” That made guys want to go. But that’s not what the movie was about, was it? It was the second catchphrase that sums it up, “You had me at hello.”
But most previews give you a taste of the movie, a setup of what you’ll see in more detail and depth. Mark’s first chapter is like that, and we’ve been working our way through it. Today we continue the beginning of Jesus’ ministry at Capernaum. Jesus began by calling his first disciples, then teaching in the synagogue where he cast out a demon.
This morning we proceed to four scenes that preview - establish - the framework for Jesus’ ministry. First, Jesus and his friends go from the synagogue to Peter and Andrew’s house. We know where that house is, about as far from the synagogue as the other end of our parking lot is from us – very close. There he heals Peter’s mother-in-law. Preview: Jesus will continue to preach, cast out demons and heal people.
The second scene is also at Peter’s house. Word has spread about Jesus casting out the demon and healing her, and a crowd comes for more healing and demon tossing. Mark says it briefly and moves on to the next scene, but that had to be very dramatic! Can you imagine it? It had to be astonishing!
Then comes the third scene, where Jesus goes off to pray. We will not let this slip by so quickly! The first thing Mark notes about his prayer time is that he went very early the morning. It was still very dark, so before the first rays of dawn had begun to brighten the eastern sky.
That’s a very special time of day. If you like to hunt or camp, you love being in the woods at that time. If you love to fish, you love being on the water at that time. Maybe you like to get an early start at work or to start driving on a trip. Or maybe you just like being up before everyone else and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea.
What makes it great is the quiet, the stillness of the moment. You notice so many little things, tiny sounds like a squirrel rustling a branch or ripples of water tapping your boat, or the ice maker churning out new cubes in your freezer. There are so few distractions, if you attend to the moment. This also makes it a great time to pray. I think it’s the best time, because it offers the opportunity to focus in a way that is virtually impossible the rest of the day.
Further, it offers the opportunity to ground your day with the Lord before life comes rushing in with all of its responsibilities and demands. That enacts in life, puts into live motion, the proper ordering of our lives before God. Remember the first commandment, “I am the Lord your God and you shall have no other gods before me.” That means put him first. Worship no other gods for sure – no idols is the second commandment – but also don’t make anything else a god. Nothing else. Starting our day with the Lord helps us keep him first.
Mark’s reference to the dark, very dark, also points to the darkness of their time in history. Israel was, as they had been for most of their existence, under oppressive, foreign occupation and rule. They felt their circumstances reflected God’s anger at their sin. They also felt the darkness of the human condition. Whatever their opinion about the Romans, their sin gnawed at their consciences, especially those at the lower end of society, those on the outer edges. And all of that comes together. Very dark times. Isaiah 60:2 wonderfully puts it,
For behold, darkness covers the land; *
deep gloom enshrouds the peoples. (Canticle 11, BCP p.87)
We encounter dark times, too. Some of that may be the ways forces beyond our control affect us. We see the awfulness of evil; at times it touches us and/or people we love. When it is very dark and all other lights seem to have gone out, that is a most important time to pray.
This week, Archdeacon John shared a story with me about the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson. As a boy he loved go to a window to watch workers ignite the gas street lamps of Edinburgh one by one. His parents asked him what he was looking at and he answered, “Look at that man! He’s punching holes in the darkness!”
Jesus, the light of the world, is about to overthrow that darkness. Later, in his account of the Resurrection, Mark carefully notes that, “And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen,” the women went to Jesus’ tomb.
It was “a deserted place.” Here, Jesus is addressing our great challenge. Deserted places are hard to find because we tend to have the world at our fingertips. My phone constantly gives me notifications of news, sport and weather from multiple sources, messages from several social media platforms, reminders from my calendar, advertising pitches and so on. If you’re trying to get anything done, like work or sleep, you have to lay it face down.
Since I do use my phone and iPad for prayer and Bible devotionals, it can be a bit tricky getting to my deserted place. But the lack of distraction is key to the focus we need and the ability to feel God’s presence.
What do we suppose Jesus is praying about? Two main categories come to mind. He is surely refreshing his spirit. Engaging all of those people and pouring out gifts of healing was spiritually draining. That is a very necessary reason to pray. Jesus was also in constant reception of his Father’s will and direction in everything he did, not as a last resort, but first thing.
The fourth scene is set up by the disciples hunting him down and urging him because “Everyone is searching for you.” That is apparently the people of Capernaum. But Jesus doesn’t go back there. He’s not going to establish a spot, a place. Rather, he is going to go to the people and keep the focus for now on his message and demonstrations of God’s Kingdom breaking into the world. Jesus goes where his Father sends him, says what his Father tells him to say and does what his father tells him to do.
The contrast is kind of like Jerry Maguire. Life, the world and all its demands are very, “Show me the money!” Get after the business and details of life, stay on top of local and world events, your sports teams, social media, etc. Jesus wants us to be so touched by his grace day by day that we can truly look him in the eye and say, “You had me at hello.”
That is how we should pray and respond to him, just as he prayed and responded to his Father. Hear again from Isaiah:
“He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
May God so strengthen and use us.
AMEN