My parents, you see, had decided to get the best educational tool available. They bought a television set.
At the time, all televisions were black-and-white. In this time before cable, long before home satellite receivers, our location on top of the hill behind St. Marys, just east of the Ohio River valley, meant that we could receive a bunch of stations with our antenna – Channel 7 from Wheeling. Channel 8 from Charleston, Channels 3 and 13 from Huntington, Channels 5 and 12 from Weston and Clarksburg. Although Parkersburg had Channel 15, we couldn’t receive that because Channels above 13 needed a more expensive TV set. So we had six channels, while most of our in-the-valley neighbors only could get a couple of channels. And late at night, if we carefully turned our antenna, we could get stations from Columbus, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh- about ten channels altogether! NBC, CBS, even the new network, ABC! We had a monster system!
But other than watching the Disney show on Sunday evenings, the evening news, and the occasional rocket launch, it was difficult to say that our TV lived up to its educational tool billing. Entertainment and the sales of products was always what most of the shows were about. PBS wasn't around...the BBC was something you watched if you were in Britain...cable didn't exist.
Oh, I learned that the cowboys wearing the black hats were bad and the ones wearing the white hats were good, especially if they owned the Ponderosa ranch. I learned that Marshall Dillon always got his man and fell in love with Mary Tyler Moore. I learned that robots could say “Danger, Will Robinson”, but could be outrun by any seven-year-old. I learned that Gilligan was always going to sabotage any hope of rescue from the desert island. And I learned that Jed Clampett knew more about life than his banker, Mr. Drisdale. Trivial education, a lot of entertainment.
And that, my friends, is also the state of the church today – and the state of the synagogue in Jesus’ time. Plenty of entertainment, but little education. But that wasn’t what Jesus intended.
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Just before today’s Gospel reading, Jesus had sent his disciples out to villages to preach repentance, for the Kingdom of God was coming near. You will notice that Jesus was not the only one doing the preaching – his followers also were learning to preach. Knowing how to preach to many or teach to one or two is a necessary skill for a follower of Christ. Some will always be better than others, but we should almost all be capable of teaching a friend, neighbor, or family basic idea about Christ, for a key point about spreading the Gospel is that it is about teaching a new way of looking at life.
These disciples returned. They came back from going into the villages. And they were all filled with stories of what had happened, for there is nothing that makes your day like talking to someone about Christ and His kingdom and having people sit up and listen and be transformed by the hearing of the Good News. And you want to tell others how great it was.
So they came back, and Jesus said, in effect, “There’s too many people around here. We need to go off to a quiet place, rest, tell our stories, and see what worked and what didn’t work. We need to have a spiritual retreat.”
And since at least four of them were fishermen, they loaded up the boat and sailed on Galilee - a remote shoreline of the Lake of Galilee.
But they didn’t sail quickly enough. Some of the people saw where they were headed and ran along the shoreline even faster and so when they got there to their lovely peaceful vacation spot, hundreds of people were waiting on them.
Have you ever gone on vacation to get away from work, away from the people you work with everyday, away from all those demand? So you rent a nice, quiet condo down at Myrtle Beach in a nice quiet part of the beach, say in North Myrtle Beach – and it seems like everybody you work with, including your boss, has booked into the very same building? Plus, you didn’t realize it, but this is Bike Week at North Myrtle – and there’s a convention of Shriner’s in town, too!
All Jesus and the disciples wanted was a lonely stretch of beach, a chance to catch some fish and roast them on a fire, a chance to eat and talk quietly together for a day or two.
So you check into the condo...and if you’re Chevy Chase, there’s your wife’s cousin Eddie and all his extended family staying across the hallway!
I don’t know about you, but I’d load back up and try to find a room on the Outer Banks.
One way I like to study Scripture is to ask myself – what would I have done or said in the same situation, and how did Jesus react. Did he load the boat back up and take off like I would have? No.
Jesus did the right thing instead of the easy thing. Mark says “Jesus had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd and began to teach them many things.“
Yep. That’s Jesus, we say. He’d always do the right thing, not the easy thing. But we aren’t Jesus.
Hold on. Aren’t we supposed to be followers of Jesus?
Doesn’t that mean that we are to imitate Jesus as much as possible? Does that mean we have to teach people?
Yep! Following Jesus means following Jesus. Just like a group of would-be Green Berets, disciples don’t get to bypass anything on the obstacle course just because you don't like it. We all need to learn to teach people.
"But Pastor, I can’t teach! Some people are born teachers and others aren’t!"
Did you teach you child to go potty? To ties shoelaces? To eat with a spoon and fork?
Ok – you can teach. Stop thinking so much like a 21st Century American, who can only do certain things because “some people are born that way and others aren’t.”
Instead, think like a follower of Christ, a man or woman or child who has the power of the God who created the Universe behind you, supporting you anytime you do something that will help God's mission!
About three hundred years ago, a great Christian philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, was walking through a cemetery because it was a pleasant place to take a walk. From behind a hedge, he heard a very old man talking to a young man about the life and death of his son – the boy’s father. A grandfather talking to his grandson. And the old man talked a lot about God and Christ and heaven and generally the truth of the Gospel. It made a great impact upon Kierkegaard, and he realized it was because he was overhearing the Gospel rather than being lectured to directly about the Gospel. It was an effective way to teach.
So let’s put this in a modern context…
You’re walking around the neighborhood and you meet up with your old friend Jim. Jim’s grandkids are in town, at Jim’s house, and they’re milling around a bit – you know how kids are – You know how they walk when they're looking at their phones.
Now, you can beat a hasty retreat and go check on your friend Bill, but that’s acting like an ordinary person, a person who is controlled by our culture. It’s not acting like a disciple, much less acting like Jesus.
So here’s what you can do. You can let the kids overhear the Gospel...
In the same room as those kids (who are still staring at their phones), you can start talking to Jim. You can say, “Jim, we’ve got a new preacher.” And Jim may come back with “Yeah, what’s he like?” And you can tell Jim that he’s kinda funny looking, short and fat, but then you tell Jim a bit about this sermon or another sermon. And it doesn’t even matter if that was one of my sermons, or the last pastor’s sermon, or something you heard from Charles Stanley on television. You talk about Jesus and God in front of those kids, those kids who still have their heads in their phones.
In fact, you can get them engaged. You can talk about the Ten Commandments, say you can’t remember each of them (as you wink toward Jim) and ask one of the kids to Google what the Ten Commandments are on their phone. And pretty soon one of them will give you the list and then you can begin talking about that first commandment, the one that says to worship only God and how that means not to bow down to anyone or anything else. And you know something?
You’ve just made a difference in those kids lives.
Oh, it’ll be frustrating because if you have four kids in the room, only one will actually talk with you. But those other three are hearing EVERYTHING you and Jim say. They’ve learned how to work their phones at lunch in the cafeteria at school and hear everything their friends say around them. And they just overheard something about Jesus and God and Christ because of you.
You’ve taught them something spiritual.
And the best way to teach someone something spiritual is to ask them questions as they get involved in the discussion. Take something I teach you and ask your friend or some kids or your grown children what they think I meant. That’s the way Jesus did it. Here's an example:
Now, it appears to me from reading this passage that lots of people were interested in seeing and hearing Jesus. Now just like last week our passage once again skips a section. This was when Jesus fed 5000 people from five loaves of bread and two fish. We’ll talk about that in more detail some other time, but you might want to figure out how much bread and fish it would have taken to feed all of those 5000 people a fish sandwich. Estimate it! How many loaves and how many pounds of fish?
Notice how the question gets you involved, getting your mind working on the problem the disciples faced. And many of you will keep thinking about that question until you work out just how many loaves and how many fish are needed. Questions will hook you into the Gospel story.
After those people were fed, Jesus and the Twelve jump back into the boat and head again to the other side of the lake. They land at Gennesaret, which is on the northwest shore of the lake. And Mark tells us that “As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him.”
Everybody recognized Jesus and brought all sorts of people who were sick to the marketplaces of the villages so Jesus could heal them.
And we begin to nod off because Jesus is always healing people. But reading closely tells us something:
[They] begged Him that they might touch just the tassel of His robe. And everyone who touched it was made well.
There is something odd going on. Mark is making the point that Jesus did not have to actively touch people and pray over them for the healing to happen. Instead, people were healed who just touched the tassel of Jesus’ robe.
So was His robe special?
We don’t know, but we can speculate.
Perhaps whatever God-stuff Jesus is made of wore off on His robe. Perhaps His life-giving power just soaked into that robe. But notice, it is the tassel of the robe that appears to be important here.
Let me connect this with another Jesus story, from Mark 5:25-34
You are all familiar with the woman who had been bleeding for years, who had spent all her money on doctors and they had only made her sicker? How she waited for Jesus to walk by so she could touch his robe? How Jesus noticed when she touched his robe and stopped and waited until she came forward?
Did you notice what Jesus says at that time?
“Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
Not: “I’ve made you well.”
Not: “My robe has made you well.”
But: “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
Folks, we often think that our culture has overcome superstition. We think in our culture that it is completely foolish to believe that the magic of touching the tassel of a robe can make someone well. Yet our culture, in many ways, has simply changed the belief in one form of magic for the belief in another form of magic.
“Give me an antibiotic and I will get well.”
“Give me an antidepressant and I will be happier.”
“Tell me what is wrong with me and I can be treated.”
Folks, antibiotics don’t cure viral infections. Rigorous, scientific studies have shown that sugar pills cure depression just as often as Prozac. Doctors have learned to give a Latin-based name to some problem and many people will be much happier.
I went to my doctor friend because I had a rash on my leg a few years ago. He examined it closely, checked a few things, even looked on the Internet at some photos. Finally, he told me I had idiopathic dermatitis. I said back to him, “so I have an unknown irritation of the skin. He said, “That’s right.”
Sometimes it doesn’t pay to know Latin. Dermatitis means “skin irritation”. Idiopathic means “self impassioned”, “spontaneous”, or “of unknown origin”. My doctor friend had told me in Latin that I had in irritated skin and that he had no idea of the cause. Not really much help.
We think there is magic in the drugs or magic in the name. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome means “You’re always tired.” Neuralgia – "nerve pain." Our faith in the drugs and in the diagnosis makes us feel better.
But for that woman who bled – something really happened. She stopped bleeding.
“Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
In another place, Capernaum, the town He lived in as an adult, Jesus could do little in the way of miracles because, the Gospel writer says, “They had little faith in Him.”
After those people were fed, Jesus and the Twelve jump back into the boat and head again to the other side of the lake. They land at Gennesaret, which is on the northwest shore of the lake. And Mark tells us that “As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him.”
Everybody recognized Jesus and brought all sorts of people who were sick to the marketplaces of the villages so Jesus could heal them.
And we begin to nod off because Jesus is always healing people. But reading closely tells us something:
[They] begged Him that they might touch just the tassel of His robe. And everyone who touched it was made well.
There is something odd going on. Mark is making the point that Jesus did not have to actively touch people and pray over them for the healing to happen. Instead, people were healed who just touched the tassel of Jesus’ robe.
So was His robe special?
We don’t know, but we can speculate.
Perhaps whatever God-stuff Jesus is made of wore off on His robe. Perhaps His life-giving power just soaked into that robe. But notice, it is the tassel of the robe that appears to be important here.
Let me connect this with another Jesus story, from Mark 5:25-34
You are all familiar with the woman who had been bleeding for years, who had spent all her money on doctors and they had only made her sicker? How she waited for Jesus to walk by so she could touch his robe? How Jesus noticed when she touched his robe and stopped and waited until she came forward?
Did you notice what Jesus says at that time?
“Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
Not: “I’ve made you well.”
Not: “My robe has made you well.”
But: “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
Folks, we often think that our culture has overcome superstition. We think in our culture that it is completely foolish to believe that the magic of touching the tassel of a robe can make someone well. Yet our culture, in many ways, has simply changed the belief in one form of magic for the belief in another form of magic.
“Give me an antibiotic and I will get well.”
“Give me an antidepressant and I will be happier.”
“Tell me what is wrong with me and I can be treated.”
Folks, antibiotics don’t cure viral infections. Rigorous, scientific studies have shown that sugar pills cure depression just as often as Prozac. Doctors have learned to give a Latin-based name to some problem and many people will be much happier.
I went to my doctor friend because I had a rash on my leg a few years ago. He examined it closely, checked a few things, even looked on the Internet at some photos. Finally, he told me I had idiopathic dermatitis. I said back to him, “so I have an unknown irritation of the skin. He said, “That’s right.”
Sometimes it doesn’t pay to know Latin. Dermatitis means “skin irritation”. Idiopathic means “self impassioned”, “spontaneous”, or “of unknown origin”. My doctor friend had told me in Latin that I had in irritated skin and that he had no idea of the cause. Not really much help.
We think there is magic in the drugs or magic in the name. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome means “You’re always tired.” Neuralgia – "nerve pain." Our faith in the drugs and in the diagnosis makes us feel better.
But for that woman who bled – something really happened. She stopped bleeding.
“Daughter, your faith has made you well.”
In another place, Capernaum, the town He lived in as an adult, Jesus could do little in the way of miracles because, the Gospel writer says, “They had little faith in Him.”
Why this requirement of faith?
I have noticed through my readings of the Bible, that time after time, our God is polite. People ask – “Why does God send some people to Hell?” God doesn't send people to Hell; God simply allows our wishes to be fulfilled – the people who had said repeatedly throughout their lives that they wished to be left alone by God are eventually left alone by God for eternity.
God does not make us followers of His Son by the sword. He gives us a choice. He asks us voluntarily to believe, to have faith in His Son. He asks us voluntarily to do something mildly uncomfortable – baptism – before He reaches into our hearts to insert His Holy Spirit. And He asks us to voluntarily follow His Son, to have faith in Him.
Is it possible that God respects you so much that God's goodness means God cannot or will not act upon your body, mind, or soul in healing without your permission – your faith that God loves you and wants to do good for you at all times? And is it possible that God knows your will even deeper than you do?
C.S.Lewis, the author of the Narnia books – The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe – was a good friend of J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit. Another book that Lewis wrote is call The Great Divorce, a story of some people who live in Hell being given a day-long bus trip to Heaven.
In Lewis’ book, in Heaven, there is an angelic being talking to a man who is on the bus trip from Hell. The man has a hideous, ugly creature wrapped around his neck and back, with claws holding onto his very heart. We can see through the man because the people from Hell are so insubstantial, almost transparent. The angel says “I can remove that for you.”
The man says, “I’m not sure I want it removed.”
And so it is with sin. So often, we do not truly want to be free from our sin. We do not want to be with God. We like our sin, we enjoy it having hold of our heart. We don’t want Christ to take it away – or we really don’t believe He can take it away. And so we are not healed, because we don’t have faith that the goodness and power of God will overcome the loss of our sin...or our depression...or our weakness.
What did Jesus teach that day on the lakeshore of Galilee?
We don’t know His words from that day, but this is what He taught through His actions:
Five loaves and two fish can feed 5000 people – if you allow the power of God to work through you.
People will always look for and recognize a person who can heal them of suffering – physical, mental, emotional suffering. And once again, it is the power of God working through Christ that heals.
People who have faith will find a good life. Not always an easy life. But when that faith goes away, or turns away, mistakes will be made. Let me show you:
When Jesus got off the boat at Gennesaret, everybody recognized him.
After the Resurrection, on the way to Emmaus – two disciples did not recognize Him at first. Resurrection morning – Mary did not recognize Him at first. And we know in both cases, they had lost their faith in Him – they thought He was truly dead, even though He had said He would rise up again.
If we are to recognize the face of Jesus, we must have faith. And to get that faith, we must study who Jesus was, what He did, what He liked and what He did not like. We must move from being an acquaintance of Jesus – to being a best friend of Jesus, a follower.
For when a teacher teaches, it is like rain falling from the sky. If you are thirsting for wisdom and knowledge, you must catch the drops and drink them deeply. Will you act like domestic turkeys, sticking your head up to look at the shiny drops falling, and hoping a few drops will fall into your open mouths? – or will you gather rain like humans, putting out tarps and building systems to intentionally learn, to hold and capture the knowledge and wisdom rain? Will you intentionally study your Bible, study it with others, come to mid-week Bible studies and discussion groups?
And so, what did Jesus teach?
Many things. Many, many things.
Learn them. And then teach them to others.
For your eternal soul – or the eternal souls of your friends, neighbors, and family may depend upon your decision to study.
I have noticed through my readings of the Bible, that time after time, our God is polite. People ask – “Why does God send some people to Hell?” God doesn't send people to Hell; God simply allows our wishes to be fulfilled – the people who had said repeatedly throughout their lives that they wished to be left alone by God are eventually left alone by God for eternity.
God does not make us followers of His Son by the sword. He gives us a choice. He asks us voluntarily to believe, to have faith in His Son. He asks us voluntarily to do something mildly uncomfortable – baptism – before He reaches into our hearts to insert His Holy Spirit. And He asks us to voluntarily follow His Son, to have faith in Him.
Is it possible that God respects you so much that God's goodness means God cannot or will not act upon your body, mind, or soul in healing without your permission – your faith that God loves you and wants to do good for you at all times? And is it possible that God knows your will even deeper than you do?
C.S.Lewis, the author of the Narnia books – The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe – was a good friend of J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit. Another book that Lewis wrote is call The Great Divorce, a story of some people who live in Hell being given a day-long bus trip to Heaven.
In Lewis’ book, in Heaven, there is an angelic being talking to a man who is on the bus trip from Hell. The man has a hideous, ugly creature wrapped around his neck and back, with claws holding onto his very heart. We can see through the man because the people from Hell are so insubstantial, almost transparent. The angel says “I can remove that for you.”
The man says, “I’m not sure I want it removed.”
And so it is with sin. So often, we do not truly want to be free from our sin. We do not want to be with God. We like our sin, we enjoy it having hold of our heart. We don’t want Christ to take it away – or we really don’t believe He can take it away. And so we are not healed, because we don’t have faith that the goodness and power of God will overcome the loss of our sin...or our depression...or our weakness.
What did Jesus teach that day on the lakeshore of Galilee?
We don’t know His words from that day, but this is what He taught through His actions:
Five loaves and two fish can feed 5000 people – if you allow the power of God to work through you.
People will always look for and recognize a person who can heal them of suffering – physical, mental, emotional suffering. And once again, it is the power of God working through Christ that heals.
People who have faith will find a good life. Not always an easy life. But when that faith goes away, or turns away, mistakes will be made. Let me show you:
When Jesus got off the boat at Gennesaret, everybody recognized him.
After the Resurrection, on the way to Emmaus – two disciples did not recognize Him at first. Resurrection morning – Mary did not recognize Him at first. And we know in both cases, they had lost their faith in Him – they thought He was truly dead, even though He had said He would rise up again.
If we are to recognize the face of Jesus, we must have faith. And to get that faith, we must study who Jesus was, what He did, what He liked and what He did not like. We must move from being an acquaintance of Jesus – to being a best friend of Jesus, a follower.
For when a teacher teaches, it is like rain falling from the sky. If you are thirsting for wisdom and knowledge, you must catch the drops and drink them deeply. Will you act like domestic turkeys, sticking your head up to look at the shiny drops falling, and hoping a few drops will fall into your open mouths? – or will you gather rain like humans, putting out tarps and building systems to intentionally learn, to hold and capture the knowledge and wisdom rain? Will you intentionally study your Bible, study it with others, come to mid-week Bible studies and discussion groups?
And so, what did Jesus teach?
Many things. Many, many things.
Learn them. And then teach them to others.
For your eternal soul – or the eternal souls of your friends, neighbors, and family may depend upon your decision to study.
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