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There
once was a rich man who was near death. He was very sad to be approaching
death because he had worked very hard for his money, and he wanted to be
able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be
able to take his money with him upon his death. God dispatched an angel to
visit him and explain that this was impossible, no one got to take his
money with him. But the man begged the angel to speak to God and see if he
might bend the rules. The man continued to pray that his wealth could come
along until the angel reappeared and said that God had relented, he could
take one suitcase with him to heaven.
Overjoyed,
the man got out his biggest suitcase and thought, “Which is the best way
to take my wealth?” He thought about $100 bills, or stocks and bonds, or
even traveler’s checks, but decided, no, they might not be accepted
where he was going.
But
gold! Everybody loves gold. So he bought hundreds of gold bars and stuffed
them into this suitcase and placed it beside his bed. When he died, he
found the suitcase surprisingly light, and soon arrived at the Heavenly
Gates to greet St. Peter. Taking one glance at the suitcase, St. Peter
stopped him, saying, “You can’t bring that in here.” But the man
explained that he had prior permission, and asked St. Peter to verify the
story.
St.
Peter went away but soon returned and said, “You’re right. You are
allowed one carry-on bag, but I’m supposed to check its contents before
letting it through.” St. Peter opened the suitcase to inspect the
worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind, and
exclaimed, “You brought paving stones?”
Well,
it’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it? What we place emphasis on
in our lives, what we value, what we try to take into the next world with
us, it’s all a matter of perspective. But the problem with modern life
is that we charge through it with blinders on—no perspective at all. Or
as an old joke goes, unless you’re the lead dog in the sled team, the
view never changes much. So many inventions of the last half of the 20th
Century were supposed to save us time—the personal computer, the
microwave oven, the cell phone, and yet people have less and less time for
the things that matter. Sometimes it seems that all we’ve really added
to life is speed and noise.
It’s
more important than ever to step back from this incessant race and gain
some perspective, and tragically, fewer and fewer and people do.
Psychologists have long established that just as a human being has rhythms
of sleep and work every day, so too does he have rhythms of activity and
rest that must be honored, or a breakdown is inevitable.
In
the Book of Genesis we read that God created the world in six days and
rested on the seventh day. What you may not know is that other religions,
the Egyptians, the Babylonians and othersm decreed much the same thing:
work for awhile, then rest. It’s been understood ever since man first
planted seeds in the ground: we need to rest and get a fresh perspective
on life.
What
will a fresh perspective give us? Three things. The first is a fresh
look at ourselves and our surroundings. I came across a great quote
this week from the theologian Richard Nieburh: “I’m not sure who
discovered water, but I’m sure it wasn’t a fish.” What did he mean
by that? Just that sometimes you get awfully accustomed to the same old
way of looking at things, the same way of doing things. And isn’t it a
fact of life that it’s easy to get stale? When you’re so busy running
around on errands, isn’t it easy to forget what’s important in life?
There’s
an old saying that’s so true, Nobody ever laid on their death bed
wishing they had spent more time at work.
That’s
why in today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus tells his disciples, who have come
back from the field, reporting on their activities, “Come away to a
deserted place, all by yourselves, and rest a while.” Step back and take
stock, he says. There are so many people around, they don’t even have
time to eat their meals. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Jesus wants to go
on a little mini-retreat and give them time to absorb everything they’ve
seen and heard, not just take the lesson into their heads but take it into
their hearts.
Jesus
understood then, as he does today, that human beings are more than beasts
of burden, more than cogs in a wheel, more than just those who are valued
because we contribute in some way to our jobs or to an organization. We
are valuable just because we exist, just because our Father created us
with individual immortal souls. Bill Parent, a Catholic priest and a
long-distance runner, wrote that a universal truth in training for races
is that a runner becomes faster by taking one day a week off from the
training regimen. “The Sabbath principle is built into our physical
bodies,” he said. Some things you just can’t rush, such as growing in
maturity, learning what’s important. That’s what I mean when I say we
gain a new way of looking at ourselves.
Second
thing that a fresh perspective grants us is a different way of looking at
our neighbors and our relationship with them. One of the unfortunate
aspects of human nature, but one that’s only too true, is that
familiarity breeds contempt. You ever hear that one? I know it’s an
attitude that I’ve struggled with, and maybe you have, too. You spend
too much time around people, even your loved ones, and you start to say
things like “What’s wrong with you? Why do you do and say such stupid
things? Why don’t you do things my way?” Does that ring a bell with
you? Of course, your opposite number might well be saying the same things
about you.
Sometimes
you just need a break from people, a moment to step back, take a deep
breath and say, “Okay, I don’t have all the answers. I just need to
understand that other people are human, they make mistakes, and they also
have a lot worthwhile.” Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a Broadway song a few
years ago called “Love Changes Everything,” and he nailed it on the
head. Love does change everything—not on the outside, it’s all about
having a new perspective on the inside.
And
we might add, from a Christian point of view, “Faith changes
everything,” and “hope changes everything.”
There
is always room to grow in our way of seeing life and those around us
through the lenses of faith, hope and love. What seems to us from our
experiences to be truth, that the world is a cold, ugly, menacing place,
turns out to be radically different when we realize that we hold the power
within ourselves to change things—maybe just a little, but we can change
things. The future is open to new possibilities, and we can always be
surprised by what a loving, compassionate God has in store for us.
Fred
and Janice are to be married here in two weeks. Please forgive me for
borrowing your stories, but they fit in so well with what I’m saying
this morning. Janice was divorced at a young age, and figured she would
never have someone to share her life again. Fred was in a long term
relationship until his friend got sick and died. Devastating blows, both
of them. If you had asked them five years ago if there were any chance
that they would find someone again, they probably would have said “No
way.” But our loving and compassionate God has a wonderful habit of
saying “Way!” when we say “No Way.” The problem is when we are
looking from only a narrow perspective and don’t see, and can’t even
imagine what lies ahead.
And
that leads straight into the third thing that we gain from a new
perspective—a fresh way of looking at God—at understanding who
he is, what he’s about, what he’s trying to do in the world. I never
fail to marvel at the picture of Jesus who goes wading into crowds, even
when he’s tired, even when he needs to rest and restore himself.
He
has compassion for people, Mark tells us, because they were like sheep
without a shepherd. Could he turn his back on them? If not him, then who?
So
often in life we are called to imitate Jesus, to treat people the way he
did, and we might well be in positions where the question can be asked: If
not us, then who? A child from a broken home who needs a positive role
model, a friend going through health problems who needs someone to cry
with, a husband or wife struggling to faithful to their marriage vows,
needing encouragement to make the right decision. These are real life
situations that many find themselves too busy to get involved in, and the
question remains: If not us, then who?
Let
me ask you something this morning? When you’re confronted by a large
crowd, which comes easier to you, irritation or compassion. I’ll be the
first one to say big crowds drive me nuts. I do everything I can to avoid
big crowds. It is so easy to let big crowds frustrate us when they get in
the way of our plans. What’s our compassion quotient compared to our
irritations? Can we see the faces in the crowd as individuals, as people
with broken hearts and broken dreams? Can we see the invisible burdens
they carry, the unspoken needs in their lives, before we start judging
them? Jesus could do that, every time. Can we do it, ever? Or are we just
too busy?
An
ethics professor at Princeton Seminary once asked for volunteers for an
extra assignment. About half the class met him at the library to receive
their assignments. The professor divided the group into three sets of five
students each.
He
gave the first group envelopes telling them to proceed immediately across
campus to Stewart Hall. He told them they had 15 minutes to get there or
it would affect their grade. A minute or two later he handed out envelopes
to five others. They were also to go over to Stewart Hall, but they had 45
minutes. The third group had three hours to get to Stewart Hall.
The
students weren’t aware of it, but the professor had hired three drama
students to meet them along the way. Close to the beginning of their walk,
the first group was met by one of the drama students who had his head in
his hands, moaning loudly as if in great pain.
About
half way to Stewart Hall, on the steps of the chapel, the students passed
a man who was lying face down, as if unconscious. Finally, on the steps of
Stewart Hall, the third drama student was acting out a seizure.
In
the first group of students, the ones who had only 15 minutes to get to
Stewart Hall, none of the five stopped to help any of the students. In the
second group, two stopped to help. In the last group, the one that had
three hours for their assignment, all of the seminarians stopped to help
at least one person. The moral of the story that the professor was trying
to drive home: don’t be too busy in the midst of being a minister to
minister to others.
The
disciples in Mark’s story had been terribly busy ministers, too. They
had been preaching, teaching, anointing people, casting out demons. They
had done good work, but they were tired, and Jesus wanted them to rest.
Truly they had earned it. But the crowds descended upon them, and their
rest is interrupted.
They
learned that being too busy gets in the way of becoming aware of
people’s needs. That’s what this story is all about. Take your rest,
but be aware of others’ needs. Have your priorities in the right order.
Learn what’s important. Get a new perspective on life.
From
this kind of a point of view, isn’t it sad that people rush around like
crazy not just six days a week, but seven? Isn’t it sad that they’re
too busy to rest and refresh themselves here, at the table of Jesus
Christ?
We
speak often about why Jesus instituted the sacrament of communion, why he
felt it to be so important that it was the last item on his agenda the
night before he died. He knew that the future, all his hopes and dreams
for the future, for the salvation of the world, rested with individual
humans who would take his message to the world.
And
for that to happen, they needed to work well, and rest well. These, his
apostles, were like sheep without a shepherd, too. They needed to be fed,
to be led beside still waters, to have their souls restored. This is where
it happens.
Today,
as we take the bread and cup in our hands, take a moment to thank God for
the summertime, a traditional time to slow down and rest.
Thank
God for Sunday mornings, the seventh day, when we go off to a special
place with those we love to renew our spirits and gain a new perspective.
And
pray that we never get too busy to recognize others’ needs and respond,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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