We all know the phrase, “Expect the unexpected.” It is used to describe a person or a situation that is less than predictable, perhaps in an exciting way, perhaps in a troublesome one. The phrase was not used in Jesus’s time, at least as far as I know, but no doubt his Apostles and others who encountered him would have well understood its meaning. Jesus was always confounding expectations, breaking social norms, and generally bewildering others, especially those in authority. No doubt the Apostles learned that when you’re following Jesus, you have to learn to “expect the unexpected.”
Our Gospel today presents us with two good examples of just what I mean. Jesus twice acts in a way contrary to how we might expect, not just to be surprising for its own sake, but because he was aware of a deeper need, a more urgent call of the Holy Spirit. Looking at these two instances of the unexpected, I think we can learn something valuable for our own walk with the Lord.
Last week, we heard about how Jesus sent out the Twelve Apostles ahead of him to towns and villages, endowed with his power and authority. In today’s Gospel they have returned from their missionary work. They have preached and healed and cast out demons, and they are excited to tell the Lord all that they have done ministering in his name. We might expect Jesus would say, “Great, now go on back out there, and do even more!” But instead, he invites them to come away and rest. No doubt he appreciated their exuberance for what they had done, but perhaps he understood a potential danger as well, maybe a temptation to pride, or a danger of being exhausted. Whatever it was, Jesus unexpectedly invites them to take a break.
This should have obvious implications for us. There is an inherent value in rest, in slowing down, in pausing from the routine. Doing so allows us to recover our strength. But it also helps us to be attentive to deeper and more spiritual things. Our culture has tended to create a virtue out of busyness for busyness’s sake, often at the expense of or in avoidance of what is truly meaningful and lasting. Jesus surely appreciated the work that the Apostles had done – their preaching, their healing, their casting out demons. But he also wanted to remind them that none of it had been done by their own powers. When we become too wrapped up in our efforts and labors – even in good things, even in things that explicitly are part of our Christian calling – we risk losing connection with the One who is behind it all. Thus, at times, we need to step back and step away: to rest, to reflect, to pray – to be reminded that in all things it is God who sustains us and it is only in our relationship with him that we remain effective in what we do.
Jan Brueghel the Elder, Sermon on the Sea of Galilee (c. 1600)
If the Gospel had stopped there, that would have been a great message to take away: the importance of renewal and rejuvenation. But as we heard, there is a second, surprising part to the story. As Jesus and the Apostles head off to a deserted place for a time of reflection, they are swarmed by people searching for them, coming out from all the towns and villages and turning up in vast numbers. There is an air of desperation about them; as we heard, they were “like sheep without a shepherd.” And Jesus, “moved with pity”, begins to minister to them again, and the Apostles along with him. As important as that period of rest and reflection was to have been, it now goes out the window in order to respond to a more dire need.
This is another important, if harder lesson about Christian discipleship: we need rest and reflection for ourselves, but we will not always get it right away or in just the way we would like. At times, the Lord may even ask us to give up or to delay this kind of rest – good as it is in itself – for a deeper commitment of service to those in need. Here the Lord shows us that what really renews us is not just relaxation but a refreshment in who we are, and in what our Christian calling entails. Some things cannot wait or be delayed: a parent has to set aside their own fatigue in order to care for a sick child; a family may have to pull together time or money to support a troubled teenager or an elderly parent; a pastor may have to respond that midnight emergency call after a long day of ministry. In these situations, and many others that we might think about, the Lord invites us to be like him, and like his Apostles – deserving of their own rest, their hearts go out to those in even greater need, and so they respond to what the Holy Spirit inspires them to do in the moment.
A brief word of caution here: this kind of deeper sacrifice of service cannot be sustained forever. The Lord does not call us to go beyond our own needs to the point of utter exhaustion. We have to be aware of our limits, and so rightly step away or ask for help without fear of shame when we need it. But we should also understand that sometimes there is a deeper refreshment, a deeper sustenance that comes from finding the face of the Lord in places we might not first readily expect. I have known families who have given up their vacation so that they can work in service to the poor; I have known priests who spend their well-earned rest giving retreats to sisters, etc. Those are noble things to do, and things that not all of us are necessarily called to; but what we are called to do, at times, is to set aside our own needs, important as they are, in order to attend to those truly in need.
What we need is a good discernment of who we are and where we are at with the Lord. We should never become so caught up in the tasks at hand that we abandon prayer altogether, because prayer is the instrument by which we can hear God speaking to us. Has our well run dry, have we run aground spiritually? Are we in need of some quiet reflection? Okay, good; seek that out. But if the Lord comes knocking, and a greater need presents itself, we should be open to considering that Jesus may also be present there, that he may be asking us to put aside our rest for a time – as good and well-earned as it may be – so that we can encounter him in service to those in even greater need.
Friends, take a moment this week to ask where Jesus is leading you at this time. Perhaps like the Apostles, you need some time away for rest and spiritual renewal. Great! Seek that out. Perhaps he is asking you to continue laboring for a bit longer, to attend to those who are in your care or awaiting your help, setting aside your own needs for a time. Okay – trust that he will strengthen you to do just that, and then be joyful in serving him there. Following the Lord is ultimately not just about “expecting the unexpected,” but rather about expecting the expected – that is, an encounter with Jesus, often in unexpected places. May the Eucharistic presence that we will soon receive help us to hear his voice speaking to us, and give us the grace to respond readily to all that he may ask.
No comments:
Post a Comment