1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:24,040 🥚 2 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:28,960 May be given to me to speak in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 3 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,640 Amen. Please do be seated. 4 00:00:38,220 --> 00:00:41,420 There are many things that I read the Scriptures for. 5 00:00:41,420 --> 00:00:49,440 Comfort, wisdom and insight into the ever-developing relationship between humanity and God. 6 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:54,940 One thing I tend to not look for however are gaths 7 00:00:55,020 --> 00:00:59,520 But on our gospel reading Saint Mark gives a throw away line which is such a understatement that I can help but smile every time I read it 8 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:09,220 Because it does sound like a joke 9 00:01:05,620 --> 00:01:09,040 And he could do no deed of power 10 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:12,840 that expect that he laid his hands on a few sick people 11 00:01:12,940 --> 00:01:14,200 and cured them 12 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:18,960 Medicine has come quite a way since the first century, 13 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:21,680 but even the best doctor in the world 14 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,000 can heal a patient with a touch. 15 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,600 And I should know, I'm married to the best doctor in the world. 16 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,600 Jesus touching a few sick people 17 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:35,520 and making them well should, by any standard, 18 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:39,120 count as a great deed of power. 19 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:44,120 Surely, the gospels are full of accounts of Jesus touching people who are sick. 20 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:48,120 Disabled, even dead and making them well. 21 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,840 But unlike in this strange account from Saint Mark, 22 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,520 those deeds were praised as multi-acts of God, 23 00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:00,120 and Jesus was hailed as the Messiah because of them. 24 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:02,640 But in Nazareth's hometown, 25 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:08,240 those same deeds touching a few sick people and making them well 26 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,720 are dismissed by Saint Mark with a casual aside, 27 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,240 as if Jesus is handing out a scrap of bread, 28 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:19,840 not miraculously touching people and healing them with a word. 29 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:26,800 Why did Saint Mark suddenly adopt a tone of such benign indifference 30 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:31,920 that even a young person in the depths of their teenage-on-wee 31 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:36,000 would feel that he was rather understating things? 32 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,320 Well, to understand this, we need to look at the context, 33 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:45,000 not just of the chapter, but of the gospel as a whole. 34 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:51,000 In biblical studies, there's a principle known as the Messianic Secret. 35 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,400 In Saint Mark's gospel, in nearly every account of a miracle 36 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:57,000 which Jesus performed, 37 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,160 he told the person not to tell anyone else 38 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:03,920 after they received their miracle. 39 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:07,560 Of course, they never paid any attention whatsoever. 40 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:12,120 We're told repeatedly that as soon as Jesus healed a person 41 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,760 and asked them to keep quiet about it, 42 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:18,960 that healed person ran out and shouted the news to everyone. 43 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:23,720 But the request for the secret was always made. 44 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:26,880 For years, theologians have debated 45 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:33,720 why Jesus would ask people not to mention the things that he did for them. 46 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,920 After all, if you had the power 47 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:40,080 to heal a person with a touch, 48 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:44,600 or in fact to heal with a word from a distance 49 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,880 which Jesus did on multiple occasions, 50 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,920 wouldn't you want people to know? 51 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,080 Imagine someone could do that today. 52 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,920 Imagine here in Saint John the Baptist 53 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:02,560 someone could heal any kind of infirmity with a single word. 54 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:04,920 The cues would be out of the door. 55 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,520 They'd be down the street, they'd be all the way to the tube station. 56 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,920 There would be camera crews and newspaper articles 57 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:15,920 and a podcast and social media up the wazoo. 58 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:17,760 And we know this 59 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:20,800 because even in a world without social media, 60 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:22,800 or the internet, or newspapers, 61 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,520 or frankly access to the written word for most people, 62 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,680 Jesus was still a sensation. 63 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,720 We're given account of how he was so popular 64 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:36,600 that people crowded him in houses 65 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,400 so much so that if you wanted to get access, 66 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,000 you had to take the roof off. 67 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,200 By word of mouth, Jesus managed to gather 5,000 men, 68 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:50,200 plus women and children, to listen to him speak. 69 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:54,200 And, I'll hasten to add, they stayed for days. 70 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:58,560 Not just the 10 minutes I'm going to make you listen to me. 71 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:02,960 Given that Jesus was already that famous, 72 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,800 given that he was doing things that no one else could do, 73 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:14,040 why on earth did he insist on people keeping it quiet? 74 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:16,200 Well, some theologians have speculated 75 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:19,040 that it was in fact one of the earliest examples 76 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,400 of reverse psychology. 77 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:25,240 If I say to all of you, don't think of a pink elephant, 78 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,880 I know exactly what you're all going to be thinking of. 79 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,520 So maybe Jesus was asking people to keep quiet 80 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:35,560 because in a roundabout reverse sort of way, 81 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,160 it would make him more famous. 82 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:43,800 After all, who doesn't want to do the very thing we're told not to do? 83 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:45,360 But I'm not convinced. 84 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,080 Aside from this being somewhat more devious 85 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:52,920 than Jesus' character implies, it would be pointless. 86 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:57,560 Jesus had more than enough going for him to be famous. 87 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,320 He didn't have to play games with people 88 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,000 for it to be interesting that he could heal any infirmity 89 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,400 by a touch or a word. 90 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:11,960 So why the secret? 91 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:16,200 Because miracles were never the point. 92 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:20,960 Jesus had such compassion for those that he healed, 93 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:25,240 but Jesus did not come as a healer. 94 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,440 Whilst there were probably hundreds of people 95 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,760 who had their physical lives transformed 96 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,680 by Jesus' touch or word, 97 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,440 if he had wanted to come as a healer, 98 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:39,840 then that's all he would have done. 99 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:42,360 He would have given up on the preaching, 100 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,280 on the teaching, on the disputing with Pharisees, 101 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:51,080 and he would have been a whole lot more effective as a healer 102 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:52,760 without wasting all of that time 103 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:55,160 and all of the other business that fills the gospels. 104 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:57,720 If he'd come as a healer, 105 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,600 then he'd just set up shop in Jerusalem 106 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:02,760 and let people come to him. 107 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:07,600 And instead of hundreds, it had been thousands. 108 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,360 Almost every miraculous healing that Jesus performed 109 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:13,960 followed a similar formula, 110 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:17,960 and this tells us what the point was. 111 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:22,560 First, Jesus would ask a person what they wanted. 112 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:24,800 Always seems like a stupid question 113 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:26,440 to ask a person who's sick, 114 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:27,760 what is it that you want, 115 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:30,960 but Jesus always made the point of asking 116 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,240 so that a person could demonstrate their faith. 117 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,520 Or else, he was approached in such a deliberate 118 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:39,080 and faith-filled way 119 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,480 that the faith of the person was already evident. 120 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,560 Then, once a person had made their request 121 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:47,840 or a request had been made on their behalf 122 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,600 and they'd received their healing, 123 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:52,480 Jesus would say, 124 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:56,440 your faith has made you well. 125 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:58,200 Jesus didn't say those words 126 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,360 because faith is a prerequisite of healing. 127 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,840 When Jesus healed a little girl who had died 128 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:07,360 and brought her back to life 129 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,920 and gave her back to her parents, 130 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,480 she couldn't have had any faith in him. 131 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:15,440 He said those words, 132 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:17,360 you have been made well 133 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:19,240 because being made well 134 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:23,880 meant something more than being physically well. 135 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:28,520 The miracles were intended to inspire faith, 136 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:32,560 specifically faith in Jesus as the Messiah. 137 00:08:32,560 --> 00:08:36,240 People came to Jesus with a hope 138 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:39,200 that he was who they thought he might be 139 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:40,840 and a desire to see 140 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:45,320 if he really could do the things that they'd heard. 141 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:49,600 That faith probably never more than a spark 142 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:51,520 was found into flame, 143 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:52,520 not just for them, 144 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:56,520 but for the people around them by the miracles. 145 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,080 And then the real healing happened. 146 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,240 The person got their physical change, absolutely, 147 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:04,960 but more importantly, 148 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:06,800 they and the people around them 149 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:09,440 understood who Jesus is, 150 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:11,960 the Son of God. 151 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:13,840 And most of them went away 152 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:15,640 so full of worship 153 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:17,680 that they couldn't keep it to themselves 154 00:09:17,680 --> 00:09:20,520 even though Jesus asked them to. 155 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,880 And so their faith made them well, 156 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:28,080 not temporarily, not physically, 157 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,680 but into eternity. 158 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:33,800 Jesus asked for secrecy 159 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,040 because he didn't want people coming to him 160 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:38,640 for the wrong reasons. 161 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:40,480 We're told in the Gospel 162 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:43,200 that because people went away 163 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:45,800 and did spread the news about what he'd done, 164 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:49,000 eventually Jesus' faith spread so much 165 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,160 that he couldn't go into towns or villages 166 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:55,960 in order to meet with people. 167 00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:01,240 If Jesus had gone into a town or village, 168 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:03,480 he would have been mobbed by the people 169 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:05,720 who asked for healing day and night. 170 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:09,960 And so eventually he had to stay outside the towns 171 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,720 in order to do the job that he'd come for. 172 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,000 And of course, it's understandable, 173 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:17,280 it's understandable 174 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:19,640 that if Jesus went into towns and villages, 175 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,840 he was mobbed by people desperate for healing, 176 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:26,440 after all, who doesn't want relief from suffering, 177 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:29,720 for them or for their loved ones. 178 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:31,440 But Jesus knew 179 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,880 that if he spent all of his time 180 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,800 tending to physical needs, 181 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,320 he would never be able to do the thing 182 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:41,560 he actually came to do, 183 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:43,880 teach and enable humanity 184 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,880 to come back to eternal loving relationship 185 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:51,880 with God the Holy Trinity. 186 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:57,160 Now I know that that is a tough lesson to swallow, 187 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:59,720 even 2,000 years on. 188 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:04,520 Personally, I find it really hard to square 189 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:07,200 the belief that Jesus didn't come back to heal, 190 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:11,080 in fact that Jesus didn't heal everyone he could 191 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:12,760 with my belief 192 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:17,320 that Jesus loves and values everyone equally. 193 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,280 But we only need look at the account of Jesus 194 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:25,280 at the pool of Bethsaida to know that this was so. 195 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,640 At the pool of Bethsaida, 196 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:30,640 we know that there were scores of people 197 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,000 hanging around outside of a pool 198 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:34,200 because there was a myth 199 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,480 that when the water stirred, 200 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,040 if you could get into the water, you would be healed. 201 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:40,880 We now know that the water stirred 202 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:43,120 because of the change in the water table, 203 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,400 but the myth was that water nymphs 204 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:47,080 would stir up the water 205 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,400 and if you managed to get into the water at the right time, 206 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:52,040 then the nymphs would have pity on you 207 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,320 and heal you with your infirmity. 208 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:58,240 We told that Jesus went to this pool of Bethsaida 209 00:11:58,240 --> 00:11:59,560 and he met with someone 210 00:11:59,560 --> 00:12:02,480 who had been unable to walk his entire life. 211 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,760 He'd spent years at the pool 212 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:07,760 and when Jesus asked him what he was doing here, 213 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:09,840 the man explained that there's no one here to help me 214 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:14,320 get in the waters when the waters are changed. 215 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:15,920 It's a lovely account 216 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:17,920 because Jesus touches the man, 217 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:20,560 heals him, tells him to get up and walk 218 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:23,960 to take his mat home. 219 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:26,760 But look beyond that man. 220 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:31,000 The pool of Bethsaida had scores of people around it, 221 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:32,800 just like him. 222 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,680 Did Jesus heal all of them? 223 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:36,920 Well, if he did, 224 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:39,200 we're certainly not told about it 225 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,760 and I assume that we would be. 226 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:44,760 The truth is that throughout his ministry, 227 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,200 Jesus disappointed people. 228 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:49,440 He disappointed St John the Baptist, 229 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:51,160 who from his jail cell 230 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:55,280 sent disciples to ask if Jesus really was the Messiah, 231 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:57,640 presumably because nothing was being done 232 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,400 to free him from Herod. 233 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:02,840 We know that there were many people 234 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,400 who expected Jesus to be a military leader, 235 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:07,640 leading the people in glorious revolution 236 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:08,920 against the Romans. 237 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:10,840 It never happened. 238 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,320 We know that Judas was disillusioned 239 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:15,240 with Jesus' ministry. 240 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,560 We know that scores of disciples 241 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:20,680 left Jesus after difficult pieces of teaching, 242 00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:22,560 such as in John 7, 243 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:24,520 unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man 244 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:25,560 and drink his blood, 245 00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:27,280 you have no life in you. 246 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:32,040 And we're told many left because of this teaching. 247 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:33,960 Jesus wasn't. 248 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:36,440 He isn't the person 249 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:40,560 that so many people want him to be, 250 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:47,120 because their goals and his don't align. 251 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:48,680 And to be clear, 252 00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:52,040 their goals are not unworthy. 253 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:53,840 Freedom from tyranny, 254 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:55,920 the right to self-determination, 255 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:57,400 healing from sickness. 256 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,840 These are all good things to want, 257 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,840 but they're not what Jesus came to do. 258 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:05,840 As human beings, 259 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:08,840 we are so good at setting our sights 260 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,840 on what we believe is best for us. 261 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:13,840 We know what we want, 262 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:15,840 and we know how to get it. 263 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,840 And often, the goals that we set for ourselves 264 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:20,840 are perfectly lovely, 265 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:23,840 and we bring those goals in prayer to God, 266 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:25,840 as we should. 267 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:29,840 We lay out the roadmap from here to there, 268 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:31,840 and we tell God in my new detail 269 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,840 all of the bullet points that he has to meet 270 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:36,840 in order for us to achieve 271 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,840 what we believe is right for us. 272 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:42,840 But the truth is 273 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:45,840 that even if we want something good, 274 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:50,840 it is not always the right thing for us. 275 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:52,840 When I was 21, 276 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,840 I was certain that God wanted me to go 277 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:58,840 into theological academia. 278 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:00,840 But more importantly, 279 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:02,840 it was my dream. 280 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:04,840 And there wasn't anything wrong 281 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:07,840 with wanting that for myself. 282 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:09,840 But it wasn't my path. 283 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,840 Instead, I was brought down a path 284 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:14,840 that I swore I would never walk, 285 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:16,840 sometimes with joy, 286 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:19,840 often in difficulty to the priesthood. 287 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:21,840 Now, of course, 288 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,840 over a decade later, I rejoice. 289 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:27,840 I have the honour of being able to serve this community, 290 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:29,840 of serving you. 291 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:31,840 I have so much joy in my life, 292 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:33,840 which would never have been 293 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:35,840 if my prayers for funding 294 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:39,840 for study in America had been answered. 295 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:41,840 But at the time, 296 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:43,840 when my funding failed, 297 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:47,840 it felt like God was rejecting me. 298 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:49,840 There will be people in this room 299 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:51,840 who have asked for things 300 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,840 and received the answers that they hoped for. 301 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:57,840 God does do that. 302 00:15:57,840 --> 00:15:59,840 And there will be people 303 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:01,840 who have asked for things 304 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:03,840 and waited for longer than I did 305 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,840 after the door has shut on their hopes, 306 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:08,840 who still don't understand 307 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,840 what on earth God is playing at. 308 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,840 Trusting and following Jesus 309 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,840 is not an easy path. 310 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:21,840 It wasn't for the people 311 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,840 who grew up with him in Nazareth, 312 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:28,840 who said, 313 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:30,840 How dare this upstart 314 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:32,840 from our small town have such wisdom? 315 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:36,840 How dare he pretend to preach to us? 316 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:39,840 It wasn't easy for them. 317 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,840 It isn't easy for us. 318 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,840 Jesus sent his disciples 319 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:46,840 on their first journey 320 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:48,840 to spread the gospel 321 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:50,840 with nothing but the clothes on their back. 322 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:52,840 And he did that because he knew 323 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:54,840 that learning to trust 324 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:57,840 takes time and effort. 325 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:00,840 It is a marathon, not a sprint. 326 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:02,840 We have very little idea 327 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:04,840 how those trips went, 328 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:06,840 but I imagine that they were filled 329 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:08,840 with all kinds of hardship 330 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:10,840 and moments where the disciples wanted to give up. 331 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:12,840 Moments when they said, 332 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:14,840 Why on earth didn't he let us bring 333 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:16,840 a bag of coins with us 334 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:19,840 so that we could pay for some food on the journey? 335 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:22,840 But in Luke 22 verse 35 336 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:23,840 Jesus asked, 337 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:25,840 When I sent you out 338 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:27,840 without a purse, bag or sandals, 339 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:29,840 did you lack anything? 340 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:32,840 They said, No, not a thing. 341 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:36,840 We are always looking 342 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,840 for the miracle which will fix everything. 343 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:41,840 The quick road 344 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,840 which answers our heart's desire. 345 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:46,840 Sometimes Jesus answers that hope. 346 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,840 Sometimes the healing comes immediately. 347 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,840 But there are also plenty of times 348 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:55,840 when the road that he has for us 349 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,840 doesn't go in the direction that we expect. 350 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:00,840 Maybe it even takes us 351 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,840 in a direction we don't want to go. 352 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:06,840 Whether we get our desired answer 353 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,840 or something totally different, 354 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:11,840 we are called to remember 355 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:14,840 this difficult lesson. 356 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:17,840 The miracle isn't the point. 357 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,840 Trusting is the point. 358 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,840 Trust in the one who is leading. 359 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:27,840 Let go of the things 360 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,840 which you don't need for this journey. 361 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,840 The things which are getting in your way. 362 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:38,840 Trust even when it's hard to trust. 363 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,840 Hope even when it's hard to hope. 364 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:47,840 Have joy even when it's hard to be joyful. 365 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:50,840 And know that at the end 366 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:53,840 when you reach your destination 367 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:55,840 you will be able to say 368 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,840 I didn't lack anything. 369 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:10,840 Amen.