The Journey
By Grant Gaines
On a cold morning several years ago, a man sat in the busy Washington DC Metro and played his violin for 45 minutes. During his time, it was calculated that roughly 1,100 people had walked by him in the train station. At the end of his brief “concert” in which he played six Bach pieces, the man collected a grand total of $32.
Little did these busy commuters know, the man who was playing the violin was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. In fact, just several days earlier Joshua was playing in a sold out theater in Boston where the tickets averaged $100 per person. But because of their hustle and bustle the people missed out on the brilliance that was before them.
I believe this story is a pretty good illustration of how many of us go throughout our lives. We are so full throttle at all times that we miss the beauty of the journey. And that’s a shame because as you study Jesus’ three year ministry here on earth, it appears that the majority of His work-His miracles, His teachings, and His encouragements happen not as pre-planned sermons but rather as spur of the moment opportunities. Need some examples? Let’s take a look at the first few chapters of the book of Mark to see how Jesus’ miracles unfolded.
After returning from a long journey throughout the region of Galilee, Jesus said to His weary disciples, “…Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31, NIV). But what was originally intended to be a private getaway to rest and recharge their batteries turned into a crowded, noisy beach as “…many who saw [Jesus and the disciples] leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them” (Mark 6:33, NIV). So what did Jesus do when a crowd interrupted His quiet time? “…He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things” (Mark 6:34, NIV) and even took the time, energy, and effort to feed over 5,000 people.
Again in Mark 7 we read that Jesus, “…went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it…” (Mark 7:24, NIV). Hey, I can relate to that! There are certainly times when me, myself, and I are all I want to deal with for a moment. But the verse continues-“…yet [Jesus] could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at His feet…and begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter” (Mark 6:24-25, NIV). Instead of ignoring the knock on the door and going about His own private time, Jesus viewed this moment not as an inconvenience but as an opportunity.
As Jesus was preaching one Sabbath, “…a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting,” (Mark 1:23, NLT) at Christ and interrupted His message. But instead of reshuffling His notes and trying to regain the audience’s attention in order to stay on task, Jesus took the opportunity that was right in front of Him and healed this man of his demonic bondage.
Later we see Christ going over to His friends James and John’s house to lay low for a while when all of the sudden a large commotion arose outside of the door as, “the whole town gathered at the door” (Mark 1:33, NIV), to bring Jesus, “…all the sick and demon-possessed” (Mark 1:32, NIV). It would have been easy for Christ to brush off the crowd with an excuse of needing some time to recharge His batteries or simply ignored the gathering outside of the house so He could do what He came to do-hang out with His buddies. But instead of making an excuse, Jesus made the lame walk, the mute speak, and the deaf hear.
Again in Mark 1:40-2:12, we see Jesus on two separate occasions entering towns with the stated purpose of preaching the hope of His Gospel only to go to bed that night after healing the handicapped and ministering to the meek.
You know, all I did right there was look at one page of Mark and read off miracles. No one reading this blog was shocked to hear that Jesus cast out demons, healed the lepers, and empowered the paralytics because they are stories we have all heard ever since we started reading the Bible. But I think one of our biggest mistakes when reading about Jesus’ ministry is that we assume that as Christ got up out of His bed each morning, He specifically purposed in His heart and penned on His planner to perform those miracles. However, as we just saw in a brief little snippet of the book of Mark, that was not the case at all-Jesus was always aiming to accomplish a certain task when an opportunity along the journey grabbed His attention.
Is it possible that the same could be said about our story-that the majority of our ministry opportunities don’t necessarily happen when we are going to church, when we volunteer at the homeless shelter, or donate our money, but rather scattered throughout our day-to-day activities.
I don’t think that Jesus would be at the church 24/7. I believe that He, like you, would go to the grocery store, drop the kids off at school, or go to the gym. But unlike so many of us, Christ would not be too focused on the destination that he would miss the opportunities all around Him.
Slow down, don’t be too busy, and for Christ’s sake, don’t miss the journey.
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
