2009.07.26 George Purnell

			Dr. George Purnell July 26, 2009 "Don’t Get Caught in the Messiah Trap" Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56 Most of us have had a day or two like the one described in our gospel reading today, days when are really pumped because of the successes we have experienced in work that we love. We want to keep going, but competing with our adrenaline rush is a need for rest. Let’s back up for a moment to put today’s reading in its context. Jesus has just returned to his hometown of Nazareth (6: 1-13) and found that people there could not believe he was anything special, because they ‘knew’ him and his family. Finding he “could do no deed of power there,” Jesus left Nazareth and “went among the villages teaching.” He didn’t feel he had to do everything by himself, however. He called the twelve, and gave them authority to do the work he was doing. He sent them out in pairs, and “they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” So, the apostles were excited. Jesus had given them authority, and they discovered they had a new power to act. And today they are back to tell Jesus “all that they had done and taught.” Even as they were telling Jesus of their experiences, people pressed upon them wanting their attention and care. So many people were coming, in fact, that the disciples “had no leisure even to eat.” Jesus gives them sound advice at this point. Go away “to a deserted place all by your self and rest for awhile,” he tells them. Mark tells us that the apostles took Jesus’ advice. They took a boat and went to a secluded place to rest. An important part of self care is taking time to rest, to take some quiet time… But for many of us the quiet is uncomfortable. We are people who like to be in the thick of things. Our place as Christians is on the shore, having compassion for the people, helping them and being their shepherd, not in a boat heading to a deserted place. Our mission is to a hurting world…to a world familiar with hunger, oppression, poverty, preventable disease and needless suffering…We are to be ambassadors for Christ, missionaries in his name. Indeed, many of us are most comfortable in the place where people need us, where we are in so much demand that we can find “no leisure even to eat.” There is no time for lunch! I will grab something on the run, as I head off on another errand of mercy. When an earthquake brings devastation in Mexico or a hurricane to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana, or floods to south central Indiana…when there are refugees trying to escape genocide at the hands of a brutal government…when there is widespread disease and drought…where is the church? It is not out in search for a place to hide and rest. No! The church is found where the hurt is, rebuilding homes in New Orleans, digging for survivors and carrying food and water to earthquake ravaged areas in Mexico, offering sanctuary to political refugees, going to Spencer and Martinsville and Columbus with water and food and building materials…The church is serving meals to the hungry, giving groceries to families who have no safety net, and offering shelter to the homeless. Yes, many of us have trouble being quiet. I know that I’m guilty. I come home from a long day at work. Dinner is done, the dishes are washed, and I sit down in the living room. This is the opportune time to be quiet, to remember the day and give thanks, to draw near to God and be open to God’s leading…But, instead, I switch on the television, hoping to find something interesting enough to fill the time. When our young children are unruly, we tell them to go sit in the corner and be quiet. We call this a ‘time out’. The idea, of course, is for them to sit and be quiet and think about what they have done. But in their minds, quiet becomes associated with punishment. Americans value doing. We accomplish things. Like Larry the Cable Man, we “get er done.” Reflection is not our strong suit… (I am reminded of a Charlie Brown strip when Lucy is playing in the outfield and a fly ball comes her way. The ball drops right beside her and she makes no attempt to catch it. Charlie Brown runs out to retrieve the ball, and he throws it back to the infield as the batter is circling the bases. He angrily asks Lucy why she didn’t catch the ball. He points out that she didn’t even have to move a step. All she had to do was stick out her glove and let the ball fall into it. Lucy responds, saying – “I was having my quiet time.”) Most of us can relate with Charlie Brown’s emotions, but the truth is that we all need to heed Lucy’s wisdom. We all need to protect our quiet time When we face a difficult decision…or when we are about to have a hard conversation…when we need courage and strength and wisdom…these are times when we need to seek God, listen for God, and let God lead us. We might even whisper to ourselves, as we sit quietly: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul…” The gospels show us that Jesus sought time to be alone to be with God at crucial times in his life. After he was baptized and before he launched his ministry in his hometown synagogue, Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days and nights, where he fasted and prayed and sought to know God’s will for his life from this point forward. Jesus was tempted while alone in the desert to find a softer, easier path than the one God had in mind for him. He met and responded to each temptation by quoting the Hebrew Bible from memory, (obviously he did not have scrolls out in the desert): To the temptation to turn stone into bread so he could eat, Jesus said: “It is written, ‘one does not live by bread alone.’” ( Deuteronomy 8:3) To the temptation to worship the devil and authority over all the kingdoms of the world would be his, Jesus said: “It is written, ‘worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Deuteronomy 6: 13) To the temptation to test his faith in God’s protection by jumping off the highest pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus said: “It is written, ‘do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Deuteronomy 6:16) Before choosing the twelve disciples, “whom he also called apostles,” Jesus “went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6: 12-13) When he learned of his cousin and dear friend, John the Baptist’s execution, Jesus “withdrew to a deserted place by himself.” (Matthew 14:13) Before his arrest, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray to God, saying – “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22: 41-42; Matthew 26:39; Mark 14: 35-36) We need the quiet. It is here that we can examine our fears and rethink decisions. It is hear that possibilities are discovered and unrealistic expectations exposed. It is here that our memories take on new meaning and new directions are chosen. It is here that our empty places are filled with the presence of the Holy. But the needs of people are always awaiting attention, and we can begin to believe that we must be available, on call, ready to respond when summoned. People who feel they must always be there for others suffer from what pastoral care counselors and other mental health professionals call the Messiah Complex. People caught in this trap tend to exhibit certain behaviors: They believe that it is their responsibility to make sure everything turns out right, and that if they don’t see to this nobody else will. The Messiah is responsible for making daddy stop drinking, for saving an adult child from consequences of her own making, and for insuring that the evening with guests is perfect. They believe that everyone else’s needs take priority over their own needs. They let others determine their actions. A teacher or a preacher, for example, has an open door policy. Whenever a student or a parishioner needs them, they are available, even when it means they will have to work late and on Saturdays to get their own work completed. In a similar vein, they feel guilty taking time for themselves, so they work Saturdays and evenings because there is just “so much to do.” A sermon is not the place for psychoanalysis, but it does merit saying that there is much agreement among professionals that people who are chained to this addictive and self-damaging way of living are often people who have been wounded in some deep way as children. Some have had a childhood trauma that was never adequately resolved. Others might have had their own needs neglected by their helpaholic caregivers (parents usually) who put other people’s needs first, and who made their children feel selfish if they wanted attention. To complicate matters, many Messiah’s believe that they are living according to scripture by neglecting themselves. Many pastors, for example, will put their own needs second – sacrificing their health and happiness, jeopardizing their marriages and relationships with their children (because they are either gone or emotionally unavailable due to their pre occupation with the needs of others) – because of scriptures like the one we read today. While telling the apostles to go away to a deserted place to be by themselves and rest for awhile, Jesus does not take his own advice. We read that “as he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” So, if we are caught in the Messiah Trap, we can tell ourselves that Jesus neglected his need for rest and attended to the needs of the crowd in our reading today. Since we are Christians, then, the inference is that we must do likewise… If we are caught in this trap, this need to take care of everyone’s needs, we must recognize it for what it is: it is unhealthy, for us and for those we ‘help.’ This need is often motivated by our need to control the lives of other people. We compensate for doubts about our own self worth by assuming responsibility for the lives of others; thereby suggesting that they can’t handle their own problems, but that we can because we are more capable than them. I remember during the vice presidential debate in 1988 between Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and Sen. Dan Quayle (R-Indiana) when Sen. Quayle responded to questions about his age and experience by saying that he had as much experience in Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency. Senator Bentsen immediately responded, saying: “Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” We must escape the trap, the temptation, to be the Messiah. We must remember that Jesus told the apostles to get away and rest, to take care of their needs so that they would be able to care for others after they were rested…and that it was Jesus who attended to the needs of those who crowded around him in our lesson today, instead of taking respite. And we must remember that we are not Jesus…we are not the Messiah… We are called to minister to the world in the name of Jesus, but we are also called to take time for ourselves… time to be alone and time to be with those we love…time to be and not do. Amen.