Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Perhaps you remember from last week’s Scripture readings and sermon how busy Jesus was [Mark 1:21-28]. Jesus had gone to the synagogue. He was recognized as a visiting teacher. He was handed a scroll, expected to read some verses of Scripture, then expound on those verses. Not only did Jesus do that, but you will remember that He obviously did it quite well. He amazed people with His teaching. By then, word got out that Jesus was in town and the customary line of “problem cases” began to form. There were the sick to heal, the sinful to forgive, the demon-possessed to cure. If a “Take-A-Number” machine had been invented back in Jesus’ day, it would have been working overtime.

Leaving the synagogue, Jesus must have decided that it was rest time, that He needed some “down time.” So, instead of booking a night at the local Westin Hotel, Jesus and His disciples found lodging at the family home of two of His disciples, Simon and Andrew. There He was sure He’d find some diversion. There He was sure He’d find some peace and quiet. There He was sure He’d probably be able to enjoy a good, leisurely home-cooked meal and maybe even a competitive card game late into the evening, just Him and the “boys.”

No such luck. It turns out that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law was home sick, laid up in bed and someone had actually handed her one of those “Take-A-Number” numbers. You can almost see and hear Peter, “Hey, Rabbi, I know You’ve had one whopper of a day, but would You mind just checking in on Mom? You see, I kind of told her You were here. She’s a little under the weather and could probably use a little of Your stuff, whatever it is You usually do for sick people.” Of course, Jesus would do that. And, of course, once Mother-in-Law was feeling better, she started waiting on her visitors and word got out into the community that she had been healed of whatever had put her in bed, so, within a few minutes, the line of the sick and the demented had once again formed outside the house. There was no leisurely dinner. There was no competitive card game. There was no “down time.” There was only “business as usual” and it was likely a late night.

St. Mark tells us something very interesting in verse 35. St. Mark slips in a verse that sometimes gets rushed over. St. Mark tells us that “very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.”

That verse is so fascinating because here is the God of all creation [Isaiah 40:21-31], the God Who set the stars in place, the God Who has named each of the stars, the God Who has ordered all of creation, the God Who has even empowered the rulers of the entire earth, needing a break. Let’s rephrase that. Just like at the actual creation of the world, the omnipotent God did not and does not need a break, but He used that 7th day of creation and He used that early morning solitary prayer time to give an example to His disciples then and to each of His followers today of an important mark of a close relationship.

The Charleston Southern School of Business conducted a study surveying 20,000 Christians in 139 countries between the ages of 15 and 88. Four of 10 Christians responded that they “often” or “always” rush from task to task. About 6 of 10 Christians responded that it’s “often” or “always” true that the “busyness of life gets in the way of developing my relationship with God.”

Does that sound familiar? I am going to guess it probably does because I hear it all the time. “Pastor, I won’t be there tomorrow. I’ve got some errands to run. Pastor, I won’t be able to attend. I’ve got to work that day. Sorry I missed last Sunday, Pastor. I just couldn’t get out of bed.”

Notice what Jesus did. He didn’t sacrifice the business at hand. He also didn’t sacrifice that personal prayer and growth time. He instead got up very early in the morning. He knew the sick and demented would soon be lining up again, demanding His attention. He also knew He needed some prayer and growth time, that that would be what would and could carry Him through.

That’s often how things play out in our minds – that we have to give up something in order to get something else done and, honestly, with an upset spouse or boss or body clamoring at us, demanding more of our time, it’s often easier to forgo God than it is to ignore them.

The real answer is shown us by Jesus. The reason answer is budgeting our time as carefully as we are all today budgeting our income and assets. The rush of life, the busyness of life, often happens because of poor planning. It’s not that there is not enough time. Heaven forbid we say that because God created time and He assigned 24 hours to each day and He looked at all He had created and behold, it was all very good [Genesis 1]. It’s not that time is too short. It’s that we take on too much and we fail to plan and budget, so that when the rush and busyness come upon us, which is most of the time, it’s most easy to sacrifice the one thing we feel is probably easiest and less critical to sacrifice and that’s often time with God.

Back in 1963, a church in New York closed. Someone stuck a sign on the outside of the front door that said, “Gone out of Business.” Someone else, a neighbor of the church, posted a second sign, “Didn’t know what their business was.”

There’s two ways to take that second sign:

➊ Do you know what your business is as a child of God? Do you know what our business is as collective group of children of God? Do you know that you need time with your God, to allow Him the time to re-mold and re-fashion and refresh and restore you? Do you know that you need time with your God to allow Him the opportunity to remind you of Who He is and what He has done for you on the Cross? Do you know that in the midst of all your busyness God says to you, “Slow down! Wait! Let me cause you by My power to rise up on wings like eagles, to run and now grow weary, to walk and not grow faint” [Isaiah 40:31]?

➋ Do others know what our business is? Do others know why this church stands on this corner? Do others know why we gather week after week? So many people think the church is here to entertain them and their families, to provide men’s activities and women’s activities and children’s activities, to have healing services and prison ministries, to have movie nights and food pantries and soup kitchens, to give advice to support this proposition or to vote against that proposition. The world doesn’t have a clarity as to why the Church exists. And many in the Church have gone along with the thinking of the world and have become more and more busy and less and less in relationship with God.

At the heart of who we are as individuals and at the heart of who we are as Historic First Lutheran, must be the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, the old, old story of Jesus and His love. At the heart of who we are must be the message that, sinful though we are, distracted as we might be, yet we have a Lover Who loves us with an everlasting, eternal, unchangeable love, a supporter and enabler of life Who desires to remind us to take time every day to be in relationship with Him, to allow Him to bring peace to our lives, to allow Him to provide us the strength we need in life.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena