Rising very early before dawn, Jesus left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
Following Simon Peter's first miracle, the healing of a crippled man at the temple, he declared to an astonished crowd,
...all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed.... There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
That declaration follows logically from Simon Peter's first recorded statement in Mark's Gospel, "Everyone is looking for you."
We believe that Jesus has come from God as the Savior of all peoples and nations. That mission belongs to every member of his Church. Because he is the desire of every heart, we must announce the good news to every creature.
We believe, whether they are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or atheist, that every human being either seeks this ultimate and pure satisfaction in union with Jesus Christ, or has settled for something less. Many, weary of the search and jaded, claim satisfaction in unworthy pleasures.
They are like the famished Esau who foolishly traded his birthright for a bowl of pottage. They might not consider the danger as a moment's pleasure becomes first a habit, and then an addiction. Perhaps Esau was joking when he declared, "I am on the point of dying. What good is the right as firstborn to me?” Alcoholics, addicts, gamblers, satanists, and sexual deviants may also think their practices are harmless fun. How many have lost their careers, homes, fortunes, spouses, children, or lives in a careless moment, a moment which had eternal consequences? And then, realizing their loss and unaware of the Lord's promise, sank further into cynical, passive hopelessness?
Simon Peter is very serious when he reproaches Jesus, "Everyone is looking for you!" He feels the anguish of those who were not healed or comforted the day before, who missed out when everyone in the synagogue followed Jesus to Peter's home.
However, by the time he makes his declaration before the leaders in Jerusalem, he will realize what the Capernaum crowd could not imagine. Jesus's mission goes far beyond Galilee and the Jewish people. It goes far beyond healing sickness, disability, and diabolical possession. It only begins when it frees the alcoholic and the addict.
Jesus has come that all may be one. This gracious atonement of every creature gathers history with its wars and peace, feasts and famine, disease and drought, prosperity and depressions until every human biography is a gospel and the stories of the Earth become Salvation History. We cannot be satisfied until that Day has come.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.