Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 433 

At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God,
because for this purpose I have been sent.”
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Saint Luke often gentles the stories he received from Saint Mark, and I see that tendency in today's passage. Where Mark says Jesus's disciples "tracked him down" (the Greek word suggests hunting for a wild animal) Luke says "the crowd" -- not the disciples -- "looked for him." 

Where Mark repeats the disciples' guilt-inducing demand, "Everyone is looking for you!" Luke says the crowds "tried to prevent him from leaving." They did so, apparently, only with their urgent need for him. They were not hostile, and they accepted his explanation. 

Perhaps they understood his urgency, "I must proclaim the good news because for this purpose I was sent." As wonderful as were his healing, compassion, and presence, they were less important than his mission. And they understood, he had no choice. 

In our "land of the free and... home of the brave," we have a hard time with obedience. It seems the opposite of freedom. If we admire Jesus we suppose he was a man who could go where he wanted to go and do as he pleased. We admire his defiance of the scribes, lawyers, Levites, Pharisees, Sadduccees, and Herodians; and his refusal to cringe before Annas, Caiphas, Herod, and Pilate. He is like Isaiah's lion who comes up out of the Jordan wilderness "to wage war against Zion." There is nothing the religious shepherds can do to stop his taking their sheep. 

Though he had all the frailty of any man and felt the human instinct to just get along like everybody else, Jesus also had what every human being needs, a purpose. His freedom was his obedience, and his fearlessness was the fear of the LORD. 

We often chafe under God's prohibitions, "Thou shalt not...;" and suppose that God has no more to say to us. We find our freedom in all those places where the LORD appears to be silent. Broadly speaking, he hasn't said anything about our entertainment and recreations, our jobs, careers, and professions. 

But neither have we asked. 

Turning with more attention to the Bible and our traditions, we discover the LORD has a specific calling for each of us. And it entails more than a broad outline of what we should do; God's will for me is often quite specific. 

We learn to pray as we ask God to reveal his plan to us. What should I study and what school should I attend? Whom should I associate with and whom should I marry? (Is it possible God has nothing to say about the most important relationship I'll ever have?) How should I handle money and time? What interests should I pursue professionally, and what should I do with my free time? 

We can consult our feelings and desires as we ponder these decisions, after we have asked the LORD to conform our feelings and desires to God's divine plan. Obviously, something done which is out of sync with God's plan is not helpful; it might make matters worse. 

The great Italian poet Dante wrote, "In his will is our peace." Jesus could not stay in Capernaum. He had to preach in others towns and villages. The crowds understood that. He had to go to Jerusalem. To save us.