Below, for your consideration and reflection, is the sermon from Bethel's February 5, 2006 Sunday worship service.

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It is the first dispute between Jesus and his disciples. Think about it. Jesus has gone to a secluded place, a word that can also mean “wilderness.” He apparently didn’t leave a note on the door at Simon and Andrew’s house that he was going to step out for awhile, so, the text says, the disciples hunted for him, with a sense of desperation, it would seem, exclaiming with exasperation when they finally found him, “everyone is searching for you.”

Perhaps you know how that feels. Your child momentarily gets away from you at the mall. An elderly parent in a nursing home isn’t where she’s supposed to be when you go to visit. You plan to rendezvous with a friend for lunch, but you’re signals get crossed.

Why were the disciples so adamant about locating Jesus? I imagine the real reason is that the sick folk, even in the early morning hours, were already beginning to take a number and line up outside the door to Simon’s house. The disciples want Jesus back where he was before. Truth is, the disciples would have loved to build a permanent Miracle Clinic right there in Capernaum.

And, to be honest, whether you take what Jesus did the day before in Capernaum literally or metaphorically, it was one incredible day. First, he heals Simon’s sick mother-in-law of her fever – not only healing but crossing a boundary taboo by having physical contact with a woman; next, at twilight, all the sick and demon-possessed of the city appear, wanting to be healed; and not just them, but the whole city gathered outside the door where Jesus was. If you are an itinerant rabbi and wonder-worker in First Century Palestine, if you have the power to make people feel good about themselves, to make them whole and restore body and mind, you can bet there’ll be no real opposition to your ministry, no one snipping at your heels -- passing judgment on how you spend your time or ideas or wanting some proof of your ministerial credentials

Popularity is great, and Capernaum represents a remarkable early success story. Barely has the ministry of Jesus begun and already the town of Capernaum can hardly contain its enthusiasm and admiration for Jesus.

In fact, there aren’t many clergy or church leaders nowadays who wouldn’t want everyone fighting to get inside our church. Most of us who answer the vocation to ministry would prefer a safe space of little criticism, plenty of accolades, deep contentment, and a place where everybody appreciates what we do – a place like Capernaum. When we’re full of success and people crowd the door or pile the offering plates high, our impulse is to want to stay put.

The disciples do what we would do – try and convince Jesus to go back to where he was, to where we were. But Jesus did not, of course, come to keep the gospel hidden in Capernaum but to spread it throughout Galilee and Judea and the world – and he says as much to Simon and the others when they hunt him down. Thus, this first dispute between master and disciples focuses on the question of where Jesus is going to go and what he is going to do with his time.

In the overall chronology of Mark chapter one, Jesus has already passed through the wilderness temptations. I wonder, however, that morning when he drifted away to be alone, if that did not represent an even greater temptation than those posed earlier by the more familiar Satanic beguilements. Here, the temptation comes from his companions, and I think the temptation is to see ministry in the “little picture,” what’s back there in Capernaum, instead of the “big picture” of what waits up ahead. The “big picture” means, of course, less popularity and it means smaller crowds as Jesus preaches more and more about self-denial and sacrifice, not health and wealth.

Like the people who came to Jesus for relief from physical or emotional ailments Congregations and families can also get stuck on remembering past successes, failing to perceive the real message about the in-breaking of the dominion of God, continuing to do the same old things when they are no longer appropriate or effective. In order for Jesus to fulfill his mission, he had to leave behind his successes in Capernaum.

If we can define twilight as that period of altering light just before the full disclosure of what is about to come, then I think the ministry of Jesus at this secluded spot in the early morning twilight was a time for him to wrestle with the necessity of going to neighboring towns and other synagogues.

It seems to me that this story invites us, too, to wrestle with the call of God. For we also are tempted to return to the past instead of trusting in an unknown future. The key practice for Jesus, and what should be key for disciples, too, is the practice of prayer, which is, of course, what took Jesus to that secluded spot in the first place.

When we feel staggered by inexplicable suffering or horrendous events, by the people who knock on our own doors or the doors of our society and world with desperate pleas for help, we can feel overwhelmed, even paralyzed, helpless. But prayer allows us to create a quiet space with God. Without prayer, we can’t give to others very long, whether it’s in our families, jobs, school, or trying to address injustice in the world. Jesus knew that certain burnout awaited him if he didn’t find a pathway into regular communion with God.

Prayer also purifies the heart even as it offers space to struggle with our own demons – in prayer we find the grace to face who we truly are. We discover the light within in prayer, but we also see the darkness and the capacity each has for self-deception, hypocrisy, and selfish behavior. In prayer, Jesus faced God, and in facing God, realized, I think, that going back to Capernaum, as tempting as that might be, was simply not an option.

Prayer, finally, leads to right action. Even when the disciples frantically searched for him, Jesus knew that he couldn’t allow their anxiety to get in the way of his high and holy calling. Out of his quiet space, he found a clear sense of purpose and the strength to take the path of ever-decreasing popularity in order to fulfill his divine commission.

We know, in retrospect, what the first disciples didn’t know, which is where Jesus ultimately must go. Where we will go to find Jesus is another question altogether. May our prayer be the prayer once prayed by Tommy Dorsey as we pass through our own times of twilight change and waiting for the fullness of what is yet to be revealed..

“Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, help me stand; I am tired, I am weak, I am worn; through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light; take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.”

Let us pray this hymn as we sing together #404.