Timing Is Everything

Timing is Everything Feb 8, 2009

Mark 1:29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

A certain minister who was known for long sermons, with many divisions, that day when he was advancing among the teens he reached at length a kind of resting place in the sermon, when pausing to take a breath, he asked the question, “ And what shall I say next? A voice from the congregation responded, “Amen.”
If pastors are honest with ourselves, we will acknowledge that sometimes we have this vocational liability of being long winded. Sometimes we grow enamored with hearing our own voices. We want to throw in everything, including the kitchen sink, into one sermon. We forget the adage of Ocaam’s razor. We fail to practice parsimony. One of my professor’s in seminary told us, “You want to leave them wanting more.”
We have all been there where we sense, “Oh that would be a great place to stop, the pastor’s takes a breath and keeps on going.” Pastors can be a tough a crowd as folks in the pew. Congregations with a lot of retired pastors are tough crowds. You can the see the wheels spinning in their head how they would have said it differently. It’s all about timing. A sermon must have something meaningful to say, but it should be brief enough to keep folks engaged. This delicate balancing act leaves many of us sweating bullets come Saturday crunch time.
In our gospel lesson, Jesus is wrestling with timing issues. In Year B of the lectionary, we continue in the beginning of his ministry. Jesus is still casting out demons and healing the multitudes. We notice in v. 34, that he silences the demons so they can not identity him. In the Ancient Near East, you had sort of a power over someone when you called them by their name. This is one aspect of why Jesus refuses to let them speak.
There is another possibility though. Scholars of Mark’s gospel call this the messianic secret. Timing is everything. Jesus is just getting started and he needs this time to build his ministry, to spread the gospel and train his disciples. Jesus know these evil spirits, he spent forty days in the wilderness wrestling with the likes of them. Their motives for declaring him the messiah are disingenuous. They want to throw Jesus off his game.
Some of you will recall the feeding miracle that Jesus performed and how the crowd responded. They picked up their arms and were ready to start war with the Romans. "Now we are have our Messiah, let’s roll." He can keep dividing the fishes and loaves for us to sustain us through the battles. This was not Jesus’ game plan. The evil spirits knew the hearts of the people and how many of them tempted they were to resort to violence to be free once again. The evil spirits are trying to force Jesus’ hand and derail him from the ministry he has just barely started.
Recently, we have seen how many of our world leaders have struggled with issues of timing. Their constituents want change now, but we often do not have all the information. Nor we do know the ins and outs of what needs to happen behind the scenes for the legislation to make it through the sausage making process. I like to joke that it sure tastes good on spaghetti, but you don’t want to know how it was made. Paul calls us to pray for people in authority and we should support them as they make many difficult decisions.
Dr. King struggled as a mediator in the civil rights movement. His elders and critics said he was moving too fast and the younger generation said things were not moving fast enough. Dr King was a minister, a shepherd of a flock. He had to keep things moving, but he could not lose his people along the way. It is hard to be patient to move when the time is right. Being patient with pregnant hope is a spiritual discipline. You show your cards when its time.
In several of the gospels we see how people grew frustrated with Jesus’ ministry. They wanted God to work things out on their time line. As Isaiah cried out long ago, “How long o Lord.” But we must not forget what God told Isaiah, “My thoughts and not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways.” We need to be diligent in what we have set before us, and trust that in God’s time, the Holy Spirit will reveal to us what we need to know and where to go next.
When I was in the Army we heard this all the time, “You are on a need to know basis.” Perhaps the church could use a little more military discipline. We don’t want to be like the mislead folks who think they know what God’s time line is. We can never force God’s hand, to get things on a pace that we are more comfortable with. Yes, patience is a virtue.
We struggle in this hamster pace world of ours. We fast forward through the commercials, and microwave our dinners in 3 minutes. We are used to things clipping right along. We bring this pace of life to how we commune with God. Our prayer life is not like our email inbox or instant messaging. God will give us an answer when the time is right. God is still cooking the stew and it is not supper time yet.
Jesus understood that timing is everything. He needed to be sure that the disciples were ready for what was going to confront them soon enough. Jesus needs this precious time to instill in them the teachings, while other folks only got the parables. When Jesus was telling a parables there was usually an edge to it that convicted the person of something. The disciples heard the parables directed towards others and understood their corrective purpose.
As I have mentioned before, Jesus is pretty tough on the disciples in Mark’s gospel. They seem kind of thick headed and slow to learn. Matthew and Luke’s gospel go much easier on the disciples. In Mark, we see Jesus’ growing increasingly frustrated with them. Timing is everything. Surely, Jesus worried if they would get it down before the final exam that was looming on Calvary. If they didn’t get it, how would the ministry be carried on when he was gone?
Jesus is the Great Shepherd who cares for his flock and tries to shield them from the evil forces that would have us get derailed. Jesus is able to muzzle those voices in our heads that tempt us to get ahead of where God is leading. God wants us to trust the process and take some time to breathe deep the spiritual oxygen of the Holy Spirit.
Not to mix metaphors, but as God’s sheep we need to remember the story of the Tortus and the Hare. We best pace ourselves for the race we are set to run. The power and principalities of this world will set up barriers that we will have to clear. If we push too fast, our feet will not clear the bars. God is gracious. There is no stop watch for us to have to contend with. This is a race on God’s clock. What matters more is that we all get there together, not who gets there first.
Timing is everything. Like the Special Olympics commercial that ran a while ago. When one of us falls down, we all stop to pick up one another. It’s not about the clock, or who gets the yellow banner on their chest. In God’s time, what matters most is that we all get there together.
There will always be new things that we need to learn in order understand where God is leading us. They say the best teachers are the one who are still students. None of have ever truly arrived. We are all in this relay race together and God is setting the pace. Let’s trust in God’s promises and reserve our energy for that great sprint when we run to Jesus waiting for us at the finish line.