Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

In Mark’s usual breathless fashion,

he takes us, in just six verses,

through leaving the synagogue,

and healing Simon’s mother-in-law …

three verses …

and then, that same evening, "they" …

and we don’t know for sure whether "they" is

the disciples, or people of the town, or whom …

anyway, "they" bring to Jesus

everyone in the city who is sick, or possessed by a demon.

"The whole city" is gathered around the door

of Simon’s mother-in-law’s house, poor lady …

and Jesus heals dozens of sick

and casts out dozens of demons,

all in the space of another three verses.

It’s no wonder, then,

that in the morning, while it was still dark,

and, presumably, before everyone else got up! …

Jesus went out to a deserted place, alone, to pray.

Even there, he finds little peace.

Simon and the others go hunting for him,

and when they find him,

they say words that are truer than they realize:

"Everyone is searching for you."

Jesus, refreshed perhaps by even his brief time alone with God,

agrees that it is time for them to head out to the neighboring towns,

and so they go.

But I want to come back to that phrase,

"everyone is searching for you."

In the context of our story,

surely that is true:

everyone else wakes up and Jesus is gone,

they immediately form search parties and go looking.

But I think it’s also true in a much larger sense,

certainly larger than Simon and the others realized at the time,

and larger even than we tend to think.

At a certain level,

it is beyond a doubt true to say that

everyone is searching for Jesus.

Not just first-century Israelites.

Not just Christians over the centuries.

Not just those who want to believe in

something larger than themselves.

At some level,

every human being is searching for Jesus.

Now quickly,

before you tune me out and think I’m nuts,

or before you wonder whether I’ve become

some kind of Christian imperialist …

let me hasten to say what I don’t mean by that.

I do not mean that, secretly,

every practitioner of any religion whatsoever

or even those who are against every religion whatsoever

really needs or wants to turn specifically to Jesus of Nazareth,

a first-century Palestinian Jew.

It’s much more subtle than that.

The short version of what I mean is this:

A part of what it means to be human

is that we search for answers.

We search for meaning …

the meaning of events,

and a meaning for our lives.

We are not content just to exist,

to soak up the sun on a pretty day

and seek shelter on a nasty day,

and look for food in the meantime.

My dogs are perfectly content to do that;

human beings are not.

We search for explanations,

and we long for things to make sense.

We long for things to be different than they are,

and we wonder about how to make that happen,

or if it’s even possible.

We wonder about those other people we share the planet with …

from tribal people halfway around the world

to that person we married who is still sometimes a stranger to us.

We as human beings are full of questions,

full of wonderings.

And although we may not know it …

In fact, even though we may struggle against such a conclusion …

ultimately, what we are searching for is Jesus.

Even if some of us never call it that!

To be sure,

that can be hard to see at times.

You may or may not recall another time in the gospels

when people are seeking Jesus,

right after the feeding of the five thousand.

They come looking for him,

and Jesus, in one of his rare displays of impatience,

says something along the lines of,

"Truly I tell you, you are looking for me

not because you want to hear what I have to say,

but because you ate your fill of the loaves."

And yet, he goes with them anyway.

That is, he recognizes that their motives are mixed …

he sees clearly that what they want from him

is not exactly what he came to offer them …

and yet, he plays along.

Goes with them, keeps on teaching and preaching,

in the hope that a few more of them will eventually "get it."

Even when people search for Jesus for the wrong reasons,

even if their motives begin as purely selfish,

Jesus goes along with it,

hoping to turn them to the right reasons and motives.

Boy, is that a lesson I need to hear.

I have so little patience with

what seem to me wrong-reason approaches to Jesus.

Like someone who has turned his or her back on church,

yet starts asking for prayers immediately

when learning that he has cancer …

Or those following the recent "Prayer of Jabez" fad:

the Lord will give you wealth and riches

if only you will ask.

Or those who bring their children to Sunday school

to let other people teach them and make non-heathens out of them,

while they go to Starbucks and have a leisurely latte

while reading the Sunday paper.

Or even, those who go to church to hear a positive, uplifting message

but never to be confronted about sin

or about society’s problems and injustices.

Or, similarly, those who seek out Jesus in order to condemn other people,

but who never see the faults in themselves.

And yet,

that’s precisely the kind of malarkey that Jesus put up with

in order to keep people around long enough

for them to hear the real message.

You’re searching for me for the wrong reasons?

Okay … but stick around,

and see if your reasons don’t start to change.

I suspect that’s a real growing edge

for those of us who have been in the church a long time.

We roll our eyes at much of what is on the "religious best-seller" list.

We tell horror stories of mega-churches

with TV screens, and happy-clappy music,

and coffee shops in the lobby – which we would call a narthex –

that stay open during church!

We shudder at the message of the prosperity-gospel preachers,

who tell us that Jesus wants us all to be wealthy,

and that if you have a lot of money,

that’s a sign of God’s favor.

(And what’s really sad is that that’s

a warped version of what John Calvin actually did say!)

I suspect that we in the mainline churches

need to learn to have a whole lot more patience with

those who seek Jesus for the wrong reasons,

and need to be taught.

We need to be truthful with ourselves

about the wrong reasons that we sometimes find deep within ourselves,

if we’re really going to be truthful about it …

We need to find ways to reach people

who are looking for Jesus,

even though they have some serious misconceptions

about who and what he is.

Reaching people is part of our job,

even if they are confused people,

and sometimes irritating people!

Everyone is searching for Jesus.

We have to find them where they are,

and bring them along with us 

to the places where he is really to be found.

Some, though, don’t even know that it’s Jesus they are searching for.

In some cases,

that’s easy to understand.

People who are born and or raised into a different religion

may be seeking the same things that Jesus sought

without ever calling on his name,

or confessing that he is Lord.

I don’t have too much trouble with that, frankly.

Jesus himself reminds us that

"by their fruits you shall know them" …

and if so-called unbelievers are nevertheless bearing fruits

that look like the fruits of a believer …

well, I’m not too worried about them.

I think it’s entirely possible to find Jesus

even if you were searching for something different.

I think it’s possible to have found him

even if it’s never 100% clear to you that it’s Jesus that you found.

Where I know that I have more difficulty …

and I suspect this is true for many of us …

is with those who are always searching, searching, searching

for something …

but from our vantage point,

it always seems like something weird.

My generation is famous for this.

Want to find a weird spiritual belief or practice?

Look for a baby-boomer!

New-agers using crystals

to align themselves with the harmonies of the universe.

Seekers who create their own versions of sacred Native American rituals

to find the vision for their own lives.

Those who seek bliss

through the use of psychotropic drugs.

Wiccans creating rituals to be danced in the forest

at the time of the full moon.

These are all people

who are searching for Jesus.

Not Jesus of Nazareth,

the first-century Palestinian Jew,

whose name and teachings have been misused over the centuries …

but Jesus,

who talked about a reign of God

that is now and is to come.

A reign of God that is both beyond us and within us.

Jesus, who had a clear vision of who he was and what he was about,

and who lived in tune with the creation as God created it.

Jesus, who insisted on peace between human beings

and between warring tribes and factions.

Jesus, who loved unconditionally without being a wimp,

and who insisted on justice without being merciless.

Everyone is searching for Jesus.

"Thou hast made us for thyself," wrote St. Augustine,

"and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee."

That is as true now as it was hundreds of years ago,

when he wrote the words.

The human heart is restless.

We are rarely content;

we are always searching.

In many cases without knowing it,

the human heart is searching for Jesus

and for what he teaches, what he offers, what he is.

Those of us who know him

have the privilege and the burden

of sharing him with those who are still searching.

We simply cannot keep him for ourselves

and rest content with what we have found.

Everyone is searching for him.

Those of us who have found,

must tell!

Amen.

© 2006 Julie Adkins (e-mail: Drjadkins@trinitypresdallas.org)