The Baton
What gets us started on our way?
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. - Mark 1:14-28
In today's Gospel, Mark tells us that Jesus started his ministry after John was arrested.
It makes us wonder. If John had not been arrested, would Jesus have stayed in the background a bit longer?
John had a huge following. Jesus knew this and knew that they would probably disperse and go back to doing their work as fishermen, tax collectors and the like when John was arrested. So, he stepped up and pulled them together, choosing twelve to be his core team.
He had to know he had the authority and the power to cast out demons and heal people, so it would have been a shame to keep that from those in need.
In a way, it seems like God's mission on earth is a team sport, where each of us gets handed a baton from someone who came before, and our job is to continue the race.
When we are done, we hand off the baton to someone else, and they take over.
If we look at Jesus that way, it is an amazing image, of God coming to us to participate in the race, showing us how to keep the mission alive.
If we look at Jesus as a one-time event, we lose that perspective, and we go back to our jobs, like the disciples of John.
But if we see him as an example of what we need to do to keep the spirit engaged and the mission alive, we gain a whole different perspective.
We are important to the mission, but not more important than the one we find to whom we will hand off the baton.
When we see our mission as not just ours, we lose our egos and open ourselves up to doing truly great things for God.
More to come...