Jesus is on the Move

Sitting is hazardous to your health! Why did James and John want to sit with Jesus in his glory, one at his right hand and one at his left? Didn’t they hear what he’s been telling them? Didn’t they understand his mission at all? In the two verses immediately preceding the beginning of our lection, Jesus has given James, John, and the other disciples, for the third time, a clear statement of his fate. Mark tells us, “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.’ (Mark 10:32-34).” There they have it: the rest of Jesus’ story in a nutshell, and Jesus’ clearest explanation for his disciples of the kind of messiah he will be.

Do the disciples get it? Do they want to go up to Jerusalem with him? Even though James and John were to become revered apostles in Mark’s community, here it is clear that they still haven’t understood Jesus’ teaching. They still think that Jesus will establish a new political regime, in which he will reign like the other despots of the ancient world. Like little children sheepishly asking for a goody from Dad, they ask if they can sit, seemingly static and unmoving, and bask in his reflected glory. As if we didn’t need another, here is just one more illustration of the gap between what the disciples thought and what Jesus himself foretold. Like Peter before them, James and John cannot get their minds around what Jesus has told them, so they instead envision a static kingdom with themselves in places of honor. As if that weren’t bad enough, James’ and John’s insistence on sitting with Jesus when he becomes king creates dissension within the little band of followers. The other disciples also want their piece of the pie! They too want to sit with Jesus in glory.

Is that what we want? Do we too want to sit with Jesus, inertly basking in his glory? Jesus is on the move, and sitting is hazardous to both our physical and spiritual health. Certainly we have been bombarded by messages that sitting is hazardous to our physical health. Think about it: how much time do you spend sitting each day? Most of us spend a lot of time in our cars. Perhaps we work at a desk. What about the time you spend in front of your computer, or eating, or reading the newspaper, or paying bills, or watching TV? On the weekend, do you sit in a movie theater or in the bleachers at a sporting event? When you add it all up, middle class Americans spend an average of nine hours a day sitting! And that’s a problem. A recent study by the American Cancer Society found that sitting six or more hours a day increases your risk of early death from any cause by 18 percent for men and 37 percent for women. Someday your office chair or your easy chair just might come with a Surgeon General’s warning that says, “Caution: Sitting may be hazardous to your health.”

Sitting may also be hazardous to our spiritual health. Certainly, there is a place for silently sitting and listening patiently for God’s word. But think about it: is your prayer life static and inactive? Do you go through the same rote prayers day after day? Have your ideas about God, Jesus, Church, and faith stayed the same since the bishop laid hands on you in confirmation? Have you learned anything about the Bible since then? Or perhaps you only think about your spiritual health sitting in the pew? Perhaps our pews should come with a warning: “Caution sitting here may be hazardous to your spiritual health!”

Sitting is hazardous because Jesus is on the move! No sitting allowed for his disciples! Jesus has invited his friends to walk with him to Jerusalem. He has invited them to be partners with him in the events that will play out there. James and John, at least, glibly and naively assert their ability to share Jesus’ fate, and Jesus assures them that they will do just that. Just to make sure once more that they understand the demands of the new community he is forming, Jesus reminds them that they are not called to sit like despotic kings but rather to be up and moving as servant leaders. And he proclaims one more time that if they are truly his disciples they will eventually find themselves, like him, walking toward the cross.

Do we want to walk with Jesus? Movement is good for our health. Indeed, building any kind of extra physical activity into our day is beneficial. In fact, as you are able, stand up right now, breathe deeply, and stretch. Don’t you feel better already? Walking is especially good for your health. Physician and priest Bill Watson reminds us that, “…walking is a part of God’s design. It is a natural action, perhaps next to breathing, our most natural. Walking opens the world to us and is central to who we are.” Experts at the Mayo Clinic detail the benefits of walking. Walking lowers bad (LDL) cholesterol, raises good cholesterol (HDL), lowers blood pressure, reduces the risk of or helps manage type 2 diabetes, helps control weight, improves your mood, and helps you stay strong and fit.

But did you know that walking also has spiritual benefits? To convince clergy of the benefits of walking, CREDO, the clergy renewal program of the Episcopal Church has designated October as the month to “Walk and be Well.” For each day of the month, there is a brief meditation – ideally to be heard while walking – that connects our physical and spiritual well-being. Walking a labyrinth is another form of spiritual walking. Have your ever walked one? A labyrinth is not a maze. It is a circular arrangement of stones or marks that has only one path to the center and back out. Walking into and out from the center of the labyrinth enables one to experience spiritual centering, contemplation and prayer. It’s a wonderful practice that, if done slowly and contemplatively helps us quiet our minds and focus on a spiritual question or prayer. People in Gallipolis are fortunate: there’s a labyrinth in the healing garden at Holzer medical center. Try it sometime! Yet another form of spiritual walking is pilgrimage. Pilgrimages are, of course, ancient forms of devotion, and almost every faith community has some form of pilgrimage practice. Pilgrimages were especially popular in medieval Europe, but even today, nearly 200,000 people walk the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Walking may also be a form of spiritual witness. We are familiar with the charity walks that raise visibility and funds for many good causes. But have you ever heard of the Peace Pilgrim? Starting on January 1, 1953, Mildred Lisette Norman, calling herself only "Peace Pilgrim," walked more than 25,000 miles on a personal pilgrimage for peace. She vowed to "remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food." In the course of her 28 year pilgrimage she touched the hearts, minds, and lives of thousands of individuals all across North America. Her message was both simple and profound. It continues to inspire people all over the world: "This is the way of peace: overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love." Although she died in an automobile accident in 1981, her witness lives on in her book and through the voluntary organization of Friends of the Peace Pilgrim.

Perhaps you and I are not called to duplicate the walking of the Peace Pilgrim. But Jesus is on the move, and we are called to walk with him. We can commit ourselves to the appropriate habits of exercise that will keep our bodies strong and enable us, frail and mortal though we may be, to be his faithful followers and servants. We can commit ourselves to continuing to grow in our understanding of our call, through study of the Bible and other aspects of our faith. We can commit ourselves to serving those of his children who are sick, in need, in prison, hungry, and hurting. We can work for a more just and peaceful world. And we can ask God to strengthen our desire to grow spiritually through worship, contemplative prayer, study, walking prayer, pilgrimages, retreats, quiet days, and any other way that God may open to us.

Jesus is on the move, and I want to walk with him. O Master, let me walk with thee!