The Fringe

9th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B

Jul 21, 2024

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

There is so much that is not included in our gospel reading this morning. We need to take a look at what happened before this passage and what happened in the middle of it to get a better idea of what is going on. Earlier in this chapter in Mark, Jesus had split everybody up and sent them out two by two to go and proclaim the good news, heal people, and free those captive to demons. They are returning from this work and reporting back to Jesus. I’m sure some were probably excited and happy about what they encountered, others probably had stories of rejection, ridicule, and frustration. They all probably had mixed emotions about their experience. Afterall, they had been sent out without much preparation and very few tools, only teaching what they had learned so far and witnessed from Jesus. And they had done so on their own. 

So they all come back together to tell Jesus what they had seen and done. And he listened to them, taking in their stories and experiences. Hearing what they themselves had learned in the process. And when all the stories had been told, he says to them,  “OK, come away with me now to a deserted place,” literally to the wilderness, “and spend some time with me there.” Step away from the work for a minute and be with me. That right there sums up how we are to do ministry. Go out, tell the Good News of Jesus Christ, offer healing, offer solace, tend to people’s wounds and needs, and then come back together. Tell our stories to one another, and then go away with Jesus to a deserted wilderness place and spend some time with him. And repeat. It’s not all about the doing and working, it’s also sharing the stories and replenishing your soul, resting with Jesus so you can go back out again. Take a retreat and listen to Jesus in the quiet solitude, share your stories and be together, then go back out and be the Good News in the world. Give and receive, give and receive.

The ministry the disciples were doing was being met with success and  creating a lot of curiosity with the people in the local villages, the common people. The news was spreading everywhere. Come and listen to this Jesus and the good things he has done! How he notices us, the lower classes. So while the disciples needed this time alone in the desert, the needs of the people were pressing on them. People were running ahead of them to meet them and Jesus on the other side of the sea. But Jesus wanted the disciples to get away with him, alone, to be still and to replenish. Sometimes you need to get creative when you need some time alone to just be with God, so this time the wilderness turned out to be a boat out on the water away from the crowds. And if you’ll remember any time someone is crossing water in the scriptures, they are heading to a new place, about to enter a new thing. Jesus’ reputation was spreading and things were changing for these followers of Christ. 

When they did eventually arrive on the shore, Jesus saw this great crowd already there, waiting. But instead of frustration and irritation, Jesus had compassion on them. They were sheep without a shepherd. You may have noticed from our reading in the book of Samuel this morning that it was about a shepherd chosen to lead the people of Israel, David, and now in Mark we are reading about the one Shepherd who sees his people aimless and searching, needing leadership. Because you’ll remember from last week, the one who was supposed to be their leader, Herod, was no true leader at all. He was more interested in power and money and control, grandstanding, not meeting the needs of the people. The people needed a shepherd leader who would care for them, guide them. God never wanted God’s people to have kings, after all, but they insisted. 

Now the part missing in the middle of today’s Gospel reading is the part where Jesus feeds this crowd because they’ve been there all day listening to him teaching, so he feeds them at the end of the day because they’re hungry. And then the disciples try to get away again in the boat and Jesus walks on water. I think these two stories are cut out of this week’s Gospel passage because next week we’re going to hear them in the gospel of John. But it’s important to know that that’s what’s going on because when Jesus sees them as sheep without a shepherd he wants to know what it is that they need. The obvious answer is they’re hungry. Jesus feeds them but he also sees the bigger picture and that is they need a leader whose main purpose is the welfare of the people, someone who will make sure they are fed, a community where everyone has their needs met, a shepherd who will go look for even one that is lost.

In the second half of our reading, this time they have crossed over the sea and come to shore in Gennesaret. They had just endured a storm on the waters and it clearly had blown them off course because they were headed in one direction, to Bethsaida, but landed on the shore in Gennesaret, a place where they weren’t intending to go. 

Storms often blow us in different directions. We can end up where we didn’t intend to go. We can get thrown off course. But how did Jesus and the disciples  respond to this? They carried on with their ministry. Whether it was where they intended to go or not, they met the needs of the people where they landed, with the people that God had placed in front of them. 

People were turning out in every town asking for healing, bringing their friends and relatives on mats, begging to touch the fringe of Jesus’ cloak. The fringe which was a common part of an Israelite man’s attire, is called “tzitzit” in Hebrew.  The presence of fringe for the Israelites was not unique to them. God, however, had commanded Israel to wear tassels (Deut. 22:12) and he prescribed that they include a blue cord as part of the garment (Num. 15:37-41). The LORD explicitly indicated that the purpose of this was to remind the Israelites of who they were and their covenant with God, hence it became a point of cultural identity as well.

Just the fringe of Jesus’ cloak, the edges, brought healing, but that fringe was representative of God’s promise to God’s people. In many ways we are the fringe of Jesus, too. We who claim to be his followers, we who are the church are the Body of Christ now on earth, and we carry the promise of the Good News. We are the hands and feet of Christ on earth. We carry the fringe of the spirit within us and I have this image of us going back out into the world when we leave this place today, with the fringe of Christ’s spirit that may touch others. Sometimes we are intentional about being present to those who are hurting in some way, and at other times, we are unaware that some kindness, some action, some effort for someone has been the fringe of Christ touching the life of another and bringing solace, joy, and healing. 

Come away with me, Jesus beckons. Go to the wilderness and sit with Jesus a while. And when it is time to get back into the boat, you may get blown off course, but wherever you land, the work of Christ continues in you and through you. You are wearing the fringe of Christ’s garment. Let the words of your mouth and the actions of your heart and hands be a part of healing the brokenness of this world. That is what Jesus has asked of us, just as he did his disciples two thousand years ago. The work carries on and you are part of it.