Jesus was nearly never alone during the time of His ministry. From day break to night fall He was surrounded by people. If not only His disciples, crowds of hundreds of thousands of people. These people followed Him EVERYWHERE. So to get a minute away from the crowd and get to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to continue teaching, baptizing, healing, etc., Jesus and the disciples hop in a boat. If nothing more than to have a moment of peace as they made their way across. The Sea of Galilee is only about 4 miles wide... at the northern point where this was taking place, it may even be less than that. Regardless, a sailboat doesn't move at quite the speed of our modern day boats, so that time it took to get across was a time of rest and I'm sure, rejuvenation.
By the time they reached the shore, the crowd was already nearly upon them. There wasn't much down time. Then the story goes into the actual feeding of the 5,000 men (plus 10,000-15,000 women and children).
But something I hadn't thought of before was the desperation of the crowd. No matter their motivation, whether selfish or selfless, the crowd was desperate to be near Jesus. They longed to hear the words He spoke. They desired just to touch a piece of His clothing that they might be healed from their physical ailments. They got around the northern point of the Sea of Galilee, to the other side, by any means that they could. I have a feeling some followed by boat. Others dragged their crippled bodies. And I believe some flat out sprinted. I believe their desire to be near Him was so great that they didn't care about the physical pain or exhaustion... they ran as fast as they could. Wouldn't you? My answer is a loud, resounding YES!!!!
There's not much that motivates me to run, but I think given the chance, I'd run until I puked (which you all know is the WORST thing that could happen to me) just to be next to Jesus. Just to hear Him speak, see His face, see first-hand His overwhelming love for me, I'd run. Or would I? I'd like to think I would. As I let my mind wander and think over the extraordinary motivation of seeing Christ face to face, my answer is still yes.
However, I'm no runner (um, duh!)... in fact I really dislike it, especially now with the torn ligament in my knee. Struggling with the desire to be active and the act of actually getting active and healthy have always been two separate things. Worldly motivation only lasts for so long and then I get bored or I get discouraged and quit. But this morning, in the sanctuary and EUM I wanted nothing more than to be able run to Jesus. To sprint, just to be near Him. If that's not motivation to be healthy, I don't know what is!
Those in the crowd who were able (had two healthy legs, no condition keeping them from running) must have felt jubilant! I have two legs that work properly. My knee will be fine and I have the advantage of a knee brace to keep it stable. Why haven't I been running?
So my question for you today is... what would you do to get to Jesus? To make sure you were on the other side when He reached there, so as not to miss a moment with Him? What would keep you from running? How can you get rid of those hindrances?
Somehow on a similar topic... this afternoon, I was walking home from a church member's house and I was thinking about how amazingly blessed I am. Here's my "things I'm grateful for/of list" of the day:
- Jesus
- I have a supportive family
- I have two working legs
- I can walk/run
- Nieces who leave adorable voicemails
- I am a part of a church who's members open their homes (and their fenced in yards for Piper)
- Good face to face conversations with new friends
- Good phone conversations with old friends
- I'm loved and cared for
- Flocking flamingos and dedicated youth
- Good health
- Skype with old youth kids, keeping relationships going
- I have plenty of food and and a good shelter
- A reliable car
- Supportive/enthusiastic church leadership
- The ability to sing and play guitar, worship God freely, and share with others
- Being woken up at 4:44am just to pray for some dear ones
- I'm literate (seems so obvious, but I have friends who aren't)
- I'm educated
The list could go on and on, but in the interest of time and attention spans, I'll stop there.
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