Mark 1:32-39 and Luke 5:15-16
1. From these two passages and other stories in the Gospels, what are some examples of how Jesus modeled an unhurried life?
Do you ever read a Bible passage and think that the person designing the questions made a mistake? They picked the wrong passage? My head feels like it’s about to explode and I’m feeling rather snarky so I apologize in advance, but I read the passage from Mark and what I come away with is – everyone came to Him to be healed. He healed a bunch of people. Who came to Him. He wouldn’t have had time to go to all of them individually, but because they came to Him, He could address many. Of course they came to Him. Who is going to come to me?
Guess who is here to put me back on track … Yes, you guessed it, God. God is always with us. He said bingo. I don’t have to go out looking. Wait for them to come to me. And they do. I know they do. They have a tendency to flock. And I don’t have to heal them physically. But I can give them love and that can grow a heart and even help to heal it. God, you are too good to me.
In the second passage, Jesus withdrew from the crowds. At the library, it is a scientifically proven fact that librarians need “off-the-desk” time. If we are required to sit at the desk all day, we become drained and we need an opportunity to rejuvenate. It is also hard to get some of the “paper” work done when one is constantly interrupted, in a good way mind you, to find a book. In the adult department, a librarian might spend 4 hours in their office and 4 hours on the desk. They take turns. And they relieve each other to take their 15 minute breaks. There are enough of them to do this. In the Children’s department there are not enough workers. There might only ever be 2 librarians except at shift change where we ran grab lunch or dinner. There is no off the desk time. And if one of us needs to be somewhere else for a period of time – away from the desk, but not in the office, that leaves one person to manage the job of 2 without opportunity to even grab 15 minutes. What’s funny, is that on those rare occasions when there are 3 or 4 of us, usually by accident, we hurry (hahaha) to make sure that someone else gets that off the desk time to get something done. We know what a gift it is. We need to withdraw. We don’t have the staffing to do it. We are exhausted. But it is what we are used to. It is how we live our lives outside the workplace so why would it be any different.
2. Take a few moments and have your small-group members take this brief survey. Circle yes or no for each question.
a. Do you live with a daily sense that there is not enough time to get done with everything you need to accomplish? YES
b. Do you find yourself talking faster because there is so much to say? YES
c. Do you nod a lot when a person is talking slowly in an effort to keep them moving along? MAYBE
d. When people are talking too slowly, do you ever find yourself wanting to (or actually) finishing their sentences? YEP
e. Do you ever drive faster than is safe (even sometimes when you are not in a hurry)? YES
f. When you stop at a red light with two or more lanes with cars in them, do you ever try to anticipate which car looks faster so you can get behind that car and save a few seconds when the light turns green? YES
g. Do you ever try to gauge which line at the grocery store will be the quickest and get in that line? YES And, if it turns out you picked the slower line, does it bother you? DEFINITELY
h. Do you multiple-task and try to get more than one thing done at a time on a regular basis? ALL THE TIME
i. Do you have a big pile of magazines, newspapers, and books that you hope to read "some day"? 33 BOOKS BY MY BED
j. Do you live your life driven by schedules, organizers, and to-do lists? SCHEDULES, YES
k. Do you find it difficult to say no when others ask you to do things that will add one more item to your schedule? APPARENTLY
Share how many times you circled yes to the questions above, and tell your group what you think this reveals about the place of hurry in your life.
I had all yeses and one maybe. I worship the god of hurry. My life runs according to the clock. I wonder if the majority of Americans would answer yes to most of them. I know there are people out there who have mastered the art of slow. There are people who do not care to run the rat race. There are also people out there who are so depressed, they choose to no longer try and keep up. Rather than run the race, they stay in bed. They don’t leave the house. I’d like to find a mentor who has found a way to make all of their time useful. So that they never feel a moment is wasted. Each moment has a purpose and some of them are rest and some of them are not.
3. John says, "Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible." How is hurry the enemy of love in one of these relationships?
a. Your relationship with God – God doesn’t hurry. He doesn’t need to. He is infinite and all-powerful and all-knowing. I decided yesterday, to make this blog an open prayer to my Father. And in my hurry, I have already forgotten. I’ve forgotten what is important. I only remembered what I had scheduled. And I didn’t have time to start over. Sarcastic!
b. Your relationship with your family members – I am so busy getting my stuff done and guaranteeing that they get their stuff done, that I’m not seeing them at all. Step one get dressed. Step two eat breakfast. Step three pack your bags. My girls try to talk to me about things that I don’t see as important. I continue to remind them of what they are supposed to be doing, talking right over them like a snowplow taking their snow away. I almost miss the snippets of important information. And the girls are so used to me talking through them, that they don’t even know what they’ve just said is vital information.
c. Your relationship with other followers of Christ – I hardly know them. They hardly know me. We are just in transit from one place to another. We’re in each other’s way. We are either assisting each other in our ministries or we are sabotaging each other’s projects.
d. Your relationship with those who don't yet know Jesus – Well, if you cannot take the time for those you are supposed to love, who are supposed to be important to you, where on earth are you going to find the time to introduce Jesus to anyone else?
But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Luke 5:16 (ESV)
If Jesus lived in Decatur, he would go to the Pine Forest to pray.
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