Why Jesus doesn’t want you hanging around him

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for the here and now, the nitty and the gritty. It’s for the nine o'clock staff meeting, and “what’s for dinner?” It’s for expanding waistlines and shrinking bank balances. It’s for oil changes, potty training, and “we need to have a talk.” It’s for annual reviews, expense reports, and “the doctor will see you now.”

Every once in awhile life feels exultant. Most of the time it feels like the tenth straight day of drive-thru supper. Sometimes it feels like a night in the ER.

What are the words that go through your mind as you go through life?

“I’m not __________ enough.”

“I can’t _______________.”

“What if _______________?”

The Gospel wants to give you new words for this life you’re living. Words that renew your mind and transform you from the inside out (Romans 12.2).

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus Christ has a habit of saying the same thing over and over to people who are depressed, down and out, possessed, sick, and weary. They come to him for healing of the body and Jesus never fails to heal the rest of them as well.

When Jesus heals, he almost always says the same thing:

“Go.”

Jesus is always willing to speak a kind word and touch someone as he heals them. He is never willing to let them linger. As soon as he makes them well, he immediately orders them to “Go!”

You’d think that in a miraculous moment, Jesus would understand if people want to bask in the glow and to stick around to see what happens next.

He won’t allow it. And there’s Gospel in that.

You see, I need forgiveness and healing so much and so often. How about you? Maybe, like me, you believe that the Christ offers that healing and forgiveness. So we go to him.

But I like to hang around and that’s dangerous. Dangerous because I get caught up in reflecting on how good the Christ must be to heal and forgive someone as bad as me. I get to ruminating on my fallibility. My inadequacy. My weakness. Forgiveness and setting things right happens and within seconds I’m cynical again. I may enjoy a moment of pardon and peace, but in the next moment I’m already thinking about how I’m going to screw it up.

This is why I think the Christ says “Go!” without a moment to spare. It’s as if he says: “Don’t waste forgiveness by worrying about sinning again. Don’t waste healing by worrying about getting sick again. Don’t waste life by worrying about it. GO. I am with you. Get back into the game. Get back to loving your life and the people in it. GO.”

Today, start writing down all of the blessings and riches and wonders in your life. Note how many of them don’t depend on you, don’t originate with you and your abilities. Consider the mysterious power that sustains your breathing, your heartbeat, the neurons coursing through you. For a moment, you will see that the Christ is already working his magic in your before you even ask for it. What is there left to do but accept and enjoy the gift of life?

And go live it.