Listen!I am reading Mark 4:1
and I’m right there … |
|
I woke early that day, my mind a buzz with what is happening, my house full with extra guests, for our home is not far from Capernaum, and Jesus is there, and everyone wants to hear him, talk with him, touch him. The conversation over dinner went on until we were too tired to think. The excitement is hope, it is palpable. People we know are healed. People we’ve never met before are flocking into town.
I was up before the glimmer of dawn, heating water, making bread, people gotta eat. My visitors emerged bleary but with quickly gathering energy. Breakfast was fast indeed, shoes on with an urgency despite the early hour. No one wanted to miss a word! It took us about half an hour to walk along the lake shore, the air crisp. We could see the sun touch the hills on the far side of the lake, reflected in the still water. A crowd was already gathering on the beach at Capernaum, we could hear the murmur of anticipation, then a sudden buzz. Jesus was there!
A clamour of voices, loud ones shouting, what was going on? We pushed in at the edge of the crowd, but we couldn’t see much or hear much over everyone trying to hush everyone else and peer over everyone else’s heads. Oh, but we just wanted to hear him. Some fishermen were pushing people out of the way as they pulled a boat down the bank and into the water. Imagine anyone wanting to go fishing today! But the boat had too many people in it for a fishing trip, and it pushed off into the water but didn’t go far. A man was standing in the boat, looking back at the shore. Suddenly we all realised (helped by loud whispers and pointing!) It’s Him, It’s Jesus in the boat.
For a moment the crowd on the shore was devastated. Some turned to leave. That’s it then, he’s off, might as well get back to work. But then, he started talking, and although the boat was out quite a way I could hear every word! I could not see Jesus clearly, but his voice carried across the water. I stepped closer to the water’s edge, and sat down onto the stones, as others did around me, each of us becoming as still as the lake, listening. I could hear the gentle lapping of the water touching the shore, and the breathing of the people beside me, and the voice of Jesus.
“Listen” he said. Oh, we were listening all right! And he told a story, and another story, and talked about God as though he really knew him, not just about him. My heart filled and filled with his words, I still hold them in my mind. I don’t know what they all mean, but I know how I felt as he talked. I know it was a miracle of God, his voice speaking as though to each one of us personally, although he was a fair way off … like the Spirit moving on the face of the waters in the beginning of it all. And the lake so still and the dawn so perfect, as the rising sun touched this man in a boat and set him afire and his fire filled the whole lake and every heart
until the wind rose and the boat came back to shore and people stood and stretched and were hungry and remembered jobs that must be done.
I was up before the glimmer of dawn, heating water, making bread, people gotta eat. My visitors emerged bleary but with quickly gathering energy. Breakfast was fast indeed, shoes on with an urgency despite the early hour. No one wanted to miss a word! It took us about half an hour to walk along the lake shore, the air crisp. We could see the sun touch the hills on the far side of the lake, reflected in the still water. A crowd was already gathering on the beach at Capernaum, we could hear the murmur of anticipation, then a sudden buzz. Jesus was there!
A clamour of voices, loud ones shouting, what was going on? We pushed in at the edge of the crowd, but we couldn’t see much or hear much over everyone trying to hush everyone else and peer over everyone else’s heads. Oh, but we just wanted to hear him. Some fishermen were pushing people out of the way as they pulled a boat down the bank and into the water. Imagine anyone wanting to go fishing today! But the boat had too many people in it for a fishing trip, and it pushed off into the water but didn’t go far. A man was standing in the boat, looking back at the shore. Suddenly we all realised (helped by loud whispers and pointing!) It’s Him, It’s Jesus in the boat.
For a moment the crowd on the shore was devastated. Some turned to leave. That’s it then, he’s off, might as well get back to work. But then, he started talking, and although the boat was out quite a way I could hear every word! I could not see Jesus clearly, but his voice carried across the water. I stepped closer to the water’s edge, and sat down onto the stones, as others did around me, each of us becoming as still as the lake, listening. I could hear the gentle lapping of the water touching the shore, and the breathing of the people beside me, and the voice of Jesus.
“Listen” he said. Oh, we were listening all right! And he told a story, and another story, and talked about God as though he really knew him, not just about him. My heart filled and filled with his words, I still hold them in my mind. I don’t know what they all mean, but I know how I felt as he talked. I know it was a miracle of God, his voice speaking as though to each one of us personally, although he was a fair way off … like the Spirit moving on the face of the waters in the beginning of it all. And the lake so still and the dawn so perfect, as the rising sun touched this man in a boat and set him afire and his fire filled the whole lake and every heart
until the wind rose and the boat came back to shore and people stood and stretched and were hungry and remembered jobs that must be done.