Wait On Him

Mark 3:9-12

9.      And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.

10. For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.

11. And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

12. And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.

St. John the Baptist said, when telling people that he was not the Messiah, "... among you stands one whom you do not know...", referring, of course, to the true Messiah, Jesus Christ.  (John 1:26).  Even as a multitude of people pressed upon Jesus, later in his ministry, though they sought to be healed by him, they did not know him.  "Unclean spirits" fell before him on seeing him and cried out that he was the Son of God -- but he charged them not to make him known.  For, human beings didn't really know him.  Though his reputation for healing spread far and wide and drew thousands to him, they did not really come to Him or for Him.  They came for the miracles that they could get from Jesus without even knowing (and perhaps not even caring) who he was.

Are we Christians like that?  Are we interested only in what we can get from Jesus, from calling upon his name?  Do we make the effort to truly KNOW Him?  As Christians, we say that he is the Son of God.  But is that just another part of the formula to us?  What does it really mean to us that Jesus is the Son of God -- God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God -- and all the other things that we profess about him?  Sure, we can describe him... but does that mean that we know him?  Or, with our creeds, prayers and practices, are we merely pressing upon him, nearly threatening to throng him with what we want for ourselves?

As I examine myself to see if I'm guilty of this, I'm asking myself if I ever fall before Jesus -- not in petition, but in true surrender, in full recognition of my unworthiness before him.  Like the disciples on Mount Tabor: upon seeing Jesus transfigured, "a bright cloud overshadowed them" and, hearing the voice of God, "... they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe."  (Matthew 17:5-7).  Do I adore Christ Jesus, Incarnate God, and let the cloud of Divine Mystery "overshadow" me?  Do I fall before Him and become filled with awe?  In that adoration, that surrender, in that ecstasy of unknowing, I come exquisitely close to fully KNOWING Him.  And... when I minister to another human being in selfless love, surrendering myself to Christ Jesus, giving myself to Him in, with, and through the other... then I do know Him.  For whatever we do to the littlest ones who stand among us, we do to Him.  (Matthew 25).  I recognize Him, I adore Him, I follow Him and minister to Him, I do His will and I love Him, truly, intimately, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength.  (Mark 12:30).

Christianity: I can't be in it for myself.  So, next time I want to press upon Jesus with my petitions, I will try to remember to forget what I think I know -- and let Him press into and overshadow me.