One of the Crowd

Matthew 14:13b-14 - When the crowd heard of it, they made their way to him by foot from the towns. When Jesus got out and saw the crowds, he had compassion on them and healed all their sicknesses.

I often think about Jesus's reaction when reading these kinds of stories. I think about the vast chasm that exists between Jesus' compassion and my own. I recognize that I could always do better. Yet, today I want to talk about being one of the crowd. Am I willing to follow Jesus to "the other side of the lake?" And what does that lake represent for me? Is it trouble at work? Is it feeling lost? Is it grief? Is it illness? Is it death of a loved one or even our own ...? So many lakes! My lake today is discernment of my next step in ministry. What to do? Go for a PhD? Go for the Greek classes? Go for another CPE unit? Join with Dudley? So many things. That is my task today.

What does it mean to follow Jesus in our context? Does it mean praying more often to stay connected? Does it mean reaching out to that one person we least want to reach out to? Does it mean forgiving others or ourselves? Each lake will have a different path around. We know we need healing and we know where to get it. How to get to a place we can receive it?

For me, I think it is just sitting with myself and asking hard questions: questions about what I want, where i feel led, what is my goal for each of my choices, do I have to choose or can I do them in sequence. Is there someone I can talk with for clarification?

Once we have an idea of our path, we can ask Jesus to inspire us to follow him around the lake as he inspired the people in our story.
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