"Monday-Morning Quarterbacks"

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text this morning is from Mark 1:36-37, "Simon and his companions went to look for Jesus, and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

It is my prediction that by this time tomorrow morning there will be a great many Seattle Seahawk fans doing some serious Monday-Morning Quarterbacking. They’ll be lamenting their loss. And they’ll be talking all about what should have been done. What should have happened. They’ll be second-guessing their quarterback. They’ll be second-guessing their head coach. They’ll be saying to each other, "If only such and such had happened, we would have won."

"If only." Isn’t that a phrase we like to use in this world? "If only." "Second-guessing." "Hindsight is 20-20." "Monday-Morning Quarterbacking." We’ve got lots of phrases in our vocabulary to refer to that tendency of ours to look back and wonder what might have happened, to look back and think about how much better things could have turned out if only things had gone the other way.

Jesus’ disciples were familiar with this concept as well. There were times when they watched the way Jesus did things and questioned whether He shouldn’t have done it differently. Take, for example, our Gospel reading for today from Mark 1.

We pick up the story from last week where, as you remember, Jesus is so far playing a perfect game. He is baptized by John. God the Father says He is well-pleased. Jesus resists the temptations of Satan in the desert. Jesus calls disciples to follow him and they do. Jesus heads for the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath and He begins to teach with authority. The people are amazed. They’re even more amazed when Jesus tells a demon to hush and leave and the demon does just that. So far, a perfect game!

Then today we hear more from Mark, that from the synagogue Jesus goes to Simon and Andrew’s house. There they find Simon’s mother-in-law in bed with a fever. Jesus went to her, took her hand and helped her up. She was healed. That evening the whole town was gathered at the door. And Jesus healed many with various diseases. And he drove out many demons. Still, a perfect game! To the disciples this must have looked like the fourth quarter in which the home team is winning by 40 points. And the star player, Jesus, is performing perfectly.

But then, Jesus does something unexpected. Something strange, even. Just when things are going perfectly, just when it appears Jesus has this game in the bag, He leaves. Very early in the morning, Mark says, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. He didn’t even tell anyone where he was going. Simon and his companions frantically hunted Jesus down and when they finally found Jesus they said, "Everyone’s looking for you!" In other words, come back to Capernaum! There are still sick people who need healing! There are still demons who need hushing! Get back in the game!

But Jesus said, "Let’s go somewhere else—to another village—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." Somewhere else? Another village? Right when things are going so beautifully in Capernaum? Yes, that’s the plan. And Jesus traveled throughout Galilee.

What kind of play calling is that? The game is nearly won and the star player walks off the field. I’m sure that if you were one of those in Capernaum who hadn’t been healed yet, or one of those who hadn’t been delivered from demons yet, or one of those who hadn’t heard Jesus preach yet, that you’d be doing some serious second guessing. Some serious Monday-morning quarterbacking. Why did Jesus leave Capernaum before the job was finished? Why did Jesus leave before the game was done?

In fact, don’t we disciples today continue to ask those very same questions about Jesus? Why does Jesus sometimes seem to be playing a perfect game, and other times He seems to have walked completely off the field? For example, why does Jesus miraculously heal some among us but others are left sick? Why does Jesus miraculously deliver some people from great harm, but others suffer terrible injury or even death? Why are some of us blessed with Jesus’ preaching and teaching through the Scriptures, but a great many other people in this world have no access to the Scriptures? Do you see what I’m getting at? At the end of the day, we’re left scratching our heads. On the one hand, we’re thankful for what Jesus has done. On the other hand, we’re wondering why He hasn’t done more. Why He stops when He does. Why He doesn’t do things the way we would do them. Why He sometimes seems to leave before the game is done?

The Bible gives us some answers to those questions. For example, James tells us that sometimes we don’t get help from Jesus for a very simple reason: we don’t ask for it! We’re so busy trying to take care of the problem ourselves that we fail to look to Jesus.

And the writer to the Hebrews tells us that sometimes God allows us to suffer difficult things in order to discipline us. Suffering, in the long run, can actually do us some good.

And Jesus Himself made it clear that in this world you will have trouble, you will have tribulation. There’s no getting around it, really, since we live in a world which has been so horribly corrupted by sin and evil. Sickness and suffering and death cannot be avoided.

But even those answers only partially satisfy. There are still times when you and I look at the situation around us and we say, like Simon said, "God, everyone’s looking for you!" In other words, God, come back! There are still sick people who need healing! There are still demons who need hushing! Get back in the game!

And you know, maybe that’s the point. Maybe sometimes we need reminding of the answer to the question, "Who’s in charge here?" Do you or I call the shots, or does God? Of course, we’d like to be in charge. We’d like to be able to say to God, "God, go take care of that." "Right now." "Hurry." And we’d love it if God would hear that command and obey and go running right to where we sent Him to do whatever it was we told Him to do.

And some Christians take this approach in their prayers. They seem to think that if you tell God exactly what you want and do so with enough faith and sincerity, that God will do whatever you tell Him to do every time you tell Him to do it. As if you have some magical power over God and you can make Him do what you want Him to do.

But, of course, we know that’s not true. God is God, and you and I are not God. And that means that there will be lots of times when God does things, or doesn’t do things, that our simple, finite minds simply do not understand. Maybe when those kinds of things happen, the only thing you and I DO understand is that God’s in charge. Not me.

When C.S. Lewis wrote his series of books called "The Chronicles of Narnia," he portrayed the Jesus-figure as a cat. Aslan, the Jesus-figure, is a powerful cat, a lion. Why do you suppose C.S. Lewis chose a cat to be the Jesus-figure?

Why didn’t he make Aslan a dog, for example? Dogs, generally, are easier to get along with than cats. Dogs are generally more easy to train. You can teach them to fetch and sit up and roll over and hunt. Dogs look to their humans as their masters to be served. They like to please. They like to obey. Why didn’t C.S. Lewis make Aslan a dog who likes to please, who can be trained, who goes wherever you tell him to go? Wouldn’t it be nice if God were like that? We could be the master, telling God what to do and when.

But C.S. Lewis didn’t make Aslan a dog. He made him a cat. A powerful cat. A lion. And cats are very different than dogs, aren’t they? You don’t train cats, really. They pretty much train you. Cats don’t look to their humans as their masters to be served; cats consider themselves to be the master and humans are the servants. Cats consider themselves to be in charge in the house. They’re very independent. They do what they please.

So C.S. Lewis made Aslan a cat. A lion. And not a tame lion either. A lion who loves his people and does great things for his people. But a lion that sometimes you just can’t figure out, a lion that sometimes does things that don’t make sense. At the end of the day, that’s just the way it is. There will be times when we don’t understand. Because God is God. And we’re not.

Think about what Jesus did on Calvary. He died on the cross for your sins and mine. Does that make sense? Can you figure that one out, that God would sacrifice Himself to save sinners like you and me? No, it doesn’t make sense. But, it’s true! We can’t figure it out, but it’s true! Thanks be to God!

So, how do we approach this God who we so often can’t figure out? Do we try to tell him what to do? Do we pretend that we’re in charge, rather than He? Do we go up to God and say to Him, "Fix this problem. Now. On my terms. In my time."?

No, let’s approach him like the man in Mark 1:40, the next verse after today’s Gospel reading. Mark says a man with leprosy came to Jesus. And what did the man say, "Jesus, heal me now"? No. "Jesus, you HAVE to fix this problem"? No. "Jesus, if you’re really in control you’ll take care of this right now"? No, he said it this way: "Jesus, if you are willing, you can make me clean." No demanding. Just a simple, humble faith that leaves all things in God’s hands.

May we learn to pray the same way.

Amen.