7th Sunday after Trinity 2015 Mark 6, 30-34, 53-56

I'm sure most of us can remember the Two Ronnies. They used to get viewing figures on television that most TV shows and celebrities could only dream of. It was a highlight of a Saturday night.

If you do recall this show, you will also remember that Ronnie Corbett used to offer a monologue somewhere in the show. He would sit down on his chair, in a domestic looking jumper and slacks (as we used to call them) and tell a story that had a punch line. The story was simple, brief and punchy, but his style was to elongate it by adding all sorts of little stories as things came to his mind. This was to distract us, and leave us panting for the final point of the shaggy do story.

To some extent this is a style adopted by the compiler of St. Mark's gospel. From time to time he will interrupt a story line with some other little morcel or tit-bit.

The gospel reading this morning is a good example of this. The chapter begins with Jesus being rejected by his own folks in Nazareth. They don't see Messiah qualities in this man Jesus, because he is no more than Mary and Joseph's boy – his brothers were known to them, and surely they were a carpenter family. So achieving nothing because these Nazareth townspeople couldn't see beyond the end of their noses. Jesus is shocked.

He then sends the 12 disciples on missionary journeys in village round about Nazareth. We are told that their task was to preach repentance, cast out devils, anoint and cure the sick. Wouldn't it be great to hear more – might we learn something about what contemporary mission should be; what were their actual words; how many were healed and how did they do it. These and many more burning questions we are waiting to have addressed.

So what does Mark do? He doesn't continue his story. He goes off with another one. He keeps us waiting in suspense. He deliberately distracts us.

And how! He goes off on a story about the John the Baptist; about his ministry; about Herod's birthday party; about a sexy dance by Salome; and about the beheading of John. Now that's what I call a distraction.

Then he continues with his story. It is where the narrative is picked up in today's gospel. Having been sent out by Jesus they return. The story is now continued. We still don't get much detail of what they did, but we get a real sense of the importance of it, and how demanding the ministry has been. Jesus doesn't say to them, 'well done, now let's keep the momentum going lads, because the work isn't finished'. No – he says you need time to reflect; you need quiet time; the priority is a bit of contemplation. Let's withdraw from the crowds and refresh ourselves with solitude.

It is interesting that this is the priority of Jesus. Maybe we are learning more about the work of Jesus and the disciples than we thought. Maybe there is a pattern here to be discovered by us now. In all our busyness, whether work, social or church – all of which we will of course we will say must make the first claim on our time – maybe the real priority is to withdraw. Maybe the Holy hour on a Monday at 4pm in this church should be the first claim on your time and mine. Time centred on God, time surrounded by silence, time marked out by physical inactivity. I commend it to you.

Of course, it doesn't then work for Jesus and the 12. The crowds rumbled where they were heading as they crossed the lake and they were there waiting for them.

Mark tells us that these people were lost and wandering, thirsting for words of wisdom and hungry to have their souls fed. The flock has no shepherd because the ones who were supposed to care for the flock had become like the shepherds referred to in the Prophet Jeremiah. He has compassion on them – he teaches them, feeds them spiritually, and Mark tells us he also fed all of them physically with bread. Jesus is the bread of life – he is Lord of all that nourishes us and sustains us. His eucharist, his thanksgiving, is life-giving. You see, the eucharist is the very opposite, it is diametrically opposed to those townspeople in Nazareth who could see Jesus only in one dimension. Even the carpenter's son can be the bread of life.

Then we jump – we jump to another miracle, but we have stayed by the lakeside. He sends the 12 off in a boat towards Bethsaida. He stays to dismiss the crowd and he goes off for some solitude, as he had hoped for all of them a little earlier. A storm arises; the 12 are afraid. Jesus comes to them apparently walking on the stormy waters. He commands the waters. This same carpenter's son is the well of life, the cup of salvation. He says to the Samaritan Woman at the well, 'anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.'

So we have a choice. We can be people who see Jesus as only one of the kids that Mary and Joseph had, and by doing so deny the Christ. Or we can see him as the bread of life and cup of salvation; the one who has compassion on our hunger and feeds us; the one who tells us not to be afraid, and who quenches our thirst as the cup of salvation. In our eucharist Christ offers us of himself crucified, risen, ascended, glorified.

The choice my friends is ours.