To the Sea

Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot. Mark 3:7-19a 

I most often dream of the sea. It is where I have done some of my best thinking, writing and living. The sea has always informed my decisions, the shape of my life and the way forward. The sea is the source of all life, and how we care for it in the coming years will determine much. It might even determine whether we thrive or perish. 

Mark's Gospel tells us that before he appointed his disciples on the mountain, Jesus went to the sea. People followed him especially there, but he sought the sea, as a place to decide and begin. He sought out the Source of Life, by the source of life, so that he could clearly call his team together. It was a very motley crew to say the least. Yet he gave them power to tell God's love and cast out demons. He shared his power, so that all who needed relief and healing could find it. And we are invited today to share the love and power we have been given, in a world so sorely in need.

Today, I ask God to help me use the strength I have received to bring good news to the troubled and toemented. May we be empowered to love and forgive, so that the world might know the Source of All.