Mark 3:8-9
How
much should we plan in life? How flexible do we need to be? To answer this
simply, both planning and flexibility are needed. How much of each do you need
in your life to feel comfortable? To accomplish all the tasks in your life? To
manage the unexpected? It can be hard to balance these competing pulls on your
life, energy and time. You are not alone in this struggle.
Jesus
has purposed to spend time with His disciples. But His plans get interrupted by
the crowds who gather from the four winds to get something from Jesus. Jesus
wants to give to His disciples and the crowds rush in and take over His
attention.
Jesus
has plans for this time, but the crowds introduce a new plan. Jesus has to be
flexible. Jesus must know that there is no way for Him to avoid the crowds at
this moment. His plans must be set aside.
But
notice that Jesus still makes some new plans. Jesus assesses the situation, the
gathering crowds and the potential rush to get close to Him, and He devises a
plan. He is there by the lake, and several of His disciples used to be
fishermen. He tells the disciples to get a small boat ready. He could use it to
push out from the shore in case the crowds get too great.
I
can see two things we can learn from our passage today. It is OK to make plans.
Order in the middle of chaos is acceptable. Many of us try to control what we
can when things get overwhelming. This is often where compulsive behaviors
start. In the middle of a crisis, when things are overwhelming, we grab onto
something to try to keep us stable. We use something to help us get through,
and then we repeat the action the next time something similar arises.
Compulsive behaviors usually make sense when we understand when they got
started.
But
when the old way of coping, the old plan doesn’t work in the current situation,
it is time to become more flexible. It is necessary when circumstances change
for new plans to be developed. It is OK to take precautions,.
The
other thing I learn is that it is OK to plan ahead in ministry. You don’t need
to be in some hyper spiritual mode to be in the middle of God’s will. Jesus saw
the crowds coming and the future possibility of them overwhelming Him
physically, and He made a plan. When we plan, we need to think about alternate
plans, to brainstorm the “what if’s”. This does not indicate a lack of faith,
or a lack of responsiveness to the Holy Spirit. It is just following Jesus’ example.