MASH

There once was a TV show about a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea. Most who have watched TV at all are familiar with MASH. Most can even hum the opening theme song and visualize the helicopters dropping in to deliver the wounded. They can recall the nicknames, Hawkeye, Hot Lips, and Radar. They remember the wardrobe of Corporal Klinger. They recall the top officers, Lt. Colonel Blake and then Potter. It is okay if you do not remember any of the corny biblical allusions dropped by Chaplain, Fr. Francis Mulcahy. (Are clergy truly like that?)

The feature of the show I am thinking about in particular is the alternating modes of emergency and rest. As in many missions of life, military and otherwise, there are times of challenging focused action, and there are times of rest and waiting. One scene of the show would be all about, IVs, gauze, and clamps. Surgeons would bark out the need for scalpels, sponges, or sutures. The frenzy would be followed by quieter care. Sometimes Hawkeye and Honeycutt would sling wry sarcasm, or sipping on homemade hooch. In either model, the team did what they had to do to get through the day and fulfill their purpose the best they could.

I recall this because coming up on Sunday is a passage from Mark’s Gospel where the action mode and the retreat for rest are reported back to back. It appears that Jesus had sent out his disciples for teaching and deeds that announced the Kingdom of God. They then regathered around Jesus to tell him about their activities:

The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. (Mark 6:30-34)

Notice how the disciples, who had scattered to do their work, then gather themselves around Jesus to tell him of their work. Having them gathered, Jesus took them to a place of quiet and rest. They had barely begun their retreat when crowds of people with a great need came around them seeking healing and relief. Relief is offered to these sheep so badly needing a shepherd in the healing properties of Jesus, as he taught them. Rest and action, rest and action: it is the rhythm of your life. It was the pattern of Jesus with his disciples and the crowds around Galilee.

No helicopters are bringing them, and it may not be the frenzy of triage and treatment we see in reruns of MASH, but we can imagine the sense of the need of these people flocking to Jesus. We can picture the immense hope they have, having reached him, to hear his voice and receive his healing touch.

Do you ever feel scattered? In what ways do you gather with others around Jesus. We so need him, because there is no end to the stream of need in this world, and you and I both know, as Christians, we are the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. We have a shepherding role amidst the endless ways people are wounded. It is important to find yourself commissioned for the healing mission of God in the world; it is especially important to come to Jesus for rest and to witness his healing effect upon you and others. The challenges and emergencies will come, and the opportunities to rest, and get quiet will come as well. The clergy of the parish are happy to discuss with you particulars of how you can discover your part as an agent of healing and the art of quiet prayer. Just ask.  Allow yourself to be strengthened in both modes, with the power of Christ at work within you for action, and the healing balm he gives through stillness, silence, and simplicity, as you rest in God’s presence.