Why Were You Born? - 1/29/2017

WARNING PREACHY…

Mark 1:35-39

³⁵ Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. ³⁶ Simon and his companions went to look for him, ³⁷ and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

³⁸ Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” ³⁹ So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Do you ever wonder “why” you were born; for what purpose? 

I remember being young, probably grade-school young, and wondering why I had been born.  Not just born, but why born in America, why born white, why born where I did not live in poverty and hunger like so much of the world outside of my existence.  I remember, even then, thinking that it could not have been random.  I won’t go so far as to say that I had a developed sense of my spiritual self, but I do remember being aware there must be causation.

When Jesus began his ministry, he came on the scene with a bang.  From the moment of his baptism he was a star and it took him no time at all to get an entourage (his disciples) together.  One morning, as his rise to stardom was beginning; he got alone with God and prayed.

(At this point, there are many who will argue that Jesus knew himself as deity, and he was just conferring with the Father part of the deity to orientate himself.  I don’t agree; I believe that he was fully a man needing guidance by the Holy Spirit of God, just as you and I do, in order to know who he was as a man.  This is the debate of Christology and not one that I will argue or try to settle here, but I personally need a savior who is every bit of a human like me, so this is my position on the matter.)

Getting back to my point, when Jesus was alone and praying with God, I suspect Jesus spent this time aligning himself with his world.  Asking the questions of God, “why was I born?”; “why was I born a Jew?”; “why was I born a child of David?”  Of course I’m speculating, but in our Lord’s humanity, it must have crossed his mind at least once.

So Jesus spent time with God, and His disciples came and found him urging him to continue the road show.  (I’m positive that the healing gig was super cool and the word of mouth advertising was incredible; Judas (the keeper of the money box) was probably thinking about the ticket sales.)  But Jesus emerged from his time of prayer knowing himself in relation to the world and God, and he said, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”  (verse 38)

I asked the question earlier, whether you knew why you were born, and for what purpose?  Did you have an answer?  Often, I think, people have not really thought about it because we don’t often get away to get quiet with God and seek guidance by his Holy Spirit.  So I want to encourage you to do so.  Go on retreat and be still before God.  Shut off the phone, the ipod, and the computer, and simply seek God.  It’s very difficult to do this but an exercise of great importance.

Oh, and I want to add just one thing.  Notice that the reason Jesus was born was not for his own benefit and comfort but for the benefit and comfort of the rest of the world.  I think it is naturally humanistic for us to come away from times of seeking God with clarity that calls us to our own desires.  Beware of this tendency.  Your existence in this world is bigger than that.

Psalm 46:10

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”