Jesus Invites Us to the “Other Side”

Pastor’s Column

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

July 21, 2024

“Come away by yourselves and rest awhile.”

from Mark 6:30-34

Quite often in Mark’s Gospel Jesus and his disciples are seen to “cross to the other side” of the Sea of Galilee. One side of the lake was filled with people and work to do; the “other side,” (usually what was called the “Decapolis” region closer to modern-day Syria) was semi-pagan and so the disciples and Jesus could at least hopefully rest awhile without so many Jewish crowds. This is exactly what Jesus invites his disciples to do in this Sunday’s gospel, after all their work preaching the gospel.

Over 20 years ago someone invited me to accompany them to Medugorje, a town in Croatia where the Virgin Mary is said to be appearing since the early 1980s. When we finally arrived at the airport in Dubrovnik after the long flight and layover in Rome, it was expected to be about a three-hour bus ride to the town. We were all exhausted! After two hours of riding on the bus, I happened to notice what appeared to be the same building passing by over and over (it was night so we could not easily identify where we were). I asked the bus driver about it, and he confirmed that we had been circling the long airport perimeter road for over two hours! Apparently, due to the war then raging in the area, it was not safe to leave the airport. We had been ordered to keep moving, and yet we were not actually making any progress! We were literally slowly traveling in circles, going nowhere, and yet unnoticed by most!  

The same thing can happen to us unless we regularly take time away with Christ in prayer. Not only when we are on a vacation, pilgrimage or retreat, but daily in prayer-moments, we gain perspective and renewed zeal and direction to all our activities. Without this guidance by the Holy Spirit, we can find ourselves speeding along through life, keeping very busy but essentially making very little progress in our spiritual life or in anything pleasing to God. Without this guidance, we remain in danger of either making progress in the wrong direction or going nowhere fast!

To gain the Lord’s perspective in our lives, or in world events, or on any issue, Jesus invites us to come to the “other side,” a renewed perspective, by taking time for prayer and also inviting the Lord to speak to us through scripture and church teaching through the catechism and other readings. In this way we are not just guiding ourselves, but taking time each day to allow the Spirit to guide us, apart from the frenzy of everyday living.

Fr Gary