Jer 23:1-6
Eph 2:13-18
Mark 6:30-34

Bishop Untener’s Homily

One of the striking things about this Gospel passage is that we see Jesus dealing with an unplanned event. He and his disciples had planned a couple of quiet days together in a deserted place. They probably got three or four days worth of food, put it in the boat, and happily sailed off. But when they arrive, a crowd is there waiting for them. It's like parents planning to go up north for a few days, and one of the youngsters gets sick ... and you know the rest of the story.

The Unplanned Parts of Our Lives

That set me thinking. I wonder what percentage of our lives is made up of unplanned events. To get a hold of this, let's start out by brainstorming the kinds of unplanned events that are common in people's lives. Let me hear from you some examples of the kinds of things that are unplanned in most people's lives.

• Sickness. That's true. We don't sit down and plan to get sick.
• Death. I read recently that about 50% of deaths are unexpected.
• Automobile accidents. True. We don't sit down and say, "I think I'll get into a car accident next Tuesday.
• Alcoholism. You don't hear someone say, "I'm going to grow up and be an alcoholic." It's not something anyone intends in advance.
• Re-locating to another city. Most relocations are decided by the company you work for.
• Pregnancies. Well, that can be. Actually, when you think about it, you and I didn't plan our own birth. We didn't plan to be born, or to be born at this time in the world's history, or in this place on the globe, or with the genetic make-up we have. We ourselves had no way of designing it or anticipating it. Our whole existence is, from our own point of view, an unplanned event.
• Divorce: Of course. The divorce was not part of the marriage plans.
• Some homilies! Well, I'd have to say that I've heard some homilies - and given some homilies - that sounded like they were unplanned.
• Arguments. Sometimes you're in the middle of an argument and you wonder how it got started in the first place.
• Theft. True enough. You don't plan to get robbed.
• Losing something. You might plan to lose weight, but you don't plan to lose the car keys.

Well, that gives us some ideas. All in all, what would you say - 25 per cent of our lives is made up of unplanned events? Or is it higher than that? I'm not sure. But there are a lot of them.

The Unplanned Parts of Jesus' Life

I took a look at Mark's Gospel to see how much of Jesus' life was planned, and how much was unplanned.

We have to start with the understanding that Jesus is truly God and truly human. As a human being, he is like us in all things but sin. He couldn't, as a human being, fast forward the tape and look ahead to see what was going to happen. Which means that from time to time he was surprised, happy, angry, moved to tears. As a human being, Jesus wasn't able to plan everything in his life any more than we are.<

Let's look first at some of the things in Mark's Gospel that Jesus clearly did plan. For example: 

• Choosing and call his disciples.
• Getting up early in the morning to pray.
• Going to the countryside or into synagogues and preaching, teaching.
• Sending the Twelve out on mission
• The cleansing of the Temple
• The Last Supper

Those are obvious examples of things that Jesus planned to do, and there's no surprise there. Now let's look at some of the happenings, besides the one in today's Gospel, that were unplanned.

• Early on in Mark's Gospel Jesus is preaching in the synagogue at Capernaum (that was planned) and a man with an unclean spirit starts yelling at him (that was unplanned). Jesus then deals with this and drives out the unclean spirit.
• Almost all of his cures were unplanned. Right after the incident in the synagogue he goes to Peter's house for the Sabbath meal, and Peter's mother-in-law is sick with a fever, so he heals her. At other times, lepers come up to him unexpectedly. Remember the paralytic lowered down through the roof? That was a surprise to Jesus! Most of his healings were unplanned events. They weren't set-ups.
• There were also disputes with the Pharisees and other religious leaders. These were unplanned. Jesus didn't pick a fight. Usually Jesus was in the middle of a talk, or a supper in someone's house and they started to challenge him.
• Remember the time they were in the boat and Jesus was asleep, and a great storm came up and the disciples were terrified. Jesus awoke and calmed the storm. That was unplanned.
• Jesus went to his home town of Nazareth and preached in the synagogue . . . and the people rejected him. That was not a happy or a planned event.
• The feeding of the 5,000 wasn't planned.
• I like the time Jesus was in pagan territory and the Syrophoenician woman came up and asked him to cure her daughter. Jesus said that he came for the people of Israel. She persisted and Jesus admired her faith, and cured her daughter. Jesus changed his mind. It clearly was not pre-planned. 
• Or, the rich man whom Jesus called to be a disciple, and who turned him down. That goes in the "unplanned" category.
• The woman who came into a dinner and began to anoint Jesus with expensive oil. That came as a surprise.
• And finally, his arrest, trial, crucifixion and death. This wasn't something that Jesus himself, as a human being, designed. He clearly saw storms clouds brewing as his disputes with the religious leaders increased, but the arrest and death happened suddenly - all in about 18 hours.

Some Closing Thoughts

Most of the events in the life of Jesus, as described in the Gospel, were unplanned events.

I bring this up because perhaps we can learn something from Jesus. When you look at those unplanned moments in his life, you see that they turned out to be graced moments. He ends up curing sick people he didn't have on his agenda that day. He feeds hungry people. He cures a pagan woman's daughter. He calms an unexpected storm.

Even his terrible death turned out to be a graced moment. He managed to trust the Father, and entrust himself to the Father, and the result was the glorious resurrection - for him and for us. 

I think I have to change my attitude toward the unplanned things that break in on my life - things that are not only unplanned, but which interfere with the plans I had. A large number of the unplanned events in our lives aren't easy, or even pleasant. Maybe I should try to see it as a graced moment, a time when the Lord makes himself especially present to help me do something very, very good. It may be small, but still, something very good. The Lord can take anything and make it produce goodness. 

The Irish have an expression - "thin time". It's a time when the veil between this world and the "other" world is very thin, and God is very close. They see death as one of those moments. When someone who is part of our life dies, the veil is thin and God is especially close.

I'm beginning to think that unplanned events are "thin times". Our first reaction to an unplanned event should be to look for the presence of the Lord who is there helping us.

That could give me a whole different way of dealing with the unplanned events in my life, large and small. Instead of looking upon them as intrusions that ruin my plans, I'll see them as "thin times," and I'll sense the special presence of the Lord, and I'll ask the Lord to help me do my part to make it - not only a "thin time," but a "good time" - a time of God's special love and goodness for me, and whoever else is involved. You may want to think about that yourself.

Originally given on July 20, 2003