God's Last Words

Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56

GOING TO SEE THE ELEPHANT

American English is a very difficult language for foreigners to understand and learn. We use so many phrases and words that have double and triple meanings and that doesn’t include regional and dialect meanings.

I remember being asked by a German friend about a piece of TV dialogue he saw on Satellite TV and could never understand. He related watching the old TV show called “Alice” and remembered one character telling another character to “Kiss my Grits,” and never understood why she wanted him to kiss a breakfast cereal?

We have a lot of slang, words that are euphemisms or metaphors for words and meanings that everyone understands and uses. We develop them on an ongoing basis with text messaging (BTW, OMG, LOL, etc.) leading the way in today’s culture – but humans have always done it that way. There has always been shortcut language.

According to the American Heritage Idioms Dictionary, “Going to see the Elephant,” was first used in 1835 and suggests that a person has seen or is going to see something they’ve never seen before including what was then considered a rare beast, and then perhaps returning home unimpressed or disappointed.

It was more often than not considered an underwhelming experience, in that the event did not match the hype and anticipation leading up to it. It was used up until the early 1900’s to suggest any number of things, the first coming to be understood as the first exposure to combat during the civil war.

But “going to see the elephant,” also became the hallmark for those experiencing a new sensation, trend, fashion, or fad. It can even describe a public religious experience, such as going to see the Evangelist Billy Sunday.

In our Gospel passage for today we read that Jesus, his disciples, and his whole retinue’ have become, using the words of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s lyrics from the play about Jesus’ life, “the wonder of the year.” 

We can easily see mothers washing behind their children’s ears, and bustling them off to see the elephant, er… Jesus. It was a big deal. Let’s hear Mark 6: 30-34, and verses 53-56: (Remember how small the Sea of Galilee is (Deep Creek Lake)).

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 a while." 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.

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat.

When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

Encountering Jesus during this period of His ministry must have been difficult for the average person unless you or a member of your family was sick or lame.

There were probably many distractions and a carnival atmosphere. If you didn’t click with the crowd, hear Jesus teach, or otherwise pay close attention, it may have left you empty and unsure about Jesus, what he wanted, and what you get out of it.

In my mind, unless you were keyed in on the disciples, experienced healing or deliverance it might take some time to get Jesus’ message of loving neighbor and God. Yet for some, seeing Jesus was worth everything. For some, it was nothing.

If we take a step back in hindsight and consider what’s going to happen that culminates in Jesus’ death on a cross despite His popularity, fame, and spectacular miracles, it’s clear most people didn’t enjoy their trip to see the elephant.

We humans have a nasty habit of not wanting to delay our satisfaction, and Jesus’ promise of a kingdom to come at some time in the future may have not been what most where looking for or even wanted. (They wanted the Romans out now.)

We want to have our cake and eat it too, and we want it now. We want our best life now and we want it as we are without having to pay a price to get it.

A boy’s pet turtle fell over and lay motionless. The boy ran in to tell his father about what happened. His father chose the occasion to teach his son a lesson so he took the turtle and put it in a small box, and shared his faith with the young boy.

He earnestly told the boy about eternal life and beauty surrounding the throne of God, and about God as well. He also told the boy about a marvelous party they would hold for the now departed turtle, and that the boy could invite his friends for ice cream and cake.

The boy gradually brightened up as his father continued to talk about God and our heavenly home to be.  The father decided to end the talk by asking the boy to come with him and sought out a place to bury the turtle.

When they opened the box there was the turtle walking around as if nothing happened. With a cherry glow on his face, the boy looked up at his father and said, “Dad, let’s kill him!” (That kid wanted his party now!)

The key teaching we need to see here is that in going to see Jesus, or in doing anything that strengthens our relationship with God, it is our faith, trust, and joy in them that gives us our daily inspiration. It is in our knowledge that they have done and are doing things for us – out of sacrificial love.

We need eternal salvation after all, and not just some feel good sitting around the campfire where the experience fades away the next day. (And we want constant elephant experiences in the church don’t we?)

Joe Wagner, writing in Reader’s Digest told about attending a junior stock show when a grand-champion lamb, owned by a little girl, was being auctioned. As the bids reached five dollars per pound, the little girl, standing beside the lamb in the arena, began to cry.

At ten dollars, the tears were streaming down her face and she clasped her arms tightly around the lamb's neck. The higher the bids rose, the more she cried. A local businessman bought the lamb for more than $1000, and then announced that he was donating it back to the little girl. The crowd applauded and cheered. 

Months later, Morgan was judging some statewide scholarship essays when he came across one from a girl who told about the time her grand-champion lamb had been auctioned. "The prices began to get so high during the bidding," she wrote, "that I started to cry from happiness."

She continued with: "The man who bought the lamb for so much more than I ever dreamed I would get returned the lamb to me, and when I got home, Daddy barbecued the lamb--and it was really delicious." 

God paid a high price for His Son, and donated that price back to us. God is good, and loves us very much. That ought to change our lives. Amen.