Those of you who have played golf know that there are different parts of a golf course that get different kinds of attention. The greens are delicate patches of carpet-like grass that are designed for putting. Then there are the fairways. Here the grass is mown but not as tightly as the greens. Along the borders of fairways is the rough–grass not taken care of as much as is the fairway. Finally, there are the untended parts of the course. The closer to the hole, the better the grass is taken care of.
Today we read about the “people grass” that surrounded Jesus (Luke 6:12-19).
“…from them He chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.”
Jesus had just spent the night in prayer, and we presume that it was revealed to him that the time had come for him to select leaders. Twelve names were given to him,beginning with Peter and ending with Judas Iscariot. We don’t know why these were chosen, probably because they were the first disciples selected by Jesus. They were being “groomed” to be leaders of the Church, the “greens.”
After doing this Jesus came down from the mountain and stood on a level stretch of ground. We read:
“A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of people from Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases…”
Let’s think about these groups. There were the disciples. These were Jesus’ closest associates who had left everything to follow him. Their goal was to be just like their Master. Jesus challenged them to take up a new lifestyle. Others came from the Judea/Jerusalem area. These of course wanted healings, and they also were hoping Jesus was the promised Messiah. This was their chance to get a close-up view of the one who would soon rule over Israel. At the bottom of the list were those from the Tyre/Sidon area—the coastal regions, perhaps the vacation resorts like the Florida beaches of our day. They also wanted to listen to Jesus teach, and be healed from their diseases, but may not have been as Messiah-oriented as the others.
Each of these four groups saw Jesus differently. Some just wanted a miraculous healing, others wanted a glimpse at the Messiah, others wanted to make him the center of their lives by following him and modelling their lives after him, and others were chosen to receive his authority and take up a leadership position in his organization.
There was a fifth group that is not mentioned—those are those who stayed home that day and didn’t bother going to the trouble of coming out to meet Jesus. This was a “don’t bother me, I’ve got better things to do.”
We ask ourselves which group would best fit us today? Are we in the “un-interested” group, who don’t want to trouble ourselves to go out and be touched by Jesus? Are we the ones seeking something from him for ourselves, whether it be healing, answering of prayers, or trying to assure ourselves a place in heaven. What about discipleship? Is Jesus approaching us and inviting us into a deeper relationship with him, one that will transform our lives? Does he want to become the one and only Lord of our lives and challenge us to put all else behind, but him? It could be also, that if we are already disciples, that he is calling us to something beyond this—to take up a role of leadership in his Church.
