I guess that’s what happens when you heal a blabbermouth.

Maybe Jesus just didn’t know that the leper He encountered in this Sunday’s Gospel was the kind of person who would promise never to tell a soul - then turn around and spread the news of his healing faster than a teenager with a smartphone.

It sends Jesus into hiding. It leads to a depth of inundation that would pin Him down, cage Him in, and leave Him absolutely besieged with demands. Jesus is overwhelmed.

And so are we.

Like Jesus, we are beset with innumerable responsibilities and commitments, all the while being inundated with an ever-increasing barrage of information from an avalanche of digital technologies that we simply can’t keep up with.

First it was the Internet, then email, then Google, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and Flickr. Then, as if we had fully explored these, the next round of iPads, smart phones, and Foursquare is upon us. Each new development is seething with the temptation to believe it is the ‘it’ product – the ‘killer app’ that will change the course of history forever.

So, if, from our point of view, we feel like the world is spinning way too fast, why don’t we do what Jesus did – and look at it from another point of view?

A friend recently reminded me that we’re only 2,000 years into Christianity. Looking back, as we usually do, we think that’s a lot – and are captivated by our survey of the fascinating developments. And we fail to look forward to consider what things might look like 2,000 years from now. Or 5,000 years from now. Or half a million years from now.

The changes and chances of life are nothing new. Every age grapples with them. And every Christian has to come to terms with how to pay attention to God amidst the overwhelmings that beset us.

Maybe this is why Jesus took so many opportunities to go off by Himself.

Jesus set limits, said no, prayed a lot, put responsibilities on hold, and operated not from a framework of fear of what He would miss, but confidence in what the Father was doing through Him.

God is doing amazing things through us right now – whether we know it or not. Aren’t we well advised to put our attentions beyond the immediate and onto the deeper reality that we are in God’s hand? What can we do today to step back and listen for God, who is continually speaking to us and through us?

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Reading

Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins

Sabbath – Wayne Muller