Thursday, January 9, 2014

Jesus Hides

"The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray."Lk 5:6-7

It is easy to distracted by the spectacular. Rubbernecking at a car accident is an annoying example of this, but we also are easily fascinated by athletes and other public figures, especially if they have fallen from grace or been accused of a crime. Time magazine reported that Americans were 12 times more interested in the singer, Miley Cyrus, than they were in Syria, and Twitter allows Ms Cyrus' 16 million followers to peek into her life several times a day while reading no more than 140 characters.

The same phenomenon seems to have bedeviled Jesus. The crowds follow him and listen to him, not because he has a powerful message about his father and is offering all people salvation, but because he is a healer who can set them free from their blindness, deafness or paralysis. While this is understandable, it is also a distraction and Jesus regularly flees to mountains to escape the crowds and commune with his father.

Taking time away from the crowds to pray is a good idea for all of us. While we might not be public figures or fascinate others with our fame or fortune, we are  battered daily with hundreds of thousands of images on television, the internet and through social media, all of which regularly distract us from a life of faith. Taking time to hide with Jesus is a good practice.

Today, find a place to be quiet and stay there for 10 minutes.

What things most distract you from having a simple faith commitment?

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