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Driven
The Rev. Joseph WinstonFebruary 8, 2009
Sermon
Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Have you ever known a person that kept a detailed list of the goals that theyplanned to achieve in the upcoming weeks, months, and years? Do you ever re-member meeting anyone who started their first business before they were twelveand then sold the company for a tidy sum? Can you recall the one individual votedduring your senior year of High School as the most likely so success? If you cananswer yes to anyone of these questions, then you have met someone who wasdriven.While it might be stretching the truth just a tiny bit, probably at some time oranother every one of us has run into a person that knew what they wanted fromlife. Elected officials certainly fall into the category of driven people. In order
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Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3
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to win votes, you have to have a plan. Normally, this starts out with one simpleidea such as wanting to serve others or seeing a need for change. This noble goalwill go nowhere if you keep it all to yourself. You must file for election and runa campaign. After the votes are tallied, you will see if others agree with yourplatform.Ifyouloose,youneedtogobacktothedrawingboardandseewhatwentwrong. You will then have to decide if you want to try one more time. Winning isnot any easier. Once elected, you have to advance your ideas by convincing othersof their worth and compromising at other times. Succeeding in education requiresbeing driven. When you are young, someone, normally your parents, makes sureyou get up and arrive at school on time. They also are the ones who remind you todo your homework and study for your tests. Bad grades come with punishmentsand good grades with rewards. This arrangement of someone pushing you throughschool will not last forever. One day, the student must make up their own mindif they will take over all this responsibility. Once this happens, then everythingis in your hands. You have to make the decision of going to class or staying inbed. You have to set aside the time to study for the test or to go out with yourfriends. Naturally, elected officeholders and students just scratch the surface of those driven people that we can find all around us. If you hold a job and want todo your best, then you are driven. If you serve in the military and want to advanceto the next rank then you are driven. If you want to do your best in taking care of others, then you are driven.All the previous examples of driven people show us that some sort of forcepropels them through the world. Perhaps for the person who would like to be2
 
elected, a desire for justice moves them through the process of deciding to runand then holding office. Maybe the force that animates a student is the hope to bethe first one in their family with a college degree. Possibly, you work because youlike it.All throughout the Gospel according to St. Mark, the narrator presents Jesusas a driven person. The first chapter provides us with several different illustrationsof this basic fact.
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At His baptism, Jesus did not wait around in the water of theJordan. Instead, He immediately left the river and right then saw the Holy Spiritcoming down like a dove (Mark 1:10). Next, God the Father spoke that He waspleased with His Son and instantaneously the same Spirit drove Jesus to the desert(Mark 1:11). After calling Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John, Jesus quicklyentered the synagogue on Saturday and taught (Mark 1:21). Promptly followingworship, Jesus entered the house of Simeon Peter and Andrew (Mark 1:29). With-outany delay,someonebringsJesus thenewsthatSimeonPeter’s mother-in-lawissick (Mark 1:30). Then and there, Jesus touches her and she is healed (Mark 1:31).During the evening meal, we have a short break in the action. All that changes atsunset. The entire city of Capernaum shows up at the home of Simon Peter andAndrew (Mark 1:33). The men and women, the boys and the girls, the young andthe old are all there for one reason. They have brought the sick to Jesus and theywant Him to cure them (Mark 1:32). We are not told how long Jesus stayed up
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The author of Mark uses
κα εθς
(and immediately) throughout the book to move the narra-tion along. This Greek phrase is used eight times in the first chapter (Mark 1:10, 12, 18, 20, 21, 23,29, 30) and it gives a “sense of urgency.”John R. Donahue, S.J. and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J.; S.J.Daniel J. Harrington, editor,
The Gospel of Mark 
, Volume 2, Sacra Pagina Series, (Collegeville,MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002), p.81.
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