3,125 Miles

by Jason Kramme

That is approximately how many miles Jesus walked during the three-year public ministry we have recorded in the Gospels. Three thousand one hundred and twenty-five. That is eight miles a day, every day, for three years. I am currently training for a marathon and I run fewer miles a week in $100 running shoes than Jesus walked bare foot.

More important than the staggering amount of distance that Jesus covered during those three years is the staggering amount of people he was able to interact with in person: shepherds, priests, poor Jews, centurians, widows, lepers, people with disabilities, zealots, aristocrats, merchants, sailors, carpenters, prostitutes, beggars, and that is just the start of the list. He healed them. He preached to them. He broke bread with them. He walked with them. He mourned with them. He celebrated with them. He went to their home. He went to their work. He went to their weddings.

Is it any wonder that Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd? It shouldn’t be.

Jesus’ ministry was to do what Israel couldn’t or wouldn’t do. It was to inaugurate and empower the one, worldwide family of God. The way he went about that, or better yet, the way he modeled this work to his disciples was by spending time with the people he wanted to call brother, sister, and child. Is it any wonder that he empathized with people who were different than him? Is it any wonder that his tendency to do so got him in trouble with people who lived relatively insulated lives?

It shouldn’t be.

We are currently trying to be disciples of this same Jesus in a culture that is nearly perfectly constructed to prevent us from interacting with people who are different than us in significant ways. From the way our cities are constructed, to where we put our social spaces in our home, to the technology we believe is made for connection, we are stuck in bubbles of isolation and confirmation bias.

So what should we do?

Start walking. Walk from your backyard entertaining space and sit on the front porch. Walk from your neighborhood through a different one. Visit a Facebook page outside of the ones the Facebook algorithm dishes to you every day. Get your shoes on and find people. That is what Jesus did and it is what we are called to do.

Jason Kramme is the Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Prince of Peace.