Mark 6:30-34
“Give It a Rest”
July 18, 2021
Consider the busiest time of your life.
Maybe it was as a teenager trying to squeeze school, homework, a part-time job, family responsibilities, friends, and after-school activities all into each day.
It could have been when you were a parent of young children and maybe also were working and trying to get meals and laundry and some semblance of order to bear in your household.
Perhaps it was that time you were juggling a demanding job or two with care for a sick family member or an elderly parent.
Could be right now with three more commitments planned for today?
“Come off by yourselves; let’s take a break and get a little rest” is how that single verse is translated in The Message.
The disciples have just met with their first successes in their ministry.
There are all kinds of great pieces of news to share with Jesus.
They are pumped up with the thrill of healing and calling out demons and teaching.
Imagine that they sound like an excited Kindergartner who just got home off the bus on the first day of school and is bursting with all of the newness and excitement and stories about the other kids and teachers and recess and even the cafeteria.
These disciples are rarin’ to get back out there.
“C’mon, Jesus, there are so many lives to change – let’s go.”
But Jesus puts the brakes on.
He appreciates their boundless energy, but he also recognizes that they will ultimately crash and burn if they don’t also achieve some balance.
They will not be able to keep up this pace indefinitely.
While Jesus recognizes the sense that they’re on a roll, he realizes it will not all be success stories.
In fact, as Jesus is encouraging them to take time apart, to slow down, to regroup and rest, he feels that same need.
Just like most preachers he is also speaking to himself.
Remember, he has just learned of the brutal murder of his beloved cousin John the Baptist, a vivid reminder that none of them are immune from the possibility of violence and death because of what they have to share.
Jesus will repeatedly set time apart for rest and quiet and prayer such as in Luke 5:16 when we hear “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
The Incarnate God found in Jesus is one who gets hungry and sleepy and needs some down time.
That is why God in the form of Jesus touches us so much.
We can relate to the fact that God rests.
Way back in Genesis, God rested on the seventh day, a day determined to be holy and in fact the only thing in all of that story of creation that is described by God as holy.
The concept of keeping Sabbath has often been assumed to mean just going to church but let us bear in mind that when it was handed down as a commandment,
this was amazingly good news for all those folks who were slaves who, as one writer imagined them saying, “Wait a minute…You mean we get to rest? We even have to rest? Glory Hallelujah!” (Rolf Jacobson as described by David Lose in Dear Working Preacher, 7/15/12)
During this past COVID year when the lines between home and work, rest and productivity became blurred, for many there were no longer the natural boundaries. Homes became schools and workspaces and using screens constantly made it that much harder to distinguish between work and non-work hours.
During the toughest months of the lockdown and quarantine, public places for fun were shut down,
Many of us were hesitant to even go outside and there weren’t really too many options as far as coming away. Many of us are just emerging now, more cautious and less relaxed, even when presented with an opportunity to do nothing but play.
On the flip side, with all that we have learned since March 2020 is that being home, not having to always be “on” was something some of us enjoyed and would like to continue to embrace.
During this time apart, I know many of us binged on Netflix or read five times the numbers of books we normally would or dug into the jigsaw puzzle craze and this taste of just quietly being, as opposed to always doing, was kind of nice.
That line from the 23rd Psalm that we said together – “the Lord maketh me to lie down in green pastures” – speaks of God’s will for us. We need rest and God commands it.
Jesus is able to rest and let go because he trusts God.
He works hard but also intentionally takes time to rest.
There is so much kingdom building for us to do and there’s so much living to do.
Both require rest to be effective.
We need time apart from screens and bills and others’ demands and achievement and chores.
Rest – in body, mind, and spirit, grants us the perspective and strength to dwell with intention in the fullness of God’s creation.
As we consider what Jesus was offering those disciples and we his modern-day ones, let us hear these words from the poet Mary Oliver titled, “The Invitation:”
Oh, do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy
and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles
for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,
or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong,
blunt beaks
drink the air
as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine
and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude.
Let us rest in delight and gratitude – for God’s sake. Amen.