Rest for the Weary

Mark 6:30-34

Raise your hand if you’re a fan of vacations. Some of you might have already taken a vacation this summer and some of you might have something planned. Pastor is on vacation right now, that’s why he’s not here. Vacations are nice, aren’t they? And when we’re on vacation don’t we wish that it would last just a little bit longer? Man, why does work have to be just around the corner? Where did all the time go? And I think even if we enjoy our jobs, I think that we still need breaks from time to time, right? Likewise, I think it’s safe to say that the apostles needed a break from all the ministry that they had been doing. They just came back from being sent out by Jesus to preach the gospel in various villages. They had preached a message of repentance, they had driven out demons, they had healed the sick, and now they returned and they were reporting to Jesus all the things that they had done. But they couldn’t do so comfortably because all the people were bombarding them. Jesus and the apostles had become something like local celebrities. Rumors of their message and their miracles had spread around and so people were eager to see them. This was the height of Jesus’ ministry where many people still held a positive view of Jesus before they figured out that he would not be the type of leader that they were hoping for. But for now, the people can’t seem to get enough of Jesus and the disciples. So much so that they don’t even have time to eat a meal. I think we can all relate on some level to this. Have you ever been so busy at work that you don’t take a lunch or you can’t take a lunch? Or maybe you’re supposed to go on your break but your co-worker is missing in action and all the customers decided to come all at once. I think we can all relate to this in some way. And so understandably the disciples were probably tired. Not only that but Jesus probably knew that it was a good time to take a step back so that their popularity wouldn’t go to their heads. Because we know from other parts of scripture that the disciples would argue amongst each other as to who the greatest was. And so Jesus says, “Come away by yourselves with me to a solitary place.” You see as a human himself Jesus understood the need for rest. This is why God commanded the Israelites to rest on the Sabbath day. But the Sabbath wasn’t just to be a day of chilling out. But it was to be a day of remembering all the good and gracious things that God had done for them. In Jesus’ time, the people would have gathered at the synagogue and they would have heard the promises of God. And this is why Jesus says to the disciples, “Come away with me.” In other words, “Come and be alone with me your God.” And that is who the disciples were with. They were with God. They had the blessed opportunity of speaking face to face with God and of being reassured in his message of love and forgiveness. This is why he says, “Come away with me to a solitary place.” Yes, the disciples would receive rest for their bodies, but Jesus would ensure that they would also receive rest for their souls. The shepherds would be shepherded. They would be cared for. And I think we can all understand this need for self-care, right? Some of us have to work weekends, but for others of us it’s a time to sleep in or it’s a time to spend time with family. We can all understand that. So Jesus says, “Come away with me to a solitary place and rest for a while.” You see, before the disciples could continue their work of telling people about God’s compassion for humanity, they needed to be reminded individually, personally, of God’s compassion for them. Furthermore, they would have been inspired by Jesus’ compassion for the people as they disembarked from the boat. We are told that Jesus had compassion on the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd. You see, he knew that the people had been mishandled, that they had been burdened by the religious leaders of the day because the religious leaders of the day were putting conditions on people that they could not possibly meet. And so understandably, the people were lost. They wanted peace, but they didn’t know where to find it. Instead of pointing God, instead of pointing people to God as the God of love and forgiveness, the religious leaders of the day were making religion into something that you do for God, into actions that you perform for God. And so we are told that the heart of Jesus goes out to them. Or as the Greek says, his intestines or his innards were moved. Sometimes we use similar language in English when we say that he or she felt it in their gut, that they felt strongly about it from the inside. And this reminds me a lot of the Reformation. In 1500s Europe, Martin Luther saw how misled and mistreated the people had been by the church at that time. You see, the church had clouded the gospel and they had perverted the truth of God and they were telling people that you could get to heaven by your works. And so when the gospel was unveiled to Luther, he finally understood what had been missing and he wanted to share his rediscovery with the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He translated the Bible from its original languages into German so that the people could read the Bible for themselves for the first time. They could read and understand how God had compassion on humanity, about how he humbled himself to take on human flesh and die in their place, how he rose from the dead to assure them that their sins were forgiven. This was the rest, this was the peace that Jesus wanted to give to the people. He wanted to tell them, “I am the Messiah, I am the Savior sent to make everything right between you and God.” He wanted to give them that rest that they needed. “I’m going to go to the cross for you, I’m going to die for you so that you don’t have to face the wrath of God because I will face it in your place.” That is the rest that the people needed and it’s the rest that we need too. There are a lot of things in life that can stress us out. Maybe you work long hours and your boss doesn’t appreciate you. Maybe you’re in the process of moving or getting married or having a child or maybe you feel the pressure to get good grades in school. Whatever the case may be, there are various ways in which we can calm our bodies, in which we can rest our bodies. But there is only one way in which we can rest our souls and that is being reminded that we have a good and gracious God who loves us and forgives us. And so when you have time off, enjoy it. Rest your bodies but also rest your souls. This is why holidays are called holidays because they are to be holy days. They are to be days in which you not only chill but reflect on the holy word of God. And it is in that word that Jesus will teach you and me many things just as he did for the people. He will remind you and me of how he saw us and how he had compassion on us. So then come away by yourselves and rest for a while with Jesus. Amen.