Come with me by yourself to a quiet place and get some rest

Colin Bird

Mark 6:30-34 – 53-56

In today's passage the story of Jesus feeding the 5 thousand is probably one of the best known in the New Testament. But it is the prelude to this event that I want to talk about. Something that is glossed over and not really noticed yet its importance, if ignored, could undermine our Christian health and wellbeing.

Health, wholeness, healing, reconciliation, peace – the common people flocked to Jesus because they knew in their hearts and by his deeds that He came from God. They were not possessed of religious scruples, or questions. Their need was too great to wait until their religious leaders could put Jesus into perspective for them. All they knew was that He was special, He preached love, and made them well again.

So they flocked to Him, from all over the region, and it is recorded that Jesus had compassion for them because he considered them like sheep without a shepherd. He touched them, He healed them, and he taught them many things. It was important for these people to learn and understand the good news he was preaching. Jesus was a great teacher and He spent as much time teaching and preaching as he did healing.

Earlier in the chapter Mark 6:7 tells of Jesus sending out the twelve two-by-two with authority over unclean spirits. They went out with nothing but the clothes on their back. In our gospel this morning Mark refers to them as the apostles and it is the only place in his gospel where he uses the word apostle which in the Greek translation means “to send”.

On their return the apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Jesus sees that they are weary after their mission tour and says, “come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest”. This is the verse I referred to at the beginning of my talk.

Soon Jesus will have compassion on the crowd, but first he has compassion on his apostles, who have not even had time to eat. Discipleship must balance time for service with time for physical and spiritual renewal.

Vincent de Paul advises, “Be careful to preserve your health. It is a trick of the devil, which he employs to deceive good souls, to incite them to do more that they are able, in order that they may no longer be able to do anything."

There is no doubt about it – we live in a busy world. With all the time saving devices in our homes and at work, one would think that we would have so much more time available to do the things we love to do.
Most of the comments about time relate to the speed with which time is passing. We look at our watches and say, “is that really the time, where has all the time gone?” It’s July already, before you know it, it will be Christmas!

Time is something we wrestle with every day. Our lives are so packed with things we need to do that the day is over before we have accomplished half of what we set out to do in the first place.

If there was ever a busy bloke, it was Jesus. There was a constant flow of people wanting to see him, to hear him, for him to heal their sick, and to test out his theology. For the disciples it wasn’t any different. They were in the middle of it all, and we are told that “there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and the disciples didn’t even have time to eat” (v 31).

Jesus said to his disciples “come apart into a deserted place, and rest awhile”. They got into a boat and went away to a deserted place by themselves. Of course we know what happened next.

Time out is a good strategy in sports. When the game needs to be slowed down, when tired players need a breather or instructions from the coaching box need to be sent to the players, a call for time out is what is needed.

Time out is also a wise principle in everyday living. We need time out to slow down from our busy lives. We need to hear our coach Jesus’ encouragement, his words of support and to take stock of where we are and where we are going. Asses our shortcomings and review ways to improve.

Jesus did not feel guilty about taking time out, He didn’t make his disciples feel guilty either. They were human and so was he. They had a hectic life and there was a sense of urgency to get as much done as possible in the short time that Jesus had in this world. Jesus had no qualms about having a little bit of time away from the pressures that had been placed upon him by others. He has a concern though for his disciples, after all they had just come back from a strenuous mission. So, He says “Let’s get away for a bit of quiet time and rest”.

All of us have days where we need that kind of invitation. We cannot keep up the pace under constant pressure from all directions. Jesus knew that they had to retreat so that they might be refreshed and renewed to continue to do what needed to be done.

We hear of Jesus doing this kind of thing often. In the first chapter of Mark, we are told” early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place and prayed there”. The disciples didn’t see the need for this when there was so much to be done, they searched for Jesus and when they found him said” everyone is looking for you”, In other words ……. Come on let’s get busy!

When Jesus was about to be arrested, what did he do? He went with the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, and there, went to a lonely spot and prayed.

Jesus had a lot of important things to do, nevertheless, he took time to go to a quiet place and pray.
God the creator laid down a very clear principle in Genesis. He said “you have ………..six days in which to do your work, but the seventh is a day of rest dedicated to me.”

God made us and he of all people knows better than we do, that we need time out. An intended day of rest. A time to collect our thoughts and think about our lives, where we are going, our relationship with God and others and to spend time in prayer. It is a time to worship God and time to step away form our daily routines and encapsulate ourselves in ……. Well, whatever it is that makes you relax.

In fact, a part of everyday should have time out from what keeps us busy and replaced with a moment to sit in the quiet presence of God.

Sometimes we need to change our pace of living. We can’t serve God if we are fatigued, our nerves are frayed, and our heads are in a spin.

God has given us everything, but he wants us to bring before him our daily needs. The best way we can do this is to be alone with Him, away from the racket of the outside world and the din of people’s voices. It has been suggested that this work is the most important of all the work we need to do each day. If the labour of prayer does not precede as well as accompany our everyday work, then we run the risk of a stressful day getting on top of us.

Prayer couples the powers of heaven to our helplessness.

Sadly, our busyness has overtaken the importance of time out and has instead created an opportunity for Satan to mess with us.

Jesus knows how stressed we can become, that we will get our priorities upside down. Our lifestyle may take a toll on our health, our relationships with our family and friends, not to mention how it impacts on our closeness to our Spiritual Father.

The good news is this, and yes there is good news!
And all God’s people said ????............. Hallelujah.

No matter how far we separate ourselves from God through our own actions, the reality is that he has never and never will leave our side. So long as we continue to walk in the light, we will have a shadow. And that shadow is Jesus. If we are walking towards the light our shadow will always be behind us, He will always have our back. And if we turn out back on the light, our shadow will always go before us, showing us the way, a reminder and a sign that we have not been abandoned. And the thing is no matter how fast we run in any direction we can never shake off our shadow.

That is of course, provided we stay in the light. The moment we step into darkness our shadow disappears, and no matter which direction we take from that point onwards, our shadow is gone.

I want to read you a poem (Author unknown):

"I knelt to pray but not for long, I had too much to do.
I had to hurry to get to work for bills would soon be due.
So I knelt and said a hurried prayer, and jumped up off my knees.
My Christian duty was now done, my soul could rest at ease.
All day long I had no time to spread a word of cheer.
No time to speak of Christ to friends, they’d laugh at me, I fear.
No time, no time, too much to do, that was my constant cry.
No time to give to those in need but at last….. the time to die.
I went before the Lord, I came and stood with downcast eyes.
For in his hands God held a book; it was the book of life.
God looked into his book and said, “your name I cannot find.
I once was going to write it down…. But never found the time.”

It is important that we take the time, to take a little time to spend in quietness. Not to bombard God with all our junk thoughts and jibber jabber, but to be still and allow the quietness to overwhelm us. No talking. Just listening.

And who knows what you might hear!
I said at the beginning of this sermon that there was a verse that was a prelude to the feeding of the crowd that was soften overlooked or surpassed. Let me remind you what Jesus said in v31 – “Come with me by yourself to a quiet place and get some rest”.
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In closing I want to leave you with this old Spanish proverb.
“How beautiful it is to do nothing and then rest afterward”.
Amen.