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Who We Are - Sermon, Sunday, August 10th, 2003
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Mark 6:30-34 as follows —
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
So you say that you can't sit down for more than a couple of minutes without dozing off? You tell me you can't remember the last time you did not feel run down? You say your body is all achin' and wracked with pain, your mind is fuzzy, your brain fogged in? You admit that you're short-tempered, impatient, easily aggravated, just generally not all that much fun to be around? You tell me that you're anxious, you worry, you're so restless that no matter how tired you are, you can't seem to sleep at night? Do you feel like you can't get up the energy to do more than the bare minimum you need to do each day, and if anybody asks you for more, you resent it?
Do any of these words describe you — beat, bushed, weary, worn out, run down, fatigued, exhausted, drained, frazzled? How about these — unmotivated, unenthusiastic, unhappy, unsatisfied, just about un-everything? Well, barring major health problems, if any of this fits you even a little, then maybe I should ask you this: ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE GETTING ENOUGH REST? That may seem like a simple question; in reality, it's a serious question that begs for some serious reflection on the part of Jesus' disciples today.
I'm sure I could indentify some members of this church who needed some extra rest the past couple of days — those who served on our Vacation Bible School staff. Most of them worked as usual all day long and then, for five straight evenings, put in several more hours of serving — preparing, teaching, shepherding, ministering to the 120 participants in our VBS. They could tell you that such ministry is hard work!
I suspect that they can relate, at least a little, to how the Twelve felt when they got back to Capernaum after completing their training mission. On the one hand, the apostles were excited, pumped up, eager to talk about their experiences, full of questions. But they were tired, too, from long days and short nights, traveling from one village to another. Worn out from the stressful work of ministering to others and drained, also, by the emotional highs and lows they'd experienced. Jesus well understood what they needed right then. They needed some rest, but they couldn't get it because of the crowds. All those people pressing, demanding, needing, wanting, insisting. You've experienced that, right? Times when you're all but worn out, yet there are all these people who need you, depend on you, demand your time and attention and energy.
The Lord knew what his disciples needed, so he invited them — and it must have been music to their ears —"Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Get some rest, some time off, away from the crowds, a break from their labors! But it was also more than that: time by themselves with Jesus. Time to talk about things, time for him to debrief them, instruct them, answer their questions and reload them for more ministry.
The Lord knew that they needed, first of all, physical, mental and emotional refreshing. Even Jesus himself, being fully human, needed that. And the Lord God, our Creator, knows that we need it. With his Sabbath command to Old Testament Israel, God stamped REST as a precious blessing, a needful thing. For those under that law in the time before Christ, the Lord reserved an entire day each week for resting!
Are you sure you're getting enough rest? Surely it would be wise for us to understand our need for rest and to treasure God's gift of rest. Time off from our labors, rest for mind and body is a blessing when it's used as God intended. It's a blessing when we use it to repair and refresh ourselves for doing the meaningful things God has given us to do. Jesus had plenty more work for the Twelve, and that's why he wanted them to get some rest. How about you? Are you sure you're getting enough rest? A bigger question is: Are you using rest as your Maker designed it to be used?
Now, rest can mean different things, of course. It can mean sleeping in for an extra hour after a grueling week. It can mean taking a day off once in a while, or getting away for the weekend, or for a long weekend, or every weekend! Rest can mean a 15-minute power nap or a 5-week vacation or early retirement. It seems to me that nowadays, for many, it means this: time for me to go off and do whatever it is that I enjoy doing.
The word people use for that is recreation. I found two definitions for "recreation" in the dictionary. The first one is: "refreshment of one's mind or body after work." Recreation is what we do to re-create us when we're worn out, so we can go back to work again. The second meaning is just one word: "play." The big question is, how do we use rest, time off, recreation? Is our goal to be re-energized for serving God and the people who need us? Or is recreation the goal itself? Is it simply self-serving playtime? If that's the case, then rest has become a curse, nothing more than a self-centered pursuit of personal enjoyment.
And then it's something that gets mightily in the way of our greater needs. It was a great need that Jesus saw later that day. As it turned out, his plan to get some rest didn't pan out; the crowds figured out where he was going and ran for miles and caught up with him. And in spite of his desire for rest, Jesus looked at those people and was moved, not with irritation nor frustration nor anger; No, "He had compassion on them." He could see the real picture: "they were like sheep without a shepherd." What the Lord saw was restless human beings, lost, anxious, aimless, helpless, troubled, confused, doomed.
and therefore troubled by their fear of death. Unable to get rid of their restlessness because it had spiritual roots, and offered no help by their teachers who only laid bigger guilt trips on them, they needed what Jesus had. So, "he began to teach them many things." That day, before he set the table with bread and fish, he set the table with spiritual food. He fed them with the Word that reveals him, the Word that gives life, the soul-food that gives rest to the weary and relief to the burdened.
The Son of God told them: "I've come to take away your sin and guilt, to make peace between you and your God. I've come to lift the burden from your heart, your conscience, your soul. I've come to release you from the impossible assignment of making yourselves acceptable to God; I've come to do that for you. I've come to free you from the fear of his righteous judgment, for I will suffer for you and pay in full the debt you owe. I've come to obtain for you pardon, forgiveness, and the life with God that never ends."
"Come to me for what you need above all," Jesus urged them, and "come to me" is his timeless invitation to all — to the flawed, the disobedient, the guilty, the troubled, the restless. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest...come to me, and you will find rest for your souls."
Dear friends, are you sure you're getting enough rest? I mean, the kind your soul needs? The kind that refreshes us deep down, relieves our guilt, renews our faith, revives our spirits? The kind of rest that re-creates us for purposeful, thankful, God-glorifying and truly happy lives? That's the kind of rest you don't get by just "getting away from it all." You don't get that rest by looking at mountains. No, you only get it by getting away, as often as you can, to a quiet place with Jesus.
Physical rest is something we all need, but the rest that we need above all — spiritual rest for our souls — only our Savior can give us that. There on that hillside, Jesus set the table for all those restless people with food for their souls, his Word of grace and pardon and eternal life. Today, you don't have to do what they did, chase Jesus down on foot across the miles. He's as close as the Bible on your nightstand. He's as close as your church and its sacred services held every week. He's as close as Word and Sacrament, in which he comes to you and grants relief. Are you sure you're getting enough rest? Today he still invites you, "Come with me to a quiet place and get some rest." Happy indeed are those who accept the invitation — not just every now and then, but who make it the habit of a lifetime! Amen.