Did Jesus Say, “Rest a While”?

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, 55and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

Did Jesus Say, “Rest a While”?

You know, some people believe that a pastor has all the answers, and we pastors are so wise that we know that this is not true. We know that we disagree on a lot of issues, and sometimes we have to try very hard to get along with each other. 

 Sometimes we disagree sharply that our friendship is threatened. But in as much as you love the person with whom you disagree, you are not repelled but rather grieved in Spirit.

And what I try to do in situations  where disagreement threatens our relationship is I try to make the other person laugh. There are jokes we could tell that don’t denigrate any besides ourselves, and it feels good to be laughed at…and believe me, I’ve been laughed at.

Because every relationship is priceless and friends are the most important thing in the world.

I believe that Jesus had a lot of friends, and there were twelve who were his nearest and dearest. Because they were friends, they would have laughed with each other.

And what we read today is pretty funny. The disciples are telling their stories of their recent mission trip, and Jesus says, “I think we need a rest; let’s head across the lake and a find a desolate spot.” Anyone who has ever been on a mission trip knows that you’re both excited and exhausted when you return. You need some rest.

And we might chalk it up to circumstance, that when Jesus and his shipmates landed on the opposite shore that they were not going to rest. Jesus had a way of not growing weary when he saw human need. And though the disciples are tired they’re in. There’s work to be done; let’s do it.

But the fact that Jesus preached for the next however-many hours might have caused some division between the disciples. By division I mean, there were some who hung on every word that came out of Jesus’ mouth, and there were those whose mind wandered, and it might have wandered into unconsciousness.

I know; these are disciples! They’re not supposed to doze off during a sermon, especially from Jesus.

 So let’s suppose that they had all stayed awake and listen to what Jesus said,

And let’s suppose that whatever he said kept everyone enthralled for the full day,

That just means by the end of the service, you’re ready to get home. But your home is on the other side of the lake, and it’s getting dark. And by now you just want to get home; you’ve been wanting to get some rest for quite a while.

But wait a minute…there are some verses missing, and those verses give us a bit of humor.

You see, what happens next is that the crowd won’t leave. I suppose they’re hungry and hoping this great teacher can provide us with some sustenance

Or some compensation for our sitting through your sermon. Who knows?

The point is that they won’t go unless we tell them to leave, and Jesus just won’t do that, at least not until they’re fed.

Disciples:              O great. We have hardly enough for ourselves.

Jesus:                      Give it to me.

Then, “Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all” (Mark 6:41).

Miracle of miracles! As one theological scholar put it, “That’s dinner and a show!”

But now it’s late. And Jesus is dismissing the disciples to go home and go now. Why? A storm brewing?

If there was a storm brewing it’s awfully strange that Jesus wants to go up the mountain to pray. Maybe there was going to be a wind, and Jesus figured we’d better go now.

Now here’s where I think I would be the disciple who raised his hand and said with a yawn, “You know we  came all this way to get some rest, do I stay here or go home?”

And the truth is, I don’t know what the circumstances were, but you just fed 5,000 people, and I would bet that if you asked three people in the crowd if they could put you up for the night, someone would gladly find room for you.

You know, if I were one of the seven dwarfs at this time rather than one of the twelve disciples, I would have been ‘Sleepy’ at this point in the day.

The revival has been great, but I need to get some rest…

And scripture says, “Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.”

Why did he make them? Did he hear Grumpy or Dopey complain about long work hours?

Or maybe there were some like me who just said, “I’d rather stay here.

But if Jesus insists, we better go.

And they cross the lake quickly and safely, and go right to bed and feel refreshed when they wake up…

NOT

There’s this f$^%ing headwind that is making it difficult for you to getting where you need to go, and the lake is choppy, and sometimes we end up going backwards…

And did I mention that I had a long day?

But Jesus told us to go…

This is where I wonder if Jesus was laughing.

Because, he’s still wound up; he’s going to spend some time in prayer, and we don’t know what Jesus was going to pray about.

Did he meet some people whose struggles were so severe it seemed that nothing could bring them out of despair but prayer?

Perhaps there were more people waiting up the mountain for him so he could get in one more healing.

We just know that a squall has overtaken the poor disciples, who are beyond exhaustion,

And who comes to their rescue? I’ll give you three guesses.

“(Jesus) immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’

Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased.”

What a way to cap off the evening;

“Jesus just told the wind to quiet down, and get this, it did!!”

Okay, it has maybe 20 hours since Jesus said, “Let’s get some rest, and you arrive at verse 53, back to the lectionary reading,

And it’s morning of the next day – post sermon, post feeding, post storm-calming – and what’s this? Not Bethsaida?

Jesus:  Well boys, here we are in beautiful Gennesaret. Time to get to work.

And many people were healed.

“And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.” (Mark 6:56).

Didn’t Jesus say, “Let’s rest awhile”?

And you know that when we read the stories of Jesus we have to remember that we’re not reading a diary; we’re getting stories of particular events.

And I don’t know about you, but there have been days and times that so many things happen around us all in one day. Amazing things! Glorious things!

Those are times that you’ll never forget, and times shared with a group of guys who wanted to find a better way, and found that Way in Jesus.

And I’ll bet that the friendship they shared only grew stronger as they traveled around.

And some days were better than others.

And still I bet there were times, times perhaps when they did find rest,

And I’ll bet that at least once, one of the disciples said to Jesus,

“You remember that day when you took us to a quiet place to do, what was it, rest?”

And there would be great mirth around the table.

My message: You’re gonna have long days in mission, sometimes long two-days, or three or more. You’ll never forget them. You will witness God at work in splendid ways.

But there will be days.

And even if you hear Jesus say to you, “Let’s rest awhile,” well, maybe things will happen that weren’t expecting, things that will call you to go beyond where you would normally, like to bed.

Disciples are always on call, and sometimes we feel a bit understaffed,

But we are persistent and confident that if it’s God’s will and we put all we have into it, it’ll happen. People will be fed, people will be taught, people will be healed, and Jesus will calm the storm when we face it.