The Need for Rest

Gospel: Mark 6: 30-34

The disciples return from their mission trip and they are excited.  They accomplished much and they are eager to do more.  But Jesus tells them to go away to a deserted place and rest for a time.  The disciples are perplexed: we've done these great things, and look at this crowd following us! If we work a bit more, imagine the results.  But it is precisely the presence of the crowd that has Jesus advise them to rest.

Rest is physically necessary for us to be effective in our ordinary work, but in this scene that is not Jesus' concern.  The crowd is present with its incessant demands and ever shifting whims.  The disciples must go away to rest, to get perspective and be with God.  If they give themselves to the crowd they will get worn out, but worse: they will fall prey to inflated egos and cults of personality, ideologies, shifting loyalties, and ultimately the scorn of the crowd as their loyalties will eventually turn against you.

How often have we seen these cults of personality who all come to ruin! How often do we see pastors and lay folk rush blindly into political mass movements and ideologies, all of which lead to ruin! And how few go off for a while to a secluded place to be alone with God and find proper orientation.  Today is our reminder that it is necessary for all of us to be alone with God apart from the crowd, to follow the promptings of God in our life and not the whims of the crowd.