Nougat 18

What do we do when Life’s pressing on us – Do we get overwhelmed, do we smartly retreat, do we crash and burn? In case we are unaware, Jesus had a system, one he must have practiced fairly regularly. We reflect on this in Today’s Holy Nougat

“He 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. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭6‬:‭31‬, ‭33‬ ‭NRSV‬‬

Come Away for a While

While we know that a biblical chapter is not necessarily a day’s work, we do tend to think of the sequence of events in that manner. For me, I may even know that another Gospel places the sequence differently, that’s my default process. So bear with me if you don’t quite see Mark 6 as a day’s work or even a season.

Even Jesus and the disciples had rough days and seasons. And that season was rough on the body and emotions. The chapter begins with Jesus being denied legitimacy by His peers, who were stuck on His human roots (a wood worker’s son) and possibly jealous of His ‘fame’. Their unbelief was such that healing and miracles proved challenging, obliging Jesus to minister elsewhere. [There’s a lesson here for us, we aren’t always going to find acceptance among those who knew us before our call to ministry].

Shortly after that experience ‘home’, Jesus has the pleasure of sending the disciples forth on their first mission – and they returned with reports of success. Thankfully, despite Jesus’ warnings then, it appears that they were positively received. All hope isn’t lost siblings.

But that marvelous high was short-lived. For they returned from the mission to news of Murder! John the Baptist, Jesus’ forerunner, met with a gruesome end: his decapitation being ordered like a hit by Herod’s wife/sister-in-law. Despite the recognition that Herod mistook Jesus for John the Baptist (they were maternal cousins!), that would have been a hard blow. John wasn’t Jesus’ mentor, but his ministry pointed the way to Jesus, and he was the one who baptized Jesus.

Is it any wonder that Jesus invited the disciples to recharge, to ‘Come Away for a While’?

For our mental, physical emotional and spiritual health, it is imperative that we make time to recharge from Life’s Lifing. Some of us don’t get a chance to recover when we ignore the signs. Many a leader, minister, or even ordinary person have died from ‘overwork’, simply because they failed to come away. Several succumbed to sexual and other sin because of the diminished capacity.

Making a habit of taking time for rest and recharging is important. We must know and understand our systems enough so that we recognize the symptoms. This is particularly important for our spiritual lives, as it’s easy to miss the signals. Hence our need to remain constant in prayer.

I pray that we are able, like Jesus did, to recognize when it’s time to retreat, and to do so accordingly.

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May all we seek be found in Christ