Chasing Rest
By Caris Power --
As many of you know, I just returned from a beautiful two and a half weeks in the Caribbean. (It hardly feels real that I can say that!) I went with two friends from college that have remained good friends over the years. We wanted to celebrate over two decades of friendship and the unbelievable fact that we are all turning 40 this year. It was an incredibly relaxing trip in many ways; we didn’t have a lot planned and we had a pool at the house we were staying at. (You can’t get much more relaxed than having nothing to do but lounge in a tropical paradise, reading beside a pool or a turquoise blue ocean.)
Now that I’m back, one of the questions I get asked a lot is, “do I feel rested now?”
And I’m not exactly sure how to answer that. Was the trip restful? Yes. I got enough sleep. I wasn’t experiencing stress and enjoyed life more while on vacation. I felt more optimistic about things upon returning. I dug into God’s Word with my friends, discovered new tools for my spiritual life, and connected with a truly wonderful church community while there. So, yea, I got good rest.
There is something about taking a break and stepping away from work for a day or several weeks that helps the body and spirit reset. It’s what the Sabbath was created for. God knew that humans can only take so much, and vacation is kind of like one big extended Sabbath.
Now that I’m back, I wonder if rest is also available outside of vacation and outside of the Sabbath, because upon return I was reminded how quickly all the feel-goods and happy places can evaporate in the hustle and bustle and demands of our lives.
Before I left on vacation, the worship team spent time studying Mark 6. If you aren’t familiar with that chapter of Mark’s gospel, its an amazing section of scripture. Starting in verse seven you see Jesus sending out the 12 disciples to proclaim the Kingdom to the surrounding villages. Then, in the middle of that story, is smooshed a terrible story about Herod’s awful family beheading John the Baptist. That is followed by the disciples returning from their mission trip. Jesus, recognizing that they were pretty spent said, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”
I love that Jesus recognized that they needed rest and then moved to provide that for them. Or did he? As they seek to find a deserted place, the crowd follows them, Jesus has compassion on them, continues to teach them all day, and then what happens? The disciples, who are probably still tired, are looking at thousands of hungry people and asking Jesus to send them away to get food. And Jesus, who told the disciples to come away and get rest with him that day, absurdly tells them to feed the crowd.
Now, put yourself in the shoes of the disciples. You worked your tail off on a mission trip. It was awesome but exhausting. Jesus seems to understand all this and plans a retreat for you and your team. And you are so looking forward to what feels like a much needed time away, but then it gets interrupted, and Jesus, instead of protecting your retreat time, allows thousands of people to stick around, and he continues the mission, teaching them. So it’s now the end of another long day, and Jesus asks you to essentially fire up the soup kitchen and feed everyone.
I’m personally shocked that we don’t see the disciples totally lose it here. But as the story goes, they tell Jesus why this isn’t possible, and then Jesus does the impossible for them by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish and feeding over 5000 people.
It says later that the disciples’ hearts were hardened, and they did not understand the miracle.
Do I?
This miracle story began with Jesus retreating with the disciples for the purpose of finding rest. That opportunity for rest was interrupted.
Or was it?
Should I believe that Jesus did not anticipate that the crowds would follow when he promised rest to his disciples. Is it possible that rest was available to the disciples the day Jesus fed the 5000? Was there still rest available to the disciples while serving a bunch of lost and needy people?
I’m still not 100% sure I know the answer to that. Although I believe the key may lie in dependence and reliance on Jesus.
As I come back from vacation and the stress of work and life erases the rest I received on vacation, I want to ask Jesus if sabbath days, retreats, and vacations are our only sources of rest? Because even these feel inadequate solutions to my desperate need for rest.
I’m chasing rest. I believe I haven’t used up my two-week allotment of rest for the year. I have to believe that rest is available in the daily walk with my Savior. So I continue to lean in to Jesus, to his Word, and his Spirit, that is alive within me, to discover more of the kind of rest that I believe Jesus alluded to here.
Will you join me in the pursuit?