An Invitation to Work and Rest
For Meditation
In this interesting story from the book of Mark, Jesus is training his disciples on how to be leaders in his community. He commissions them to go and do great work in his name. And they do amazing things! They cast out demons, heal the sick, and preach the gospel. They come back bubbling over with excitement about their new-found powers, likely expecting Jesus to give them an even greater commission. Instead, Jesus barely even acknowledges their success, and simply invites them to “come away with me and rest awhile.” In the words of Ruth Haley Barton, "He seemed to be much more concerned about helping them to establish rhythms that would sustain them in ministry rather than allowing them to become overly enamored by ministry successes or inordinately driven by their compulsions to do more.”
Life in the modern world is like a never-stopping speed train. We work so hard, move at such a fast pace, and know only one speed: full throttle. We work so hard and then crash on the weekends or a vacation getaway. But it rarely leaves us truly rested, and more often than not our lives and schedules feel out of control.
Jesus is inviting us into a different rhythm, one that is ancient and goes right back into the beginning of creation. In Genesis 1 and 2, we learn that God worked for six days and then he rested. And then he bakes that pattern of work and rest right into creation, even in the way he makes us. We we were made for meaningful and creative work that mirrors God’s own creative work in creation, but we were also made for rest and replenishment, finding restoration and joy in simply being God’s beloved.
This Sunday we’ll look at why it is so difficult to follow a sane pattern of work and rest in the frenetic environment we live in, and how we can take steps to move toward a life of abundance that has rest right at the center.
Mark 6:6b–13; 31–32
6 Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
31 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.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.