OT XVI [B] Jer 23:1-6, Eph 2:13-18, Mk 6:30-34

 Jesus sent out his disciples with the mission of bringing God's message to the people. When they came back from their mission they reported to Jesus all that they had done.  The demanding crowds were so insistent that they had no time even to eat; so Jesus took them to a lonely place that they might have peace and rest for a while.

Today's passage places before us the rhythm of the Christian life. Go out from the presence of God, into the presence of men, and return from the presence of men to the presence of God. It is like the rhythm of sleep and work.  We cannot work unless we have our time of rest; and sleep will not embrace anyone who has not worked until he is tired.

 This passage very clearly warns us against the danger of too constant activity. No man can work without rest; and no man can live his Christian life without giving time to be with God. Dallas Willard says that practicing silence and solitude is the most important spiritual discipline for people today. In our busy, noisy world we need to "unhook" and get away to be alone with our Lord.

Jesus began his public ministry with 40 days of withdrawal into the desert wilderness to fast and pray in silence and solitude. He was alone, hungry, hot and thirsty, surrounded by wild animals, and tested by Satan. But the truth of Jesus' fast is that the Father, the Scriptures, and ministering angels strengthened Jesus! His time alone with God and quietly focused only on him empowered him to resist Satan's temptations (which came at the end of the 40 days) and it focused and prepared him for his public ministry. Interspersed throughout Jesus' ministry of preaching, and healing, we see him withdraw from the crowds again and again – often getting up very early to do so – in order to be quiet and alone with the Father (e.g., Mark 1:35, 3:13, 6:31, 46).

Jesus' rhythm of life is the secret to how he got renewed in his Father's love and empowered by the Spirit for his life and ministry. In quiet prayer he listened to the Father and received discernment for many things.

Michael Faraday, an early pioneer of electromagnetic current, once addressed a convocation of scientists. For an hour, he held the audience spellbound with his lecture on the nature of the magnet. After he had finished, he received a thundering ovation. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, stood to congratulate him. The applause thundered again. Just as quickly, a deadened silence pervaded the audience. Faraday had left. It was the hour of a midweek prayer service in a little church of which he was a member. Do we have a similar commitment? One of the reasons we gather for worship each week is for the refreshment of our spirits, the recharging of our spiritual batteries. We need to shut the world out and focus our attention on God's presence in our lives. Jesus knew the value of getting away to a quiet place.

Our Sabbath rest is often misunderstood as a time of non-activity. It is a time away with Jesus and not a time to do nothing. Often our Sunday rest is just a relaxation and nothing more. We have to go with Jesus to deserted place. Throughout the Scriptures we find the purpose of rest as a means to center our hearts on God. In him alone we find true rest. All labor is oriented toward this ultimate goal.

 Sometimes we can wonder why we get so emotionally and spiritually exhausted by the busy-ness of our lives. It's because we aren't recharging our spiritual batteries. Stress, discouragement, and other crippling emotions can wear us out if we aren't daily reinforcing our faith in Jesus Christ.

Without prayer, study, and time alone with God, our well will soon run dry - we will have nothing substantial to offer others. We need to make a commitment to a regular prayer life, not one that shifts with our moods. We need to pray daily, to have a daily quiet time when we can speak to Christ, pray for our loved ones, reflect on the scriptures, or read some good, solid spiritual book.

It doesn't have to be a lot of time - ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes at night is a good start - but it has to be consistent, and that means self-discipline.

 

"The fruit of solitude," explains Richard Foster, "is increased sensitivity and compassion for others."

The crowd saw Jesus and his men going away. But some people walked round and were there before Jesus and his disciples arrived. They earnestly sought the company of men of God. More than ever, today, men crave to be in the company of   men of God, to experience the holiness of God. Today we are entrusted with this mission – to impart the experience of the holiness of God to our contemporaries. For that we require to do two things. First of all find time to be with God, secondly find time to be with men. Hence, the rhythm of Christian life is the alternative meeting with God in the secret place and serving men in the market place. Let’s try to find some true rest on Sunday, not going alone, but with Christ, who invites us come away by yourself to a deserted place and have some rest.