Rest for the Weary, Healing for the Soul Mark 6:30-34; 53-56

When you were in your 30s I bet you dreamed of retirement. You thought I can’t wait to retire, be the boss of my own time, travel the world, play, and do what I want to all the time. If A person said to you when you were 30 that they were retired you would probably reply “oh how lucky you are that you are retired and can slow down. While true that as retirees you no longer punch a time clock, I bet there have been plenty of other things that have replaced your “work” busyness. My father and my room-mates father have both recently retired. I think sometimes our mother’s wish that they hadn’t. I know that my father has found plenty of stuff to replace his “work” time and he has found plenty to keep him busy. If he doesn’t find it for himself, other people find it for him. Many retired folks become surrogate parents for their grandchildren, picking them up from school, taking them to doctors’ appointments, having sleepovers. Many retired folks re-enter the work force changing careers to something they enjoy doing more, yet that still requires their time. This was true of my father. He is a businessman turned barbecue caterer. If he is not barbecuing you will find him working the garden, picking up a child from school, or volunteering at church or cooking breakfast at the Vets Shelter. Sometimes I think he is busier now than he was before he retired. I have been here at Heather Glenn and Ardenwood several times now. I’ve walked the halls and looked at activity calendars at both places, I’ve talked to some of you and I have perused the website. There is plenty to keep you busy. In fact an advertisement for Heather Glenn Assisted living boasts of “walking through the door to a bustle of activity” You have field trips, activities, medication taking, family visits, walks, meals, bible studies, game time. You hear noises that can be tiresome and the list continues. . We are a busy society whether you are a baby or a retiree, our society has something beckoning to keep you busy. This makes the message from the first section of our readings today universally applicable to all. Let’s hear it again: 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 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.” Let’s stop and explore there for a few minutes. If we look back earlier in this chapter we know that Jesus, frustrated by lack of respect for him in his hometown, decided it was time to move forward in getting his mission out to the gentiles. He sent his disciples out to bring the Good News of God’s kingdom and to heal people and cast out demons. This is the first time in the book of Mark that the disciples are sent out on their own to do ministry. They have been following Jesus and assisting him and now he decides it’s time to send them out. That story picks up here when the apostles have returned to report back to their teacher all that they have done. Jesus recognized a need in the disciples. People just kept coming so much so that they had not even had a chance to eat. Jesus recognized that the disciples needed to rest, they needed to rejuvenate their bodies and their souls. Jesus knows that God has designed our body systems to need food and rest. Food and rest are essentials to life. They are the fuel for our energy. What happens to a car when it runs out of gas? It stops; it will go no further until the owner refuels it. Think about batteries. When things operate on batteries and the battery runs out of juice, what happens? The things die. Hearing aids don’t enable you to hear anymore, power wheelchairs will not take you where you need to be, The Wii game system doesn’t work anymore, and you are no longer able to talk on your cell phone. The other thing you will notice about batteries is that you get a signal that they are getting ready to crash. A hearing aid starts whistling, the smoke detector chirps every so often, the battery meter flashes read, your gas needle sits on empty. So it is with our bodies when they are not given the necessary fuel of food and rest to re-energize and re-build. Our bodies give us signals such as sleepiness, foggy brains, growling to nauseous stomachs, dark eyes, dizziness, grumpiness, aches, pains, a weak immune system, and the list goes on. These are all things that signal us that it is time to rest, it is time to refuel. Jesus knew that the disciples were going to crash and be out of commission if not allowed time to rejuvenate. Jesus knows the same of us. So the first lesson today is very simply; Take time out to rest and to eat, to nourish your bodies, to refuel. Secondly Jesus teaches us with who and where to gain rest. He says Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place. Get away with Jesus and sometimes with other companions that you have a common journey with. There are four groups of people that I seek Solace and comfort from when I am weary and in need of rest. My family, My Sunday School Class, A new spiritual group that I am a part of, and a group of ladies I once played softball with. What all these folks have in common is that I’ve shared a journey with them and have connected with them. They know me the good the bad and the ugly and they continue to love me. I find rest and energy from them. I find the things necessary to refuel. Sometimes it is also important to just be alone. Jesus exemplifies this practice many times in his ministry when important things are about to happen. He goes off by himself and he prays. We can find rest and peace and rejuvenation in our contact with God. Let’s read on: 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. The disciples were in the boat on their way to a solitary place but people recognized them leaving and chased after them and were waiting for them. The solitary place was no longer solitary. Jesus has compassion on them because they were like a sheep without a shepherd so Jesus begins ministering to them. I’m reminded here of a lady whose brother was at the hospital awaiting the delivery of his first son with the knowledge that the son would be born without life and that at the same time he welcomed his son into the world he would also have to say goodbye. The sister stayed by her brother’s side at the hospital for more than 24 hours, catching a 5 minute nap here and there. She was tired and weary, and heartbroken. She left the hospital and drove to her mother’s house about 5 minutes away and as she drove in the driveway with plans to go into her mother’s house and go to sleep her brother called. The funeral home was meeting with them and he wanted her to be there with him. She went inside her mother’s house and just cried thinking that she didn’t have any more left. But, she got a clean shirt from her mother and a new toothbrush and changed shirts and brushed her teeth and went back out the door and headed to the funeral home. She spent the rest of the day planning the funeral, going from store to store to get the materials needed for the funeral and just simply being with her brother. God gave her the energy she needed for that task. When our rest gets interrupted God is there with us giving us what we need to make it through until there is time to get away and refuel. Why does Jesus allow the rest to be interrupted? “Because the crowd was like sheep without a shepherd.” What is a shepherd’s job? My former pastor, Rob Fuquay, described this just a couple of weeks ago. At the end of the day the Shepherd leads the sheep into the gate of a pen where they will find rest for the night. The next day he opens the gate and leads the sheep out to the pasture to do what they need to do. Jesus says I am the Shepherd. He also says I am the gate. It is through Jesus that we find our rest. Jesus says come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Much like Jesus’ rest was interrupted, so is this story in Mark. Mark interrupts the telling of the disciples returning to report to Jesus with two other stories. One was of the feeding of the multitudes; the other story is of Jesus calming the storms. Those two stories can easily spur on sermons of their own so we skip over them today to get to the rest of the story of the disciples return. Let’s hear that part again as we turn from lessons about rest and nourishment to lessons about the healing power of Jesus. 53. When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. Jesus and the disciples were able to rest on the boat on the way to the other side but as soon as they set down their anchors and got out of the boat people recognized Jesus. Thus the first step toward healing was the recognition that Jesus was the source of healing. How do we recognize Jesus? By having spent time with him or with others who have spent time with him. We get to know who Jesus is by listening to or reading the stories of his life. We commit those stories to memory. I’ve been reading a series of books by author Karen Kingsbury. What always strikes me about the characters she writes about is the ease with which just the right scripture comes to mind when it is needed to bring about guidance, direction, comfort, strength, reassurance, or healing. What does that mean? It means recognition by those characters that Gods word is indeed a lamp unto our feet and a light unto my heart. We should write the words on our hearts for when they are written on our hearts they are easily recalled in our minds in times of need. The second lesson regarding healing is that people bring those in need of healing to Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. I am reminded of the story of the house that was too crowded to get a lame man through to see Jesus and his friends carried him to the roof top and lowered him into the house and into the presence of Jesus for healing. There are really two lessons here. First we must recognize when our companions on this journey have a need and we must be willing and ready to carry them to Jesus. Secondly, when we are in need of healing we need to be open to our need to have companions that will carry us to Jesus, who will bring us into the presence of the one who heals. Finally we must be willing to do our part in the healing. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. By taking the step of faith to reach out and touch the hem of his garment the sick participated in their own healing. We must be willing to go to Jesus. Your challenge this week my friends is this: Listen to your bodies signals and refuel your body physically, spiritually and mentally. Trust in the knowledge that Jesus is with you in the times that you are weary. Recognize that when Rest must be interrupted Jesus is there with you providing the extra that you need until such time that you find rest. Recognize when you are needed to carry a friend to Jesus. Let your friends carry you to Jesus when they see that you are in need of healing. Finally be in the word and get familiar enough with the stories of Jesus that when you are in need you recognize him. Go, reach out, touch the hem…..see what happens. Thanks be to God.