"Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."
By now you have probably seen the new Microsoft commercials that advertise its new search engine, Bing. In one a daughter comes in the room to ask her father if he has found her a new cell phone yet … he answers her by giving the history of how cells were discovered to be the basic building blocks of life, only to go off onto various related words, then involving her mother who says moms who wear jeans to match their teen's jeans. Or in another a wife asks her husband if he has gotten those tickets to Hawaii with his string of words ending with something to do with talk. The focus of all the Bing ads involve people with blank stares suffering from what Microsoft calls search overload. Bing of course is supposed to be the cure for that.
Have you ever felt your life was running on something like search overload? That there were too many demands being made on you, too much pressure building up, too many cares, too many worries, too much of just about everything … until you are full up to overload and cease to function in a coherent fashion … much like those persons on the Bing commercial who are only able to utter a string of unconnected words and phrases together.
Even as we know we are doing too much … someone I know once said we were becoming human doings and were no longer human beings … we are elevating busy-ness to an art form. We brag about it … we fill our schedules and pack every moment of the day. We try to top each other's busy-ness – I'm so busy this week, I don't have a free moment of the day … to which the next person might say, that's nothing … I'll be going non-stop for the next two weeks. To help us going with our busy-ness obsession we have energy drinks, extra caffeinated sodas, coffee with additional shots of espresso and so on. We are sleep deprived and weary as we take pride in how much we can do … and as we take pride in this we convince ourselves that we have become responsible for it all … the earth might stop turning if we don't keep it spinning, we can find salvation on our own … it's all up to us.
"Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."
By the time we read this invitation by Jesus to the disciples in the 6th chapter of Mark, they have criss-crossed the Sea of Galilee many times. It is not until now, however that the "why" of their crossing becomes apparent. Jesus called the disciples to go out on the water so many times like this because they needed a break. They needed a time when no one could get to them, when no one could interrupt them, when no one could find them … a time when they were alone with themselves and Jesus in the world. I once had the odd experience of a couple of hours when no one in the world knew where I was. I had been traveling in London with my mother and cousin for several days. We were parting company, they to go on to the town of Bath, I to go on to meet up with another friend in north of London, but I was going to call her when I got into Oxford. I left my mother and cousin at a bus station and continued on to get a train at Victoria Station. As I boarded the train I realized that there was no one at that moment in time who knew what my travel plans were. I found the experience freeing and restful … in this small space of time, I could simply be and rest in the moment.
Mark's gospel condenses the boat ride across the sea into a short sentence and it is sandwiched between their reporting of activities and more demands on Jesus. Even though it is just a sentence we know that the journey in the boat took time … that while on the boat they had a stretch, a place where they could simply bask in the presence of Jesus. Friends together, in a quiet place. It was a time to remember that they were called together by Jesus to be God's presence in the world. The disciples had just finished the work that Jesus had sent them to do … going out into towns and villages with nothing for there journey but the clothes on their back. Jesus and the disciples were grieving the murder of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod. They were in desperate need of this break … more than a regrouping, it was a time to disconnect from the world and remember that no matter what happened the source of their strength and being came from the love of God. You need a quiet place, free from the noise of the world, to hear that truth and be renewed.
Come away and rest awhile … what soothing words. What a contrast this call is to the frenzied schedules we pack into our days. We are connected with the world 24/7 if not on our computers, it is with our cell phones. We can talk, text, type and find someone no matter where they are or what the time. How hard it is to hear the voice of God if we are constantly chattering or listening to the chatter of others. What would it look like for you to heed the call of Jesus in this text and find a time to simply be in his presence? Jesus calls us to disconnect from the buzz of phones and people and things to do and come away for a bit so that we can re-connect with the source of our love and being. I challenge you in the coming week to spend some time each day, if you don't already, when you disconnect from everything but being in the presence of God. Take off your hands free head set for your phone, get away from the computer, the TV and your ipods. Be unavailable to everything and everyone except for God and simple rest in God's presence. How many are willing to give 15 minutes a day this week and go off to a quiet place. You have to be intentional about finding a place, leaving behind all the trappings of worldly connected-ness. Be alone with God each day that you might find rest for your weariness, comfort for your troubles and renewal to go and be the presence of God in the world and do the work that Christ sets before us.
And there my friends, is the post script to the rest that Jesus calls us away to … . His call to the disciples came in the midst of all the demands and trials their ministry was bringing their way – being sent two by two to teach and heal, learning of John the Baptist's murder, and knowing what waited for them on the other side of the lake. What are we being called to do in this church that would place us in such high demand that we needed to sail across the lake a few times in order to find rest? Jesus calls away to times of rest not only for the frenzy that is of our own making, but also because he knows how high the cost of following him truly is.
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