by Fr. Bill Garrison
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
Well, we are a small group these days as summer flies by. I am hopeful people are getting some rest. Between COVID and trying to make a living, things have been pretty stressful for quite a while now. I am hopeful that we can continue to make progress against the virus and that we can return to a place of safety for all people. However, I am particularly concerned for the doctors and nurses that have been working incredible hours and risking their lives for the last year and a half. I especially pray for them as we watch the number of unvaccinated people getting sick as this new version of the virus takes hold and hospitalizations increase.
Rest, and the importance of rest, is what I want to chat with you about today. To get us started here is a quick story about a guy attempting to get some rest. First though a story about a fellow off on his vacation.
He had been driving all night and by morning was still far from his destination. He decided to stop at the next city he came to, and park somewhere quiet so he could get an hour or two of sleep. As luck would have it, the quiet place he chose happened to be on one of the city's major jogging routes. No sooner had he settled back to snooze when there came a knocking on his window.
He looked out and saw a jogger running in place. “Yes?” “Excuse me, sir,” the jogger said, “do you have the time?”
The man looked at the car clock and answered, “8:15”. The jogger said thanks and left. The man settled back again, and was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window and another jogger. “Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?” “8:25!” The jogger said thanks and left.
Now the man could see other joggers passing by and he knew it was only a matter of time before another one disturbed him. To avoid the problem, he got out a pen and paper and put a sign in his window saying, “I do not know the time!” Once again, he settled back to sleep. He was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window.
“Sir, sir? It's 8:45!”
If we pay attention to the Ten Commandments, we are confronted with one of the ten that tells us to keep holy the Sabbath day. For the few of you that don’t know this, the Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and ends as the sun goes down on Saturday evening. During that period of time, we are asked to rest and recoup from the week just past. We can enjoy each other’s company, read, watch some TV, take naps, have a nice meal or two, and think about our God. The big thing is that we are to refrain from working.
Now if you remember, Jesus argued quite a bit about the rules for Sabbath observance with those in charge in his day. Simply put he was injecting a little common sense into the rules for Sabbath. Conduct had become more important than the people. He wanted everyone to remember that God created Sabbath for the people, not vice versa.
Now if God, who created us, thinks we are well served by a day off every seven days why do we have such a hard time following God’s suggestion? The fact is most of us don’t follow God’s suggestion at all.
The guy chatting with you is as big an offender as anybody. I’m also preaching to myself. The Romans would have loved me. They believed in gravitas, a way of living, part of which demands we work seven days a week. The Romans simply couldn’t understand those Israelites who demanded a day off every seven days. Well, it seems to me, in this modern age of faster and faster, more and more, all of us are being asked to be available all the time, 24/7. Welcome to the Merry-Go-Round.
So, let’s imagine. What would happen if we put our own welfare a little higher on the list of things to be accomplished? It’s a different answer for each of us, but in our heart of hearts we know things would not fall apart. The simple fact is that we can’t break the habit of being available all the time. I submit we fight our own tendencies more than anything else.
Bishop Anderson, who passed away a few years ago, a wonderful man, used to suggest we take a calendar and circle one or two days a month. Those were days we were intentionally not going to be available. The were to be days off. For me that would be a Bill day. I tried it a few times. The work still got done and those that tried to contact me waited a day to talk to me and that turned out to be fine. However, I also confess that I have lost the habit to the business disease. It has slowly taken back over. I wonder how that happened.
Would it make sense to use Jesus as our example for living once again? He honored the Sabbath in his own way. I think it was a really big deal to him and he knew how helpful Sabbath might be if honored in the way God intended. He also took time off to pray and be alone. He spent time with his friends. He rested.
And let’s think about what we might gain if we took some time for ourselves? Probably we would find we have a more positive attitude a lot more often. We would probably be more efficient in everything we did. Our relationships with those we love and the world around us would be in better shape for sure. Our relationship with God would be more meaningful. I get the feeling every facet of life would be improved.
Hmmmm. As I think about it maybe it’s worth another try.