Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Year B July 21, 2024
“Come away to a deserted place and rest” (Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56)
About six years ago, George and I were on a Disney cruise, and we met the most wonderful people at dinner. As Disney still does assigned seating for dinner, we dined with Bill and Julia every night. The last night we were talking about retirement, I had retired a few months earlier and Julia asked me what I would do now, and I said, “travel, and I’ll supply at churches when needed.” Julia’s eyes lit up as she asked, “Would you consider leading worship in Topsail Beach, NC? We have a non-denominational church, and we have a different pastor each week. It’s a respite ministry. You can come up the Tuesday before you preach, relax and enjoy the beach and then lead worship and preach on Sunday morning. We’d be happy to sponsor you. “
I said, “sure” and the rest is history.
For one glorious week every year, George and I take a break from our routine and go to Topsail Beach, for rest, relaxation and a little preaching. No other responsibilities or demands from the community!
Emma Anderson is set up as a respite ministry.
It was started in the 1950’s and has always provided rest and restoration for visiting pastors and missionaries.
Our reading today gives us two short summaries of the activities of the apostles and Jesus and their need for rest.
Today we call that need for rest self-care. And while everybody talks about it, very few take care of themselves amid all the never-ending activities of our daily life.
Today Jesus graciously offers us an invitation to “come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while” (Mark 6:31)
These words spoken by Jesus to his apostles offer peace, rest and restoration amid the frenzied activity of caring for the people who come to them for help.
And yet, they get no rest. The crowds see where they’re going and somehow get there ahead of them. The crowds are people in need who have heard about Jesus and his healing ways, they’re desperately seeking hope in their lives.
Consequently, when they show up Jesus doesn’t have the heart to turn them away.
Jesus can’t refuse them, not here in this “deserted place” where they go for rest, sustenance and solitude. Just as he can’t refuse them in Gennesaret where they go a little later.
The apostles and Jesus are tired to the bone, for their days are filled with people who need to be healed, taught, even fed.
The apostles having just returned from their first mission, being sent out to do God’s work are exhilarated by their success, and yet emotionally and physically drained by the experience. They desperately need a break; they need to rest.
Rest. A break from all the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Rest. A chance to renew, to stop, to slow
Rest. No work, no phone, no interruptions, if only for a little while
Rest. An opportunity to stop doing so that you may simply be.
Rest, respite, restoration- all essential to our living into God’s hopes and dreams for us.
But many of us are so consumed with working, collecting, and “getting ahead” that we don’t have time to just “be together” enjoying the things we work for.
A few weeks ago, we talked about the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy. Sometimes we see that in a negative way, as something we must do, not as the gift it was intended to be, a gift that allows us to rest.
But Rolf Jacobsen, Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary points out that this commandment-or teaching- would have been unbelievably good news to people who were recently slaves, whose time was never their own and who never, ever had a guaranteed period of rest.
Imagine them saying, “You mean we get to rest? We even have to rest?! Glory Hallelujah!”[i]
When Jesus and his disciples are met by the crowds, Jesus, empathetic and compassionate, can’t turn them away, and so they minister to the people, even feeding the great crowds. These are people who have been abandoned by society, who have no voice, who have no one looking out for them and their needs. This is why Jesus sees the crowds as sheep without a shepherd, as people lost, with no one to guide them, no one to bring them hope, no one to care for or provide healing in their times of need. Jesus offers the crowds a safe place to be heard, healed, fed and to seek rest.
And when we see the crowds in this way, we realize that we too are part of the crowds that seek Jesus, having heard of the wonderous miracles he’s done.
We too are the ones who while laborers for the kingdom of God, are invited by Jesus to seek rest.
And that’s why I think our self-care so often fails.
It fails because we try to do it ourselves…
reading the right book,
seeking out the experts in the field,
determined that we can take a break and rest when we need it. Only to find that we get caught up more and more in the circle of activity, of daily life, and now we’ve added to our stress by taking on a new job, the job of providing ourselves with self-care.
But if we read the gospel closely, we find that Jesus is the one who offers rest, Jesus is the one who offers compassion and healing to the crowds, Jesus is the one who reaches out to us inviting us to rest when we are weary, to let him carry our burdens, to let him heal our body, minds, and soul.
Jesus calls each one of us to him so that he can provide us with the rest we need to continue God’s mission.
This is why respite care such as I experience when I go to Topsail Beach is so important.
We all need down time,
we all need healing of body and spirit,
we all need the Sabbath.
A gift from God that says, you are so important to me that I am giving you 1 day a week to rest, to play, to enjoy creation, and to worship me.
God loves us so much; he is so compassionate that he blesses us with the gift of rest.
Compassion for the needs of others, and rest which we all need to live into our calling as God’s children, as co-workers in God’s kingdom, bringing the good news of love and forgiveness to those who need to hear it the most.
So how do we get the rest we need and yet remain compassionate and empathetic to those who need our help and caring?
How do we let go and let God?
We remember that it is Jesus who invites us to rest
It is Jesus who, seeing the needs of the crowds around him, responds with compassion.
2000 years ago just as today, Jesus responds to our needs in compassion and love- and once we realize that –
once we realize the depth of his compassion and allow ourselves to be caught up into the reality of his never-ending love for us-
only then can we look around us, seeing and responding to the needs of those in our community with love and compassion.
As a leader in the church, I am called to let you know that the needs of the community are great. Despite all our efforts the crowds continue to grow and even multiply- the homeless, the poor, the sick, the elderly, those without a voice. And we are called to respond to their needs and help them to the best of our ability, always being open to new opportunities to respond, and always responding with love and compassion.
So, let go and let God, accept the invitation of Jesus to rest in him and his love, accept that respite from your daily duties and chores.
For if you do you will be amazed at how much lighter your heart is,
Amazed at how much love and compassion you are able to show to those in need when you yourself have rested in God’s love. Amen
[i] Rest - Working Preacher from Luther Seminary- Reverend Dr. David Lose July 15, 2015, viewed July 16, 2024
