"Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. 'Simon,' he said to Peter, 'are you asleep? Couldn't you keep watch for one hour?'" - Mark 14:37
Today is Wednesday. At twelve noon, you will find yourself as far as one can be from the rest and renewal that is known, for most, as the weekend. At noon Wednesday, the weekend will be both two and a half days behind you and also two and a half days in front of you. Yes, it's a simple thought, but it calls us to think about both our hunger for rest and also what we might do when rest is far, far away.
In today's Bible verses, Jesus is as far from rest as he'd ever be. Jesus's primary source of rest and renewal was in relationships, and yet Jesus was beginning to taste a growing distance from three key relationships: 1) the Twelve disciples, 2) humanity as a whole, and 3) most of all, God the Father. Moreover, as Jesus begins to move toward his death on the cross, he finds himself at the point where 1) the disciples have literally started to fall asleep on him instead of hanging in there with him, 2) the sin and unfaithfulness of all humanity are beginning to weigh on Jesus as the full force will then crush him on the cross, and 3) the consequence of our sin will require that Jesus, God's Son, will taste being forsaken by the Father as Jesus will cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Jesus is far, far away from rest. And he's tasting it in the weariness of isolation.
As a pastor, I hear people talk about their own extreme weariness and isolation. To be sure, people are around, but to many, it feels like friends are "falling asleep," and humanity is in its "I've got my own troubles" mode, and God seems, well, distant. Rest seems, and is, far, far away.
I hear this not just from people who live alone and not just from single parents but also from "well-connected" people and from married couples, who speak of sitting in the same room but feeling miles and miles apart.
The worst part, as Jesus experienced in today's Bible verse, is when no one cares to listen and no one seems to care.
What are we to do? We're to do what Jesus did. We're to stop and remember, "Hey, this is why I'm here!" For Jesus, it was being the light of the world, a light shining in the darkness. As he says in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." For us, Jesus says, we're to let the light of Christ shine through us, as in Matthew 5:16, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
If life in the world can be wearying for the Son of God, who became like us in every way except without sin, then life in the world can be wearying for us. But as rest seems far away, let us look to Jesus, who, even in his weariness, is both light for our darkness and a reminder of why we're here, namely, to shine the light of Jesus into a world that sorely needs it.
May God bless you today! Jesus, your rest and your light and your strength, is near!
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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