Saturday, February 8, 2014

You MUST come away all by yourself!

Mark 6:30-34

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.

Food for thought!

The day before yesterday, Jesus sent his disciples for a mission, for the first time; he sent them out. And they went, for the first time, ALONE. Every day, every week, every time, the Lord sends us to some mission, at our place of work, our home, our neighborhood. It is good to know that, whatever our job, wherever our job, we are all serving the Lord. The Lord sends us as he sent the twelve disciples, alone to different places and tasks to serve his people. Please, know that your job is a service to the Lord.

Jesus does not only send us off to work for him, he also receives us from work. Like the disciples, we do well to rejoin the Lord and to tell him all we did during the day, during the week. Yes, Jesus expects us to tell him about our job, our work, our endeavours; Jesus tells us what to do and he listens to what we do.

Something very enthusing: Jesus said to his disciples when they had come back from work: You MUST come away to some lonely place all by yourself and rest for a while. Notice the way Jesus puts it: MUST. Resting is not optional; it is compulsory, mandatory, obligatory and required; it is a must to rest.

Some times it is absolutely necessary to get away all by ourselves, and leave or abandon the people. This is what the disciples did, at the command of Jesus; they were being overwhelmed by so many people who were coming and going to the point of not having any time to even eat. How many times are we like these disciples? How many times are we overwhelmed by the demands of others that we forget our own demands, to eat and rest and take care of our life, our family, our dear ones?

May you and I learn to go away to some lonely place all by ourselves and rest for while; it is a must.

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