“Rest-less”
Are you well-rested? Or in Wesley’s
term, “How is it with your soul today?” In his talebook the Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery tells us about how much
we are restless with our lives. In the
story the little prince, who came from a tiny planet known as “B-612” on earth,
visit six different planets, each of which is inhabited by a single, irrational,
narrow-minded adult:
- A king with no subjects, who only issues orders that can be followed, such as commanding the sun to set at sunset.
- A narcissistic man who only wants the praise which comes from admiration and being the most-admirable person on his otherwise uninhabited planet.
- A drunkard who drinks to forget the shame of drinking.
- A businessman who is blind to the beauty of the stars and instead endlessly counts and catalogs them in order to "own" them all.
- A lamplighter on a planet so small, a full day lasts a minute. He wastes his life blindly following orders to extinguish and relight the lamppost every 30 seconds to correspond with his planet's day and night.
- An elderly geographer who has never been anywhere, or seen any of the things he records, providing a caricature of specialization in the contemporary world.
Then the prince eventually arrives on earth. The narrator describes the earth as follows: “Earth is not a simple planet! There are 111 kings, 7,000 geographers, 900,000 businessmen, 7,500,000 drunkards and 311,000,000 vain men. In total, there are about 2,000,000,000 adults.”[1] In other words, the earth is basically filled with those who are restless. Bonhoeffer rightly describes people’s restless condition today in this way: “There are questions but no answers, distress but no relief, anguish of conscience but no deliverance, tears but no consolation, sin but no forgiveness.”[2] Many are wandering like sheep without a shepherd.
But there is a remedy for this
restlessness! This morning Jesus invites us, saying, “Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28)
Into the Boat
Today’s passage tells us how Jesus
gives us rest in our busy, distracted lives. At that time so many people were
coming and going. Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat. So what
was the remedy? Jesus said, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and
get some rest” (31). At least two things are needed to rest: (1) We need a time
to be alone (“by yourselves”), and (2) we need a quiet place (“to a quiet place”).
Since there was constant coming and going, for Jesus and his disciples they had
to take a boat – to be by themselves in a quiet place. Verse 32 says, “So they
left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone” (NLT).
What does it look like to take a
boat? What is your “boat” – to be alone in a quiet place – in order to rest? Sometimes
it is very hard to find a time and place to get away. For me, every time I feel
overwhelmed, I try to follow the example of Susanna Wesley, mother of John Wesley.
She got married to a preacher. Sam and Susanna had 19 children to raise. One of
their children was crippled. Another couldn’t talk until he was nearly six
years old. Susanna herself was desperately sick most of her life. There
was no money for food or anything. Debt plagued them. Sam was once thrown
into prison because their debt was so high. Twice their houses were burned to
the ground, losing everything they owned. Someone slit their cow’s udders so
they wouldn’t have milk, killed their dog, and burned their flax field. It seemed
almost impossible for Susanna to rest. She worked the gardens, milked the
cow, schooled the children and managed the entire house herself. She struggled
to find a quiet place and time to get away with the Lord. So what she did was
to use her apron for her prayer time. She advised her children that when they
saw her with her apron over her head, that meant she was in prayer and couldn’t
be disturbed. No matter how hard life was, she always found a time and place to
get away with Christ. For Susanna, the apron was her boat. Do you have your boat to get away with the Lord?
Is Jesus in Your Boat?
If we read Mark 6 we find a very
interesting rhythm of life. First, the disciples are sent out to do God’s work.
After they come back, they take a boat to rest. Then, they work and feed 5,000.
After that, again they take a boat. Then, they work, healing the sick and
preaching the good news in Gennesaret. Working – Boating – Working – Boating –
Working… Here the disciples take the boat at least twice to rest. But there is
a big difference between the two. What is it? First time they get in the boat with Jesus (cf. v.32), but second time without Jesus (cf. v.45ff). So when they
got in the boat for the second time, they were not able to rest, even though they
were by themselves in a quiet place. Instead, they were absolutely restless. The
Bible says, “He [Jesus] saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and
struggling against the wind and waves” (v. 48a).
Like the disciples, even though we
take a vacation to rest, we often go back weary and exhausted. We often feel like
we are rowing hard and struggling against the wind and problems – relationship
problems, family problems, school problems, work problems, financial problems,
health problems, and so on. And we feel overwhelmed and restless. Into such a
situation of darkness, Jesus comes walking on the sea and approach our boat.
And what he does is to change our minds, especially about him, rather than our
circumstances. The Bible says that the disciples’ hearts were hardened, so when
Jesus was approaching, they didn’t recognize him. Instead, they thought it was
a ghost and were terrified. But then Jesus said to them, “It is I. Do not be
afraid.” Then they were willing to take Him into their boat. The wind ceased. The
gospel of Matthew concludes this same story in this way: “And those in the boat
worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."’ (14:33)
Boating with Jesus
The real issue is not outside of
the boat. It’s in the boat. It’s within us. It has to do with our minds, our
perspectives, our mindsets. That’s why the Bible says, “Be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.” That’s what we need. That’s what Jesus does for us.
In his book The Rest of God Mark Buchanan shares the story of Jason. One day a
woman called Pastor Mark about her 12-year-old stepson. So the next day Mark
met with the woman and Jason. The stepmom recited all the stepson’s wrongdoing:
outright defiance. Abusive language. Extreme withdrawal. Vandalism. Threats and
violence toward her and her daughter. Stealing money and so on. After five minutes,
Pastor Mark realized that he was in trouble. So he prayed with eyes open. As he
was praying for wisdom, the story of Solomon came to his mind. So he told the
story of two prostitutes who had a dispute over their sons. Then he asked
Jason, “Who do you think was the real mother?” Jason answered without blinking,
“The woman who gave the child away.” Mark said, “Jason, you’re right. How did
you know?” “Well,” Jason said, “because she didn’t want the baby killed.” Mark
said, “Right, she loved her child so much, she’d rather see him alive and whole
in another woman’s arms than dead and dismembered in her own.” Then, he
continued, “Jason, was that your mother? Was that what she did with you? She’d
rather lose you by giving you away than lose you in a worse way by trying to
keep you?” Jason sat straight up. Light flooded him. His angry, bitter, ugly
face turned youthful and hopeful. Jason’s circumstances never changed. The only
thing that changed was his mind.[3]
Many of us think we believe in
Jesus. But more important question is, “Which Jesus do you believe in?” In 2
Corinthians 5:16 the Apostle Paul says, “From now on, therefore, we regard no
one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human
point of view, we know him no longer in that way.” Once Jesus’ disciples looked
at Jesus that way – good moral teacher, blessing-giver, and so on – and got it
all wrong. Over the years Jesus changed their minds. And finally they knew him
as the Son of God.
So which Jesus do you believe in
today? Jesus is the Son of God. He came as the Lifesaver into this troubled
world. We were helpless, restless. But to save us, Jesus died for us, the
sinners. He shed his own blood so we could be forgiven. Not only that, but also
Jesus rose from the dead! He opened the gate of heaven to everyone who believes
in him. Even in the midst of the storm of life’s problems Jesus is able to give
you peace and rest. He is able to bring you safely on your journey. So will you
let him into your boat? If you are willing, please join me in this prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I need you!
Thank you for coming as the Savior to this
troubled world.
Thank you for dying for me and forgiving me
of all my sins.
Lord Jesus, I believe in You. I receive You
right now.
Fill me with peace and be with me on my life’s
journey.
Thank You, Lord Jesus. Amen.”
[1] Antoined de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince (Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing, 2018), Kindle
Locations 503-505 of 851.
[2]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of
Discipleship (New York: Macmillan, 1963), 224.
[3] Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by
Restoring Sabbath (Thomas Nelson, 2006), 31-32.
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