Rest as Recuperation

Rest as Recuperation After a particularly strenuous time of ministry, Jesus encouraged his disciples to come away and rest. It was too busy, people constantly coming and going, requesting this, needing that; the disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. You can read the story in  Mark 6:6-44— the invitation to come away and rest is in verse 31. You’ve probably had a time or two like that in your life. Dinner, if you’re lucky enough to be home for it, is eaten quickly over the sink before rushing out the door to the next event, game, appointment, or just flipping open your computer, clicking on the project that’s due soon, and diving back in. It’s good to hear Jesus’s words during these times: “Come away and rest.” Rest for our bodies, hearts, and minds. In the Ten Commandments, we’re instructed to rest: “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns” (Exodus 20:9-10). The command to the Israelites was that the 7th day was to be different than the other 6, an explicit instruction to break from regular routines of work. And, in verse 11, we’re told why: “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord  blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” In the work of creation, we see God laboring for 6 days. In a long workweek, God envisioned and fashioned everything in the cosmos. It was when the work was done, when creation had been completed and was “very good,” that God took his rest from working, and blessed a rest day. All of this leads us to the type of rest that comes after work. When the work is done (and maybe sometimes even in the middle of it), we need to rest to recuperate. We take time to allow our depleted bodies, tired minds, and spent emotions to refill, re-energize, and rejuvenate. But also, to celebrate and enjoy the work that’s been done. To step back and admire what God has strengthened us to accomplish.  But stopping to rest can be difficult. There’s always work to be done. All too often, it feels like the day, or the week just doesn’t give us enough time, so we keep going. How do we rest when the job isn’t finished? Well, we trust that our creator knows what is best for us, and we follow his design.