"Finding Your Deserted Places"

By Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

(Mark 6:30-44, 53-56)

30The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. 35When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat." 37But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?" 38And he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." When they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." 39Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. 42And all ate and were filled; 43and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

53When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, 55and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

(NRSV)

INTRODUCTION:

Have you been to see any of the science fiction movies like "Fifth Element," "Contact," "Men In Black," or "Starship Troopers" yet this summer? I love those kinds of science fiction movies. Just the possibility of life in outer space is absolutely fascinating to me. I wanted to be Richard Dreyfus in Close Encounters.

Some would say we don't have to go that far to find alien life forms. Some would say that all you have to do is mingle with a group of teenagers for awhile. Go cruise the Mall or visit New York City any time or New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

The concept of life in outer space IS fascinating but at the same time, I think if we dwelt as much on the concept of life in inner space we would all be closer to God. It's that inner space, that life in inner space, life of the soul, life of the spirit, that keeps us going. It's life of the inner space that keeps us focused and directed. It's this life of inner space that Jesus was concerned with.

I. HIS BUSY SCHEDULE:

A. If we look at today's passage, Jesus looks like a normal everyday 20th century kind of guy. We see him running from one appointment to another, from one job to another. This passage and the one before it shows that he had a great work ethic. He modeled the Judeo-Christian work ethic going this task to that task. Healing the sick, feeding the poor, preaching and teaching.

He would have been a good Methodist following Wesley's directives to: "Be diligent. Never be unemployed. Never be triflingly employed. Never trifle away time; neither spend any more time at any one place than is strictly necessary." (1)

It appears that Jesus believed the old Biblical injunction that "idle hands are the devils' workshop. But then smack dab in the middle of all of his busyness and activity, he tells the disciples that it's time to get away. He says it's time for them to retreat from the crowds, to get away from it all. He took them to a deserted place; a quiet place where they could get some rest. Both physical and spiritual.

B. I have a colleague, Rev. King Duncan, author and editor of Dynamic Preaching, who suggests that because of this passage we have a religious responsibility to goof off from time to time. (2) When I first read that the Puritan work ethic that was pounded into me by my Dad who inherited it from his father, screamed out and said, "AHHH, wrong answer."

But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. You see, the Biblical aspects of what he was saying hit me. What he was talking about was one of the foundational concepts of Scripture, the idea of Sabbath. Jesus knew and practiced what we all need to know and practice, that we need Sabbath time.

Somehow in our world of modern technology, we've tried to do away with the whole concept of Sabbath. We've dissed it by keeping the stores and businesses open seven days a week. Chic-Fillet is the only restaurant I knew that still honors the Christian Sabbath.

With the advent of desktop computers, laptops, cell phones, modems, pagers, answering machines, call forwarding and the internet, we can be just about anywhere and be working, any time. Or we can be anywhere and work can get a hold of us. We don't ever have to turn off or disconnect.

But that's not the way we were created or the way God intended. That's why God created the Sabbath so that we COULD take time to rest, regroup, retreat and refocus our lives.

II. CALLED TO REST:

A. Look at our passage. Right smack dab in the middle of the busyness of ministry, Jesus called the disciples to "Come away to a deserted place all by themselves and rest a while." They didn't get to stay there very long, the people saw who he was, where they were going and actually beat them to the spot. But the point is that Jesus knew the need for physical, emotional and spiritual rest. Jesus calls us, his modern day disciples to, "Come away to deserted place all by ourselves and rest a while." And there are all kinds of rest.

B. There the rest we get from sleep: It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do. We can be "bone tired" and wake up totally refreshed. Problems that appeared insurmountable suddenly don't seem to put themselves in order.

C. There's the rest you get from VACATION: that get away from it all time with your family.

D. There's the rest you get from PLAY: that mindless emptying of self in laughter and fellowship.

E. There's the rest you get from WORSHIP: where God's presence is invoked corporately, where God's love and forgiveness are pronounced and praised in Word and song, where our souls are lifted to a higher level and the very presence of our Creator is felt.

F. There's the rest you get from RETREAT: where your focus is to pull away and regroup, like our Family Retreat: "Teach Me To Pray" coming up next month.

Sometimes that exactly what we need. I read about a couple who, after having their fifth child, received a playpen from some friends. Several weeks later the friends who sent it, received this thank you: "The playpen is wonderful. Just what we needed. I sit in it every afternoon and read. And the kids can't get close to me!" (3)

G. There's also the rest you get from PRAYER: that time set aside to both talk with and listen to God. Prayer is amazing. All you have to do to feel God's presence is talk and listen.

It's not the platitudes: You don't need to speak in Holy Language to pray. Ordinary everyday words are just fine.

It's not the multitude: You don't need to run off at the mouth in Holy Language either. We are supposed to talk to God but we don't have to babble on and on and never shut up. We need to listen, too.

It's not the altitude: You don't need high and lofty sounding words to impress God. Or high and lofty ideas. You don't have to have a Masters Degree in Theology in order to pray.

It's the attitude: The desire to be in relationship and to continue that relationship. And the gratitude: Of the heart and soul that counts. That gratitude attitude is precious to God.

It dawned on me one day while I was praying that the first thing we should do when we pray is give thanks. We should thank God for all the blessings of life. From our parents to our children, from our job to our automobile. We should live in a perpetual state of thankfulness. If we did that, if we really gave thanks to God for what we have, for who we are, for the talents and abilities, for friends and family that we have, I think we would all be a whole lot happier.

III. THE BEST REST OF ALL:

But maybe the best rest of all is the rest you get from REPENTANCE. We all have those little things and those huge things that burden our lives. The unkind word to a coworker, the server at the restaurant or the store clerk. Or maybe the string of invectives we hollered at the driver who cut us off. It might the grudge we've harbored for years. Or the anger we've carried over a certain situation. It could be jealousy or lust or greed. The list could go on and on. Only you know what it is that burdens your heart and soul and keeps your spiritual back bowed under the strain of that heavy load.

The Good News is that through the Cross of Christ, through God's great love for you as expressed in Christ Jesus, through the forgiveness which God offers, you can know the best rest of all. You can know the rest of the repentant and forgiven heart. The rest of the unburdened spirit. The rest of the clean heart re-created by God.

CONCLUSION:

Several years ago, newspapers told how a new Navy jet fighter shot itself down. Flying at supersonic speed, it ran into cannon shells it had fired only a few seconds before. The jet was traveling too fast! If you don't or haven't taken time to recharge your batteries, to honor the Sabbath, to worship and to spend time in prayer then you are in the same kind of danger as that jet, the danger of traveling too fast to hear God. Slow down. Listen to Jesus' call to the disciples: "Come away to deserted place all by yourself and rest a while." Or, like the jet, you might shoot yourself down.

Take time for a Sabbath rest. Take time play and to pray. Take time to worship. Take time to unburden your soul. Know the best rest of all, the rest of a forgiven heart and spirit.

And when you focus on that inner space of your life and find that rest remember the words of Paul, 19You are no longer strangers and aliens, but citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." (Ephesians 2:19)

1. ¶ 321, 4. d) (17) (a), The Book Of Discipline Of The United Methodist Church 1996, (The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, TN, 1996) p. 191.

2. Dynamic Preaching, July/August 1997, Vol. XII, No. 4, (Seven Worlds Corporation, Knoxville, TN) pp. 17 - 20.

3. INFOsearch Database