When the disciples heard that Herod had put John the Baptist to death, they came, picked up his body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. He said to them, “Come apart into a desert place, and rest awhile.” – (Mark 6:31)
Grief and anger at injustice drain us of energy and purpose. As the disciples headed out with Jesus to rest, it wasn’t long before the multitudes found them, and their planned reprieve was robbed … or was it? It was here the disciples witnessed Jesus’ tender compassion on the crowds as “the Good Shepherd.” It was here they witnessed the childlike faith of a little boy who offered his lunch to Jesus. It was here they shared in the miraculous distribution of those five buns and 2 small fish, by feeding over 5000 people.
Jesus showed them compassion as an antidote for violence, childlike faith as an antidote for stubborn unbelief, and miraculous power that saves souls, feeds the hungry, and Shepherds the crowds, as an antidote for Herod’s oppression. It was just the rest the disciples needed and the same is true for us today.
It’s not a spa we need when our hearts are grieved at evil, it’s to see the Cure for it all - Jesus at work. And we’re invited to look ahead… “Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He has made in the earth! He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in half; He burns the chariot in the fire” (Psalm 46:8,9).
Then Jesus turns and speaks directly to us, His waiting people… “Be still (stop fretting) and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
He will.
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