Rest Not

Jesus cannot rest. When the powers within him seem overworked from healing and preaching,  or getting from one town to another, of extracting demons, and avoiding those trying to destroy his presence, his ministry, his efforts to get out the word about love and baptism, He takes a break. He has to get away, alone for a bit, to recycle, to maybe communicate loudly to his Father. Look, when the whole city has been gathering around the door to the home of a sick woman, just to breathe the same air where someone was healed,  just to have a chance to touch this miracle of Jesus, even though they overwhelm Him as if He was running for president of a nation or was some modern rock star, that suffocating experience which overwhelms, well, Jesus takes a break. 

I don’t know if the crowds knew He often disappeared, because surely, like abusive followers of celebrities or rumors of celebrities do today, they would not have given Him the peace to be alone. So somehow, Jesus escapes and goes to a quiet and hidden place on a lake, or some deserted oasis, maybe under a giant cedar, or some place of peace because only there can he  find some quietness, some peace, where He can get his spirit  recycled. Of course, people search for Him, and somehow, cannot find Him, thank God. But when Simon or one of his companions find Him, and suggest that He is needed, that people are desperately searching for him, Jesus responds that He, and His apostles, need to move on down the road to some neighboring towns, so that He can proclaim the message there as well, to do what He came to earth to do,  and I’m sure He implies or insists that they will keep on keeping on until He can keep on no more, which would be the time when Jesus is thrown into prison.,

I doubt Jesus was frustrated. He knew his mission, where he had to go and what he had to do to get the attention of the Jews, especially the Sadducees and Pharisees, both of whom didn’t get it, didn’t really know who this man was, and, fearing He might rob them of their power, they seek to destroy him. How much did Jesus have to “sell” himself or reveal who he was or why he was wandering through the dirt roads of the villages as he aimed for Jerusalem?
At least He was outside, in the fresh air, hot sun or not (I doubt there was much rain in the desert, we don’t really read anything about inclement weather or violent storms then like we experience today. ) He was persistent, He owned a calm spirit. The most vicious verbal attacks didn’t disturb him. He knew mankind and how men’s minds worked, mostly out of fear, jealousy, weakness, and confusion. He knew he was turning around the norm, which had gotten way out of hand, and no longer focused on the real God the Father, but had become some power mongrel that needed to be shaken up, recycled and born again into a good thing.

The frustration of our contemporary plague, the coronavirus, is being locked up and unable to get out and do my ministry. It depresses me because I’m a hugger and I choose to stand in the midst of the most dangerous of kids in prison, or in Uruguay, adults. It’s because I am human and I am, like you, a child of God, and my heart just won’t rest if I’m not giving and loving and encouraging and believing in people no one else believes in. I toss and turn in my (comfortable) bed each night when I’m away from my husband, because I need to be beside him, but I also need my friends and to serve God wherever I step foot upon. 

What is proclaiming the gospel? Who is “me”, as we see in Corinthians. St. Paul was the author (we don’t know if on paper or just vocalized with someone remembering what he said, like people recorded what Jesus said and did. Whatever proclaiming the gospel was, for St. Paul it was a  “Woe” if he didn’t do it. And he is questioning, if he went around sharing the gospel, proclaiming it, teaching it, then what was his reward? Did he or anyone with the gospel in his vocabulary, get a reward or even deserve to get a reward? Proclaiming the gospel was not for reward or recognition. It was becoming nothing in order to pass on all one had in his or her heart and soul. Therefore he or she had learned to share Jesus Christ, so that others could believe and have peace and know love.  

Paul also declared that he preaches the gospel, and “Wow”, he is doing it “free of charge!” This disturbs me because no one should preach the gospel because they are going to earn money, or pride, or celebrity, or any kind of special freedom. Preaching the gospel is our best act of love on this earth, on this crazy, confused earth. But in his day, Paul  claimed that he amalgamated himself into whomever he was preaching - like he became a Jew when he preached to the Jews. Those under the law (wasn’t that everybody?), he claimed he could win them over by being like those under the law. Or if they were outside the law, he’d pretend to be outside the law.  And to the weak, he became weak, then he shouts out that “I have become all things to all people.” 

This is Paul, speaking. Not Jesus. It sounds presumptuous to me. But  by doing these things, Paul felt it was his way of getting the gospel to the common folk, so that he could share in its blessings. All this bothers me. I don’t know if it bothers you. It seems self for self when Jesus was about giving Himself to others, to all who came to him and even those who denied him and crucified him. When we read or speak the gospel, when we interpret it from our point of view to maybe make it pass more reasonably to another, that is Jesus Christ who is giving us that privilege. It’s not about me or you or us. It’s about surrounding those who are in trouble, suffering, helpless, sick, giving up, frustrated, with hope, with something to believe, to have faith in, and maybe save a lost soul. Jesus counts on us to do it right, to do it was a pliable and loving heart.  And He expects us to copy him, and rest not from our labors to share Him with all we encounter. 
 

 ~ Rev
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audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
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