Vacation
How has your summer vacation been?  I always look forward to spending weekends in Traverse City with my family, or taking a trip to Wisconsin to visit my sister, my godson and other family.  Some people love to golf.  For others vacation means going to the lake.  What’s restful for you?

Jesus saw the need of the Apostles and sought to take them to a place of rest because “people were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat” (Mk. 6:31).

Where Jesus Is, There Will be Crowds!
Many people like to get away from the crowds on vacation.  It was no different in Jesus’ day: “So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place” (Mk. 6:32).  Sounds just like some friends of mine: get into the boat and get away from the hustle and bustle.  Sounds kind of nice, huh?

I’m not sure if everyone would like it though.  For some people vacation means going to an amusement park, or to New York City or Los Angeles.  They want to be with crowds and to be where the action is.  The Raptor (roller coaster) at Cedar Point is great!

Rest
Yet, we tend to work, work, work and even our recreation becomes work.  There’s a deeper rest.

Jesus takes the Apostles away to a place of rest.  What is this place of rest?  Where does it mean to rest?  Jesus called the Apostles to rest from their missionary work after they were done (Mk. 6:7-13).  Yet, it is not just a rest form work but to this deep Sabbath Rest that Jesus called them to enter.  This is the kind of rest that God Himself entered into in Genesis when He finished the work of creation (cf. Gen 2:2-3).  Was God tired?  At the end of a long six days, what’s a poor deity to do, but take a divine siesta, right?!  No.  God, through the Sabbath Rest, wants to show us and is desperately trying to convince us that the greatest gift we can possess is not the fruit of our labor, but our relationship with Him.

He is our Rest
In today’s Psalm, the famous Psalm 23, we hear about this rest again: “In verdant pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul” (2-3).  Jesus calls us to take our rest in Him: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28).  In today’s Second Reading St. Paul tells us that Jesus “is our peace [our rest], he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh…that he might create in himself one new person…thus establishing peace…for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Eph. 2:14, 15, 18).

The “rest” the Apostles were seeking did not consist simply of ceasing their labors.  Rather, their “rest” consisted of being with Jesus.  The crowds knew this as they “hastened there on foot…and arrived at the place before them” to be with Jesus (Mk. 6:33)—being with Jesus was their Sabbath Rest, their Peace.

What makes you tired?  What labor do you really want to rest from?  What are some ways you can make Jesus the center of your daily rest?  Try going away to a quiet place with Jesus.