The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.
In the third movie of the Lord of the Rings (which is a fictional fantasy book series turned into movies) the story is told of the Men Under the Mountain. These men betrayed their brothers in arms when it came time to fight and hid in cowardice under the mountain. They were cursed to eternal unrest. Then they got a chance to redeem themselves by fighting once again against evil, and afterwards the curse was lifted. What is interesting is that they had plenty of time to rest physically (they just stayed under the mountain with nothing to do), but their hearts were not at rest.
Rest is not always physical and our need for it can change at times. Here we see Jesus seeking rest for his disciples who had been out spreading the good news, casting out demons, and healing people across the countryside. Taking a break is important. God rested on the Sabbath.
But there is another kind of rest that is also very important. It is the rest we receive from Jesus. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, emphasis mine)
So we find that there is physical rest, which can be put off for a time, but needs to be replenished. And then there is spiritual rest, or rest for our souls. Jesus tells us to gain spiritual rest we must work with him and learn from him. Rest while working? Isn’t that counterintuitive?
It seems so, but the reality is that in working with Jesus, we can lay down all of our fears, worries and cares at his feet and trust him with handling them. So much time and energy spiritually is wasted trying to handle life on our own. Instead, when we join Jesus in doing the work he has prepared in advance for us to do, we also gain access to a peace that surpasses all understanding, a love that knows no boundaries, and a grace that looks beyond an offense and into others’ heart-potential in Christ.
We find later in the upcoming verses that Jesus put physical rest for him and his disciples on hold in order to join God in his work. The people had flocked to him and he had compassion on them. I believed he gained spiritual rest in doing this.
Ultimately, no matter the situation I find myself in, whether I can take physical rest or not, spiritual rest is always readily available by joining Jesus in his work! Yoked to him, he carries 99% of the load anyways!
I have often wondered how people in war-torn countries, running for their lives, find rest. When life is “on fire”, so to speak, physical rest is almost impossible. But spiritual rest is a gift from Jesus we can always receive.
Lord, thank you for your prioritization here of physical rest. Thank you also for your reprioritization in the later verses to do God’s work and receiving spiritual rest in serving. Teach me the value of both and to trust you to provide exactly what I need as I serve you.
There remains a Sabbath rest that we must be diligent to enter. It sounds like a contradiction but we must according to Hebrews 4:9-11 enter that rest by faith and obedience. That rest evidently frees us from our works. My son recently shared with our family the tension between responsibility and faith that
feels after becoming a father