The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He 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.

Mark 6:30-31

The feeding of the 5,000 is a story we know well. We are inspired by this miracle when we are caught in worries of scarcity. This miracle reminds us that Jesus will provide. Yet, while we focus on his impactful teaching and miraculous feeding of the crowd, it is easy to gloss over the thing that makes it possible: rest.

In reading this story, what do you notice? Verse 30 is about doing, but verses 31, 45 and 46 are all about rest. When the apostles tell Jesus what they had done and taught, he invites them to “come and rest...while he himself went to a mountain to pray.” It is easy to perceive resting as passive work, and miracles—feeding, healing, teaching—as active work. Most of us pride ourselves on our productivity (busy-ness) and we relish the rewards and accolades that follow our work. We are wired to value doing rather than being. Yet, Jesus, with an endless list of important work to be done (work that was commissioned by God himself), consistently made time for rest (Mark 1:35; Mark 14:13; Luke 5:16; Luke 6:12; John 4:6 etc…) and commanded his disciples to do the same.

Is this a command you find easy to follow? Are you consistent with scheduling rest for yourself? Rest can look many different ways but is ultimately a time of spiritual grounding, healing, and replenishing that is unprovoked by concerns of productivity. Jesus invites his disciples to rest for “a while”; to be unhurried in their resting. Jesus invites you to do the same, for it is through spending time in rest that we are able to hear him clearly and share the full abundance of our gifts with the world.

This week let us thank God for the gift of divine rest and let us purpose to rest in him so that our bodies, minds and spirits can receive essential spiritual nourishment.