You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
I had a lovely but slightly dull vacation this year. No dramatic destinations, no exciting excursions, just time at the cottage on a beautiful lake in Michigan. I didn’t produce anything, didn’t even think any particularly deep thoughts or have breakthrough insights that would ignite my congregations for mission. But every time I inwardly fussed about that, I’d remind myself, “Fields need to go fallow for a time. Give your imagination a break – it’ll come back stronger.” I’d been working really hard; it was time to take a break.
If I needed a vacation, imagine how much Jesus needed some rest time! He had been preaching and healing and traveling and disputing and training, never in the same spot for more than a day, it seems. And now he arrives at the shore, and he just wants some time apart. It’s his Garbo moment, “I vant to be alone!” But it’s not to be. From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet.
It’s great to read that Jesus sought these times to rest and recharge, for it reminds us that he was human, and it gives us permission to recognize our limits as well. And, of course, he was also the God who ordained one day of rest in every seven; if we would only live into that promise, we might not even need vacations.
It’s also helpful to learn that Jesus was interrupted at his rest. The demands of the world do not subside just because we take some time out. The woman who came and found him had business she felt was much more pressing than his need to rest. And, though his initial response appears surly, in the end he agrees with her: her need, and her faith, were worthy of his attention.
When we’re on vacation we put down our regular work, our regular tasks, sometimes even our regular landscape, and seek to be renewed in the space that opens up. But we do not cease to be servants of the Living God, engaged in God’s mission of restoration and wholeness. We may find ourselves presented with needs in the people around us. We may fall into some interior, spiritual work we’ve neglected in our busyness, or find ourselves dealing with issues in our families or relationships. We may be surprised at how God wants to work through us in our time away. If the mission of God should find us despite our best intentions to rest, we have to trust that God will give us the R&R we need in some other way.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
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