No Rest For The Weary When Lives Are At Stake Series

GOOD NEWS PRESENTED BY MARK

Study of the Gospel According to Mark

As you read Mark, be aware that you are reading the very first written account of the ministry of Jesus – a fact well documented by credible Bible scholars. Quite naturally, we want to know who Mark was, and we find that he is mentioned frequently in the New Testament.

What we know about him is that he was the son of a very well-to-do woman in Jerusalem; her name was Mary, and her home became the center of early church get-togethers. So, you can imagine that Mark was there when Jesus’ closest followers came to his mother’s house for a “church council” meeting. Peter the chief elder referred to Mark affectionately as “my son.”

Mark was also the nephew of Barnabas who talked Paul into letting the youngster go with them on one of their missionary journeys - which, you may recall, resulted in Mark’s falling out of favor with Paul by leaving and going back home. However, it’s interesting to note that, years later, when Paul was in prison, facing execution, he asked Timothy to bring Mark with him, “for he is a most useful servant to me.”

I suppose Paul saw in this young man a Christian who had the ability to write; and, apparently having redeemed himself, he could now be counted on to carry out Paul’s wishes. This explanation is plausible because Mark had served as Peter’s scribe and, as such, had written much of what Peter related to him about his eye witness account of the ministry of Jesus.

MARK SERMON V – MARK 6:30-52 . . .

NO REST FOR THE WEARY WHEN LIVES ARE AT STAKE

“No rest for the weary?” If your life has been like mine, you recall times when you found it difficult to place one foot in front of the other. You were so tired that all you wanted to do was find a place to lie down and take a nap.

Yet, your responsibilities to your family and others kept you going; some way, somehow, you did what you had to do when you had to do it for as long as necessary! Exhausting!

When the disciples of Jesus returned from carrying out an assignment given to them by Jesus - to go into the towns and villages to minister in His Name - they were so tired that Jesus invited them to go with Him to a quiet place to rest awhile --- Mark 6:30-32 . . .

When you get too busy to eat, you are busier than you ought to be. Been there, done that! “Type A” personalities stay busy round the clock; even when they do find time to rest, their minds keep on ruminating.

“Slow me down, Lord; ease the pounding of my heart and the racing of my mind with an injection of serenity!” Jesus advised His disciples to “slow down” – but, the crowd wouldn’t let them - Mark 6:33 . . .

Oftentimes the pressures of a “crowded” life – providing for family and pleasing an employer – keep people from taking much-needed time off. In spite of the pressures, though, there are times when we must make time to “come apart and rest awhile” - or else we run the risk of “falling apart”.

Don’t you find it significant that most of those who ran to the place where the disciples were headed did so because they “knew them”?

Can it be said of you that folks want to be where you are simply because they “know you?” Perhaps your life has been a blessing to them, or, your closeness to the Savior draws them rather than repels or rebuffs them. Shouldn’t you and I, like Jesus, be in the business of “drawing” people to us rather than driving them away?

As we learn about Jesus’ attitude toward people, isn’t it easier to understand why they clamored to be near Him? Mark 6:34 . . .

Everyone wants to be treated with dignity . . . to be respected . . . to be looked upon as “somebody” . . . to be thought of as a very important person whose need for love and compassion is real; and that’s exactly how Jesus related to folks who came to Him for help. However, His disciples were human beings like you and me, so at times they grew “weary in well doing” and felt “put upon” by people -- Mark 6:35-36 . . .

Do you sense that the disciples had “had it” with demands people were making of them, and therefore were looking for an easy way out?

Would you agree that these guys could indeed make a pretty good argument for urging Jesus to just “send these folks away”? Yes, of course; but even though they might have felt justified in saying to Jesus, “Lord, it’s really not our problem”, as Christians, their attitude was wrong!