Rest, Response, Resources

Rest

Mark 6:30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.

31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

I am sure it was with great fervor they gave their After Action Report

After much ministry rest is needed. Sleep deprivation can happen and adrenal burnout from exciting or stressful activity. Too much fun and you can be done. Groups that are always pushing for the emotional excitement in services often have people crashing from the over stimulation at some point. It can even lead to depression because in their “down” condition they think they are not right with God because the emotional high is not there.

They tried to steal away for some rest and relaxation in the boat.

Response

33 And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him.

34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

The need is never ending and once people knew what Jesus and His disciples could do they were never going to be inconspicuous again. Indeed, the crowd beat them to desert space. The response to ministry was overwhelming.

In our strength, we would try to avoid the crowd or collapse in our efforts. Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion on them seeing their need.

Sheep without a shepherd tend to get lost, matted, diseased and killed by predators. The shepherds they had were hirelings who did not really care the sheep. Only their position mattered. Responding to the need Jesus taught them many things satisfying the needs of their souls.

Resources

35 And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:

36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.

Looking at the overwhelming need, the disciples who had not gotten much rest from we have seen are ready to send everyone off to fend for themselves.

37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?

Jesus tells them to meet the need and all they can see is the financial aspect of them let alone the logistics of feeding that many people. To them they just do not have the resources.

38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.

39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.

40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.

Jesus ask them for their resources and then facilitates the distribution of the resources. The disciples only saw a massive amount of human chaos.

41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.

42 And they did all eat, and were filled.

43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.

44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.

The disciples saw only the large number of the people and the small amount of resources. Jesus saw the need and had all the resources to fulfill the need. We need to remember that and take the great need and the small resources to Him to see what He will do with whatever mission that needs to be fulfilled whether it be personal, familial, or Kingdom related.