“You deserve a break today!
So get up and get away!
To McDonald’s! McDonald’s! McDonald’s!” Three times for emphasis sake! So that you will remember! The year was 1971.
I am pretty sure that Jesus did not have Mickey D’s in mind-when he told the disciples to come away to a deserted place and rest for a while.
These poor guys had no time, no leisure to rest and no time to eat. Lucky for them, fast food wasn’t yet invented. They were hurried, harried and hassled, with no time to eat…and definitely no time to rest.
We are “all” a part of this “rat-race-culture” that never quits. A lot of people wear it like a “badge of honor” or a “badge of courage.” Busy-ness has become an idol, to be worshipped, not to be bucked.
Ask the soccer mom, or the basketball mom or the baseball mom, there is no let up…ask the band parents…it is continual, talk to the mom – whose daughter is in poms or cheer. Ask the father who coaches, multiple teams. There is no leisure to rest awhile and to eat. The mantra is go-go-go. We’re going to be late! We’ve got to get there! Hurry! Are you ready yet?
And you do realize all of this is starting at a younger and earlier age. Get your kids involved in everything possible – it is a sign of “good parenting.” Stay involved in your children’s lives, they said…
Mom’s taxi, dad’s taxi…move it, move it, move it! C’mon we’re going to be late!!!
Dance, scouting, plays, basketball camps, musicals, tap, trombone lessons, over nights…the list is enormous.
You chase from one event – to the next one…get some sleep and do it all over again! We are “worthwhile” – because we are “busy”…we are “involved.” It is the socially acceptable thing to do!
Let me tell you loudly and clearly – you ALL HAVE “great value” and “great worth” and it does not come from seventy hour work weeks or from a month straight with no day off…or, from all that running around that you do, it comes from GOD.
It has nothing to do with your involvement and activity in 47 different conflicting and competing groups!
You do realize while all of this silly-ness is going on – we still have to look at our iPhones – 30 times an hour, update our status, send out a quick tweet or two, post something on SnapChat, thank God for wifi and 5G…check our email, listen to our latest voicemail and still find time to listen to our favorite tunes on iHEART RADIO. Oh yeah, did you see that YouTube video I was telling you about?
And somewhere in there – you have to catch the latest episode of that show that you liked to watch…
It is a crazy time, I tell you…
In this gospel text we meet “the crowds” again, “great crowds” of people. The crowds always seem to symbolize people who are “in a hurry.” The crowds are forever hurried…rushing…scurrying…dashing…scampering…bustling – just like us today!
So even though, Jesus and the twelve have grumbling stomachs that won’t quit and bags and circles for days and lots of dark spots…Jesus still finds it in his heart to be compassionate and to show compassion toward “others.”
For the ancients, “compassion” originated within one’s bowels or guts. It was an “internalized feeling,” the “tumbling in the pit of the stomach,” one gets – when – empathizing with another.
Everywhere that Jesus went “the crowds,” they flocked to him. They were lost, hysterical, sick and in need, wandering aimlessly and many felt totally and completely hopeless.
Just a word, one word. Just a touch. Just a glance. Something. Anything. A little bit of hope, please!
And obviously the story of the woman reaching out and touching the hem of his robe had spread far and wide…now everyone wanted to touch him. Everyone (or so it seemed) was seeking some sort of healing, comfort or release.
The actual word that is used here is “enfeebled,” the weak, those “lacking energy”…the weak ones lying on pallets…too weak to walk… “enfeebled” (another good word!)
Silly Jesus, what was he thinking…come away, to a deserted place, all by yourselves. And rest for a while. Right! And I bet anything the disciples thought, “Yeah, right, who is he trying to kid!” Like that is “seriously” going to happen…
And when you do finally and ultimately get some rest, the next day, you get up and do it – all over again. It’s called “life!”