B, Pent 7 Proper 11 - Mark 6:30-32 "In God's Rest"

Text: Mark 6:30-32

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

Sermon

To walk around a traditional headstone cemetery and read what is written on the graves is a very interesting thing to do. To see the ages at which people have died brings home the fragility of life, especially when you see the graves of young children or the graves of those who were the same age as you when they died. It makes one’s mind stir, “Perhaps I better take care of myself just a little bit better”. Or seeing people you once knew, or perhaps had close contact, also churn the emotions.

But as one walks and looks around the cemetery, it’s a reassuring thing to read the scripture written on the stones. It’s wonderful to see the Christ-centred hope in which people have died, or, to see the Christian hope in which loved ones have laid their family members to rest. But there are a few simple words which stand out, like no other, as one walks in the peacefulness of a cemetery with the noise of our thoughts and emotions, and they are these — At Rest, or, In God’s Rest.

As our heads buzz with the noise of ourselves, and the noise of the world around us, those whose remains are in the grave, who have died in Christ, are at rest in him. For them there is peace and quiet at long last… The sound of eternal peace… The refreshment of God’s holy rest…

It’s hard for us to be in a state of complete peace and rest, or to even truly understand it. In fact some of us don’t like peace and quiet at all and seek to bury ourselves in noise, so as to not hear the peacefulness to which God calls us; the rest in which God seeks to refresh us.

All sorts of noises threaten to crowd us when there are quiet times. Sometimes we invite the noise, but sometimes the noises just come. There are the physiological noises of the blood pumping through our heads, or perhaps, the high pitch tone ringing in our ears.

Then there are the voices of busyness or worry in our minds, “Did I turn the oven on; did I turn it off?” Or maybe, “How am I going to feed the livestock; how am I going to feed the family?” What about the sounds of sin, such as, “Everyone else can go jump in the lake, I’m going to do what I want to do!” Or the impulses of sinful lust, “He’s cute, or she’s hot, I’d love to have sex with them!” Or perhaps the self worshipping, “I’m better than them, they don’t deserve to have it, I should have it!”

And then there are the guilt voices as a result of sin, “I wish I could stop doing what I’m doing, I’m going to try harder to stop doing it!” Then when you do the same thing again, the voices say, “You’re a failure, you can’t do it! You may as well give up, what’s the point of trying anyway!”

If these noises aren’t enough, then there are the constant outside noises blaring at us too! Such as songs telling us to find peace in our emotions, in ourselves, or in sex. And there is the television squawking at us like an overwound parrot, telling us to buy this and covet that! Or perhaps it’s the latest get well guru, guilting us into drinking this potion or take that pill, so we pull out our purses in pursuit of perfection and peace.

Our heads spin out of control, the noise is raised to fever pitch, and we stand on the brink of emotional and mental exhaustion and breakdown. But still we try to keep up with the mentality of our minds and the hopeless expectations of the world. It’s hard to believe we run after this noise; seeking to hide ourselves in the noise that is ultimately responsible for the reality which awaits us all at the grave.

It’s even harder to understand why we, having sought this noise, fight against the peace that comes to us in Christ Jesus, as we repel his command to continually rest in him — having our noisy sinfulness exposed, taken, and carried on the cross.

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. (Mark 6:30-32)

Jesus called his Apostles to rest. He knew the busyness of life, he knew the cost of discipleship and so he calls them to follow him to a quiet place. He invited them to take a break from the exhausting worries of this life and have a short but deliberate pause. The place he called them to, was one that was desolate of the noise and commotion of this world — but was filled with Jesus’ presence.

This was a place where he could make them lie down in green pastures, and lead them beside quiet refreshing streams of living water — even in the wilderness, the Middle Eastern desert. Jesus called them to rest even though the valley of the shadow of death awaited him on the cross and in the grave, and it awaited the disciples too, as it does all people. Jesus called them to a desolate place to rest from the effects of sin and death.

We know the resting didn’t last long. The crowds followed Jesus and he saw they were in need of a shepherd, so he gave them the rest they needed and fed them too. But even in the midst of the noise Jesus’ invitation stood for the Apostles to get some rest. He called them to have a little break, a short but intense stop, to rest, refresh, and realise he was with them. He called them to focus on him so he and they could go in peace and bring peace and rest to the thousands who needed to be fed.

We have been called, from the noise of this world, here into God’s rest. It’s not the perfect rest of eternity; the noise is still all around us and within us. But nevertheless it is still perfect peace and rest when received in faith. Jesus calls us to rest in him, to trust him, to come to a quiet place and pour out our burdens on him in prayer; just as Jesus found lonely mountains or the wilderness — desolate places to rest in his Heavenly Father.

Jesus was immersed into the noise of this world for us. The noise became a deafening din in the week leading up to his death on Good Friday. This noise is the noise of our sin and it killed him so we might live. But after the noise of his death, came silence… Sabbath… rest… — and then resurrection peace.

As Jesus rested in the grave on Holy Saturday, the Sabbath to fulfil all Sabbaths, and bore the noise that kills our focus on our Heaven Father, now we can rest in peace with God the Father, in God the Son, through God the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus sabbathed in the grave on Holy Saturday, and was raised to life on Easter Sunday, you too can lie back in the arms of Jesus as you come here to church each week called to rest in Jesus.

Little babies lie back in the arms of Jesus at their baptisms in complete faithful rest, without the need of being busy with the confusing noise of having to understand, feel, or do. So too, we can lie in the arms of Jesus, even in the noisiness of this world, and take a rest in the saving work of Jesus on the cross. We can lie in the arms of Jesus, we can just “be with him” here in church, where he calls us to trust the work of the Holy Spirit who comes to open our hearts to Jesus’ peace giving presence and the refreshing forgiveness he gives as we rest in him.

When we gather here we can lie back in the arms of Jesus, confident he will hold us and forgive all our sin. It is he who makes you lie in the green pastures of eternity. It is he who gives you drink from the spring of eternal life, the living waters of peace which flow from his pierced side into your heart by the power of the Holy Spirit as you hear his word. And as we walk in the valley of the shadow of death, he will guide us in paths of righteousness; he will guide us in the way of peace.

Jesus says, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest”. Just as you were nursed in Christ, at your baptism into his death and resurrection, keep lying back in his arms, trusting when you close your eyes in death, you will open them to see the Holy One who has held you and you will see the same Holy One who will hold you into eternity.

Sabbath in God, rest in God, have peace in God. Even in the midst of all the noise of this world, let this inscription remain on your heart forever, “In God’s rest…” Amen.