Jesus Took the Twelve on a Retreat - Day 24

The 12 disciples had been watching Jesus do his work. It had been a thrilling time. And then one day (look back to yesterday’s blog) he sent them out to do the work. It was time. They had been watching long enough. They needed to know that following Jesus meant doing what Jesus did. Christianity is not—again—a spectator sport, but a contact sport. For them. For us. On the field. Out doing the work.
Anyway, Jesus sent them out and they eventually came back to Jesus. This is how this re-gathering time unfolded: “The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.” (Mark 6: 30-31)
I have tried to visualize and even feel what the coming together again must have felt like to them and to Jesus. They must have been so excited. “Jesus, we heal.” “Jesus, we preached and people’s lives were changed.” “Jesus, we cast out demons in your name.” They must have talked over each other just like a bunch of kids. They were on fire. They wanted to take on the world. They didn’t want to stop and rest; they had more to do; the sky was the limit. And then Jesus—he must have been so proud, so pleased, so grateful. And just when the mission couldn’t have been going better, he pulls them away on retreat. He tells them to stop, to rest, to eat, to be quiet.
I know that I get into trouble when I try to overdo, when I don’t rest, when I am not quiet, when I don’t listen, when I don’t have a retreat with Jesus. My life, the ministry that I am privileged to do, it all suffers when I don’t have retreat time with Jesus. Stress, fatigue, neglect can kill our spiritual life, our faith, our ministry, our connection to God.
So, how about you? Do you need some retreat time with Jesus? Speed shrinks our souls. So does noise. As does our refusal to stop, to be fed, to rest in God, to go on retreat. Maybe it is time you had one with the Retreat Master.