Mark 1:32-37 - "Sabbath Rest" (2-17-08)

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down; He restores my soul.” The Lord makes me; yes makes to lie down and find restoration. Sabbath rest is a way that God helps us to find rest; otherwise we just get run down too easily. God is calling us to observe the Sabbath so we know it is okay to “lie down; He restores my soul.”

The day was full of activity. The disciples are hanging out at Peter’s mother-in-law’s house again in the city of Capernaum. This was their campaign headquarters. She was a very kind mother in law; for Peter is the only disciple we know who was married. Marriage is the last best chance to grow up so perhaps Peter was a responsible guy. Perhaps his mother in law was very nice about having Peter and this group of friends hang out all the time. Either way, she must have been tired of serving them constantly. The time to rest on the Sabbath day perhaps wasn’t enough for her to gain her strength. She has had this son in law and this rabbi coming in and out of her house. She had to cook and prepare food time and again for them. People kept dropping by to meet this rabbi. Finally, her body just had to shut down; there wasn’t enough vitamin C or Zinc or Echinacea for her to take to give her immune system the boost it needed to just keep going and going. Enough already her body was telling her! You need rest. So she got sick. When Jesus healed her, perhaps he was just hungry and who better to heal than the best cook in Capernaum. Of course that is my interpretation of the situation. But he heals her. He gives her a hand. She is restored not in the lying down but in the hand Jesus gives her, his touch. She immediately starts to serve them.

Then that evening people brought anyone who was ill to Peter’s house and healed them all. It was a long day. They are pounding at the door. The need is great and the time is limited. There was no time for me! If Jesus was “forever giving out, He must be at least sometimes taking in; that if he was going to spend himself for others, He must ever and again summon spiritual reinforcements to his aid.”[1]

So Jesus got up early the next morning and he decided to go and get some rest from everyone. He went up the mountain to pray. This “provides in Jesus’ behavior an example”[2] to us in our need to rest in the midst of so many notes. Peter is wondering where Jesus ran off to when there is so much work to be done! They felt the pressure of those who were looking for Jesus. When they find him and insist that he has to return to Capernaum, Jesus said that they need to go to the next town and then the next town after that in order tell people that God is near! Perhaps he also didn’t want to return to Capernaum to give Peter’s mother in law a break from the crowds. “Jesus heals all sorts of maladies for all sorts of people in all sorts of places. He exemplifies in his own life the rhythm of work, rest and prayer. In times of stress he turns to God for strength and guidance. Perhaps here he faces the temptation to return with Simon and the others to curry the crowd’s favor by working miracles. The crowd represents humanity with all its needs.”[3] Temptation to work more! We are good for nothing today but resting! Where do you go to find rest? Chairs!

MUSIC REST - Music Rest sign! I love music! You know what the best sound in music I think is underrated, the sound of the rest. It isn’t the musical notes that are most important; it’s not just the voice or instruments that matter most; it is the rest! The whole note rest is actually a hole; a full rest. The problem is that we want to just keeping filling up that rest with more notes. The only thing that goes in the whole note rest is the Sabbath. Sabbath is a time for rest; rest with family, friends and others from the daily routine and burdens that will be there tomorrow.

Wide World of Sports: Image that said the thrill of victory and the AGONY OF DEFEAT. That moment in the advertisement that shows a skier flying down the ski jump and falling and crashing, head over heals off of the jump and into the structure of the ski jump itself, for no apparent reason. It appears horrific. Later it was discovered, that the skier actually "chose to fall" instead of jump off of the ski jump. As he was going down the ski jump, he realized that he was going too fast because of the surface conditions. If we would have jumped, he would have landed on the level area at the bottom of the jump and beyond the safer and sloping areas. What appeared fatal in his falling actually turned out to be some bruises and a headache instead of crashing hard at the bottom.

We need the Sabbath rest before we crash. More importantly, today what I want you to hear something! God forgives you! Rest in that knowledge and truth! You really don’t have to do anything to pay God back. You can rest! Sabbath brings the sweetest melody of all.[4] Rest!

Prayer: Gracious God, I thank you for your mercy that sets me free to rest in your arms of love. Guide me to be diligent in Sabbath rest and restoration, in Jesus name I pray, Amen!

---

[1] William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, 1956, 33.

[2] Larry Hertado, Mark, New International Bible Commentary, 29.

[3] Lamar Williamson, Jr. Mark, Interpretation Bible Commentary, 53-58.

[4] John A. Stroman, Thunder From the Mountain (Nashville: The Upper Room, 1990), 53-55.