Come Away and Rest a While

Mark 6:31. The apostles have just come back from their first mission. They gather around Jesus and report everything they did and taught. The crowds are so thick that there is no chance to eat. And Jesus says to them, come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.

He does not say finish the work first. He does not say the need is too great to stop. He looks at tired people and prescribes rest, and he goes with them.

That the rest is interrupted, as we will see tomorrow, does not cancel the instruction. It shows that Jesus values rest even when the world will not cooperate with it. The verse matters today because it is Sunday, and many readers will spend it more exhausted than they began. Ministry, parenting, and work will not stop asking. Jesus is the one who tells you to get in the boat anyway. Rest is not something you earn by finishing. It is something he offers because he can see your face.