Jesus walked over 3,000 miles during His 3 years. He traveled throughout Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, to many towns and villages. It was grueling, rigorous, many times extremely difficult, exceptionally hot, and sometimes with little provision. The exhaustion He must have felt during His journey is unimaginable.
Although we are not Jesus, do you ever relate to His weariness, what must have been His exhaustion, His fatigue? That you keeping pushing, keep walking, never stopping, weary, exhausted, working, cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, bills, kids, animals, yard work, ministry, volunteering…not a second left in your day…not a drop left in your cup?
It is important to remember and follow the path of Jesus. Jesus stopped.
Jesus stopped to rest and restore.
Jesus would many times take walks alone or separate himself to be alone to pray, meditate, rest, and restore. Jesus knew this time was vital in order to continue on with the purpose God had for Him and for His journey ahead.
In the below example in Mark 4:35-41, where Jesus knew there was so much work and ministry to still be done, yet He still left the crowd behind, He rested (even in a storm) – He knew His limits, even as the Messiah, and that He needed to rest to continue on His mission:
That day when evening came, He said to His disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat. There were also other boats with Him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to His disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Continuing on His travels, Jesus knew the cries and the wants of the people were pressing, but He just knew He had to stop and rest, in order to be able to continue on His journey of healing and ministering to people. Jesus stopped in Matthew 14:13 to grieve, and to also rest and restore to continue on to heal and to feed to 5,000:
“13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
But then after that act of healing, teaching, and feeding the 5,000, Jesus once again retreated to be alone in order to once again be with the Father to rest and restore, and to continue on His journey (Matthew 14:22):
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.
Once again, Jesus recognized the time He had to be alone, despite the needs of the disciples and the crowd, He knew He had to stop and have that time in solitude, to pray, to look up into the stars, to just stop.
Even in Mark 6:31, Jesus instructed even the disciples to stop and rest despite the demands of the crowds (knowing the demands ahead to feed the 5,000):
“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.”
In Genesis (2:3), even God Himself set aside time to rest: So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
How much more does the Lord Himself expect you to stop and rest?
Again, in Luke 5:15-16, Jesus didn’t rarely, once on a rare occasion, but “often” withdrew to rest and pray:
Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
Jesus rested. Even when the needs around him were great he still took regular time for rest. If Jesus needed rest then so do you.
In one of the most beautiful scriptures in Psalm 23:2-3, He reminds us we are meant to stop, lie down, sit beside quiet waters in order to refresh our souls:
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul.
Jesus stopped to pray and heal.
Jesus shows us by example that in the midst of His busyness and journey, Jesus stopped immediately in the midst of chaos to listen, to heal, even despite objections to ignore the cries of the blind, the bleeding, the broken .
As in Mark 10:46-52: Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Even in Mark 24-34, as Jesus was on the path to heal a very esteemed man’s dying daughter, Jesus stopped in His tracks for a woman of lower social status to heal her of her bleeding issue.
Jesus once again, stopped to heal two blind men in Matthew 20:29, despite others trying to silence them:
As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” 31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.” 34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
Jesus stopped to listen. To just be a presence to others.
Jesus traveled many roads, many miles, many cities in order to spread His message of love and salvation, and to connect to people not just through teaching in crowds, but also to connect and to be a presence one-on-one.
Jesus could have stayed in the synagogues and just preached from the temples. But His being out in the community gave Him a chance to just stop and listen and minister and offer His hope to those in need one-on-one, despite the great challenges and hardships He faced on His journeys.
Also remember, in His journeys of ministry He went to weddings, had dinner with friends and new acquaintances, spent time with those He loved.
Jesus has provided us with a model of how to have a healthy rhythm, to stop and rest in order to restore, how to organically maneuver through our journey and plans and stop even in the midst of our busyiness and chaos to pray for others and be present, and to stop and connect with those in need the Lord puts in our path and to have the flexibility to allow our plans be interspersed or interrupted by His plans.
As in Acts 16:13 “And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.”
In John 4:5-30, Jesus was very weary from His travel, but He did not pass up (the divine) intervention of the Samaritan woman the God put in His path, to plant the seeds of hope of the living water, that forever changed her life, and many that she went forward to tell of that hope.
Conclusion
If even Jesus needs to stop and rest in the midst of a chaotic world, with all of the important things He has to do, don’t you think you need rest, too?
A very relevant quote I heard recently “Rest is a weapon given to us by God. The enemy hates it because He wants you stressed and occupied”.
We need to follow His example and set aside times of rest and restoration to continue on to pour out in our ministry to our families, our neighbors, our loved ones, the ones the Lord puts in our path to offer His Hope. Jesus couldn’t pour from an empty cup. We cannot be expected to pour from an empty cup all the more. Jesus knew He would burn out on even good activities of ministry and healing others. How much more would you burn out on even the good activities.
In what ways will you be able to set aside times of rest and restoration, to say ‘no’ to non-essential demands and urges set in front of you?
You have permission to take care of yourself because the world needs you and the hope you have to offer.
Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.