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Home Mark 6:30-34 NRSVue

Mark 6:30-34 NRSVue

30The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31He 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. 32And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

“Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.”

Some thoughts on this scripture

Reflection
There is a phrase to ponder: /He had compassion on the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd. / Jesus, son of the eternal father, sees the crowd as his sisters and brothers. His gaze spans the millennia of humankind, sees our need for direction, for compassion, and for seeking some meaning in existence.

Reflection
To his disciples, exhausted by all the unscripted coming and going of the crowds, Jesus said /Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while. / This is the origin of the Christian practice of making a retreat: a lonely place, where we can drop our public mask, reflect on our life, and rest. I do it in a small way whenever I beam in on /Sacred Space/ and devote some time to just God and me.

Reflection
This is a gospel story for people busy with caring for others. Jesus' desire for peace and quiet was disturbed by the crowds who needed him. This is an image of many parents and people in helping professions. We need rest and time to recharge the energy and love of the heart; but at times the needs of others will take over. Prayer can unite both - the prayer of our action and the prayer of love.

Reflection
Prayer is a time of answering the invitation in the gospel ‘Come away to a deserted place'. The place of our mind can be very crowded with the cares and concerns of life. We need time to give these over to God in prayer and then time just to be still. Stillness is of the essence of prayer. But whether we are still or busy in the mind, the essence of prayer is also to share all we are with Jesus; and to go from prayer ready to work with him in our world.

Reflection
It is good, indeed essential, to go apart to a 'deserted' place from time to time to rest and feed one's heart by listening for the voice of God. The human heart is restless. "Is this all there is?" Some assuage this human hunger by grasping for more and more money, fame, sex, power. To be fully human is to seek. We seek not just for food, facts or things, but for meaning. We want a purpose, a motive to go on. Jesus provides us with such a purpose.

Reflection
Even as Lent approaches, the voice of Jesus calls us aside.