It was not simply to take a hasty break in frantic outreach to the frail and famished in an urgent situation but Jesus intended to recommend, even command, an opportunity to enjoy private and close personal companionship with the unhurried Christ, totally available to his nearest friends in the whirl of their lives. A quiet place and adequate rest with Jesus were graciously afforded to his busy disciples. This was spiritual luxury. Jesus gave special time to tired workers; he saw this provision to be necessarily merciful. Busyness and fixed preoccupation with our immediate tasks is not necessarily virtuous when the quality of our effort is flagging. Good and beneficial work requires rest and the replenishment of our limited powers.

Our labor and strength need to be measured in a common sense and rational way. Nervous breakdowns and avoidable health problems are not proper medals of faithful service. They sometimes point to "justification by works" and our sense of personal worth, often resulting in needless trouble and inconvenience for others caring and covering on behalf of the injured. I clearly remember a colleague at Diocesan Synod turning to the pews behind him and dramatically hectoring the clergy who he surmised were working less hours per week than himself. A month later or so it was announced that our clergy brother had died. A more sensible pace of life might have spared him for longer service to the parish he loved.

There are many Christian and vicarage children who grow up "screwed up" because of parental absence from the family. Dr John Polkinghorne trained under the same rector as myself and in his autobiography the great and gentle physicist expressed gratitude to our common mentor for being encouraged to observe regular periods of total rest. There is here an implication of the divine wisdom implanted in the principle of justification by faith. We are to be scrupulously faithful to God but we are not justified by our work nor our supposed worth. We bring no merits before the throne of grace and we are always unprofitable servants whatever our vocation as believers [so you also, when you have done everything, you were told to do, should say 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty' [Luke 17:10].

All of us need periods of retreat from a world driven by the insane pressure of Mammon, with its constant claims and aggravating chatter. The mighty, untiring Lord God proffers time with himself where stillness may be found and replenishment of powers be attained. What a supreme privilege it is to rendezvous with our Maker and Redeemer.

Come with me: A divine bidding to the best and most encouragingly joyful association of all possible links with another. There is no higher attachment than a believer's connection with God, whom Augustine declared to be closer to us than we are to ourselves.

By yourselves: Either truly alone or with a company of folk of the same mind and yearning. Our yearning for grace makes us deep, opines Augustine. And our earnings quickened by God can only be satisfied by God in the time spent with him. What a strain it is to learn through experience that our only satisfaction can be found in the Lord and not in the trivialities of our culture.

To a quiet place: Divine communion succeeds most in tranquility and a peaceful place. The Lord is more worthy of our total attention and adoration, and more so than any other attraction that appeals to our interest. John Donne was almost driven to a frenzy by a fly that buzzed continually in the place where he was endeavoring to enjoy a time of holy reflection.
Eventually, we may become able to shut out disturbing sound from our ruminations. The Lord of the universe may favor us with a guarantee of perfect silence on the occasions when we look to him.

And get some rest: A mini-vacation for the mind kindles the desire for a closeness to Christ; to veer off the track of repeated worldly matters and the intrusion of nagging anxieties. The arrival of worry is not our fault at all. but the situation of anxious concern is ours to placate by a prompt transfer of agitation to the One who bids us to use his lap as a dumpster for all the problems we are incapable of solving. It is the hardest thing for troubled human nature to toss and trust these tough issues away - Godwards. Our relief is found in various passages of Holy Scripture exhorting us not to be vexed by anything, but unbelief is often our stumbling block. Troubled Peter, through Mark his penman, is the one who listened and learnt from his Master, cf 1 Peter 5:17. But time with Jesus is not primarily provided for the perplexed but for those who wish to gaze upon him and find him a joy forever. The fairest of them all [Psalm 45:2].

[Man] can never have rest till he have run out of himself to God; in whose face at first he finds rigor, but, afterwards, sweetness in his bosom. --- Joseph Hall 1574 - 1656