Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The Word of God that engages us is our Gospel lesson, especially these verses:
“That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:32-35, ESV).

In our Gospel lesson “everyone” was looking for Jesus (1:37). Everybody wanted a piece of him! “They brought to him all who were sick…” (v. 32). “The whole city was gathered together at his door” (v. 33). Everyone needed Jesus. They showed up at Peter’s house, overwhelming him with their worries and warts, demons and diseases. They pounded on the door, demanding all of Jesus’ time, his energy, his attention, his focus. They all needed help.
Jesus did the best he could. “He healed many” of them (v. 34). Jesus healed many—but not all. When the day was done, and he’d had enough, Jesus closed the door and put out the sign that says, SORRY, WE’RE CLOSED. And then utterly exhausted, pining for his pillow, he got up “very early in the morning, while it was still dark…, and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (v. 35). Jesus sought the Father’s face in solitude, quieting his soul in the Father’s grace. The day was done, and so was our Lord Jesus. Prayer gave him required rest.
It is difficult for us to understand how Jesus could turn his back on needy people to seek his own rest and refreshment. Wasn’t that selfish of him? What about having a servant’s heart? In America we measure people’s worth by what they do and how much they accomplish. And in the Church, we tend to value people by their contribution to others. Yet the more we accomplish, the more we worry about a repeat performance—or the fear of failure if we cannot. We worry about what people will say or think about us when they discover that we are not as talented, successful, or caring as we present ourselves to be.
Increasingly, mental health professionals warn about the danger of “compassion fatigue” that threatens caregivers who constantly serve others. Parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, and pastors are all at risk of burn out if they do not take care of their own health. If you do not eat, you cannot feed others. If you do not reenergize, you cannot give rest to others. And even though Jesus was the Son of God, he was still a man who needed rest and prayer. As Henri Nouwen writes, “It is in the lonely place, where Jesus enters into intimacy with the Father, that his ministry is born.” Without prayer, Jesus cannot do the Father’s will. So he seeks the Father’s face and waits for him to speak in the stillness and the silence.
What do you do when everyone is looking for you? When the kids are crying to eat, your parents are calling, and your spouse needs help with something, and your list of chores is a mile long, do you ever want to just run away? Or do you just keep spinning your wheels until you’re worn out and run down, crabby and angry at everyone and everything? I must admit that there are times when I am so overwhelmed by family life and ministry, that all I want to do is crawl into a hole and never come back out. The constant anxiety to please everyone around you, to “be all things to all men” all the time (1 Cor. 9:22, KJV), is an impossible, wearisome task. And sometimes we just want to call it quits.
From the moment our alarm goes off until the minute we fall sleep in bed watching TV or playing on Facebook, our entire day is a hectic rush like a 100-yard dash on constant repeat. No wonder that so many of us suffer from high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, and obesity—all of which are exacerbated by lack of proper sleep, nutrition, and exercise. And the thing we need more than anything is prayer. C.S. Lewis said that prayer is to the Christian what oxygen is for the lungs. A Christian cannot live without extended time in prayer and conversation with our heavenly Father. And yet in our frantic lives, prayer is often the first thing to go. Many years ago Pastor Bill Hybels wrote a book titled Too Busy Not to Pray. So many of us think that with all of our calendars and to-do lists, we are too busy to take time to pray. But the reality is exactly the opposite.
Sometimes we worry and wonder why God doesn’t seem to be taking care of our needs. The apostle James gives a very simple answer: “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2b). Oh, sure, we might still say our simple meal prayer and rote bedtime prayers, but how often do we actually pour out our hearts to the God who counts our tears in bottles (cf. Ps. 62:8; 56:8)? For us prayer should not be a matter of last resort but first resort—and a frequent part of our day, as necessary as breathing for our souls. As Bill Hybels said, we are too busy not to pray.
Jesus knew that, and he modeled a healthy, balanced life for us. “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). Commenting on this, Henri Nouwen writes:
“In the middle of sentences loaded with action—healing suffering people, casting out devils, responding to impatient disciples, traveling from town to town and preaching from synagogue to synagogue—we find these quiet words: ‘In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.’ In the center of breathless activities we hear a restful breathing. Surrounded by hours of moving we find a moment of quiet stillness. In the heart of much involvement there are words of withdrawal. In the midst of action there is contemplation. And after much togetherness there is solitude. The more I read this nearly silent sentence locked in between the loud words of action, the more I have the sense that the secret of Jesus’ ministry is hidden in that lonely place where he went to pray, early in the morning, long before dawn.”

There are many passages in Scripture that tell us Jesus frequently sought out these lonely, desolate, quiet places to pray. Even when the crowds were searching for him, even when “everyone” was looking for him, “he would withdraw to desolate places and pray” (Luke 5:16). And he invited his disciples to do the same (Mark 6:31).
For Jesus—and for us—these times of solitude are not a retreat from the world, but rather a retreat for the world, because you cannot give what you do not have. “We are not what we can conquer, but what is given to us.” Or, as one of you texted to me earlier this week, we need to remember that God made us to be human beings, not human doings.
Jesus knows that you are weary and heavy-laden with too much to do and not enough time to do it. He knows that you are too busy not to pray. And so he beckons you to come and find rest in him:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).

Yes, of course, you are busy, and you haven’t finished everything yet. There will always be more to do. You’ll never get everything done. But God’s command to rest on the Sabbath Day is not optional, for after all, they are called the Ten Commandments and not the Ten Suggestions! So take heart in the Good News that on the cross Jesus accomplished everything God requires of you. Or did you not know that, right before he died, Jesus declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30)?
God’s acceptance of you is not based on merit. He does not love you because of how much you accomplish, “the things we have done and the things we have left undone” (LSB). God loves you because of who he is and what Jesus did on the cross for you. Rest and prayer are God’s gifts for weary souls and worn out bodies. The Bible says, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” (Ps. 127:2). Your life is not the measure of your successes. God is not another grade-giver. He is your heavenly Father and loving Lord.
Jesus got up early in the morning while it was still dark and went to a lonely place to pray. Where is your lonely place? Some people like to go on weekend retreats in the mountains or hiking in the woods, but that is hard to do every day. Perhaps there is a comfortable chair somewhere in your house or office. Jesus suggests a little room or closet (Matt. 6:6). It might take time to find a desolate place, but when you do, guard it with every fiber!
When do you pray? Perhaps you have a habit of waking up in the middle of the night and you can’t go back to sleep. Maybe God is trying to carve out time for you to pray. Or perhaps you spend a lot of time in the car listening to the radio. Turn off the news and music and pray instead. Put down your smartphone. Turn off the TV. Ignore your text alerts and phone ringer and calendar and to-do list for a little while so that you can pray. Remember: when everyone is looking for you, there is even more urgency for us to look for the Father instead. “But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31). Rest and pray. The Lord is calling you. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of T the Holy Spirit. Amen.