Devotion by Pastor Audrey
April 8, 2020
When you read about Jesus’ last days on earth nothing is said in the Gospels about what he did on Wednesday. The three days preceding Wednesday are full of symbolic and meaningful events yet on Wednesday, Jesus remains in Bethany with no record of his activity. He’s living his last days on earth. One would think he would pack each day full with all the things he hadn’t yet accomplished. However, nothing is said about seeing his mother or close friends for the last time or trying to heal as many people as he could before he goes to the cross. We don’t read he gathered people together for one last teaching hoping they would finally get it. No, it seems Jesus doesn’t do the things people normally do when they know they only have a short time to live. Instead, according to scripture, he rested – imagine. As people who live in a culture where being busy and constantly on the move is the norm, this doesn’t make sense. But then Jesus was always going against the culture and customs of his day.
I began to think about Jesus taking a day to rest. If Jesus could take a day to rest from activity during the most important time of his life what does that say to us? Maybe he saying it’s okay for us to take a day of rest during this very difficult time in our lives as well. A day to: not worry, to give up trying make things different than they really are, to put fear aside, to let go of confusion or whatever you may be struggling with right now and rest. Rest in the promises of God that tell us not to fear, that God is always with us and that if God is for us who/what can be against us. Something to consider.