Flashback Favorite: Tired Jesus

As the busyness of summer shifts to the busyness of fall, it’s easy to feel worn down and just plain tired. Immediately after acknowledging my tiredness, I often feel some guilt creep in…like I should be able to handle this and even more. Perhaps you can relate. But even Jesus got tired…and He provides an example of what to do when we need to rest:

Tired Jesus
Originally posted on February 06, 2020

Early on in His ministry, Jesus was teaching in the Judean countryside, and His disciples were baptizing new believers.  They were very busy and many became followers of Jesus.  However, when Jesus received word that the Pharisees had heard about His growing ministry, He decided to leave and return to the northern area of Galilee.  To get there, He had to pick one of two route options: either take the straight-shot, 3-day hike from Judea to Galilee, or to take the longer road which headed east, crossed the Jordan River, turned back west, and crossed the Jordan River again before coming to Galilee.  This added days to trip and had the additional land barriers to deal with.  So why would Jews take the long road?  Because that path would mean they would avoid dealing with the Samaritan half-breed outsiders.

However, for this trip, Jesus chose to travel the faster, more direct path; but that meant they would be staying at least one night somewhere in the region most Jews wanted to avoid.  And let’s not kid ourselves…a 3-day journey on foot is still a 3-day journey on foot.  They had a long hike in front of them to get back to where Jesus and eleven of the twelve disciples had grown up.

John 4:4-6
He had to travel through Samaria; so He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from His journey, sat down at the well.  It was about noon. 

Jesus was worn out from His journey.  This is an important observation.

Jesus got tired. 

Yes, He is perfect. 
Yes, He is the prophesized Messiah. 
Yes, He is God in the flesh…but that’s just it, Jesus is also human like us.  I find it very comforting that at the mid-point of His day, Jesus needed to take a break and rest His tired feet. 

So He finds a place to sit down.  He sent the disciples into town to buy food – this is a quiet, cool place for Him to rest.  The text does not indicate that anyone else was there.

We all need to take time to rest.  Each of us are dealing with situations that take more than one day to finish…which means we’re going to have to recharge at some point.  Jesus relied on His disciples to go get the food, which tells me that it’s ok to receive help from others when we’re tired.

We don’t have to shoulder everything, all the time.  Those of us who fancy ourselves as “the strong one” in our family have the most difficulty with this.  And yet, here’s Jesus giving a simple, straight-forward example.

Jesus got tired.  He felt worn out.

So he sat down and rested.

Another thing the text doesn’t tell us how long He was able to rest before someone came to the well.   But it was in the exact location He chose to rest that He would have His next encounter as part of the Father’s will.  If Jesus had pushed through the tiredness, if He had kept going until the day was completely done, He wouldn’t have stopped at this well.

And one of His greatest evangelistic events wouldn’t have happened.

Are we willing to trust God enough to rest?  We often see the need to rest as weakness and the time taken to rest as time being wasted…as if God if up in Heaven shaking His head in disappointment when we’re feeling worn out from our day, with an extra twinge of guilt if we’re “only” halfway through the day.

Do we believe that God can use our place of rest to recharge us, but also for the benefit of others?

Seems like a tough concept to grab hold of, but as we’ll see, that’s exactly what happened to Jesus.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Tired Jesus

Early on in His ministry, Jesus was teaching in the Judean countryside, and His disciples were baptizing new believers.  They were very busy and many became followers of Jesus.  However, when Jesus received word that the Pharisees had heard about His growing ministry, He decided to leave and return to the northern area of Galilee.  To get there, He had to pick one of two route options: either take the straight-shot, 3-day hike from Judea to Galilee, or to take the longer road which headed east, crossed the Jordan River, turned back west, and crossed the Jordan River again before coming to Galilee.  This added days to trip and had the additional land barriers to deal with.  So why would Jews take the long road?  Because that path would mean they would avoid dealing with the Samaritan half-breed outsiders.

However, for this trip, Jesus chose to travel the faster, more direct path; but that meant they would be staying at least one night somewhere in the region most Jews wanted to avoid.  And let’s not kid ourselves…a 3-day journey on foot is still a 3-day journey on foot.  They had a long hike in front of them to get back to where Jesus and eleven of the twelve disciples had grown up.

John 4:4-6
He had to travel through Samaria; so He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from His journey, sat down at the well.  It was about noon. 

Jesus was worn out from His journey.  This is an important observation.

Jesus got tired. 

Yes, He is perfect. 
Yes, He is the prophesized Messiah. 
Yes, He is God in the flesh…but that’s just it, Jesus is also human like us.  I find it very comforting that at the mid-point of His day, Jesus needed to take a break and rest His tired feet. 

So He finds a place to sit down.  He sent the disciples into town to buy food – this is a quiet, cool place for Him to rest.  The text does not indicate that anyone else was there.

We all need to take time to rest.  Each of us are dealing with situations that take more than one day to finish…which means we’re going to have to recharge at some point.  Jesus relied on His disciples to go get the food, which tells me that it’s ok to receive help from others when we’re tired.

We don’t have to shoulder everything, all the time.  Those of us who fancy ourselves as “the strong one” in our family have the most difficulty with this.  And yet, here’s Jesus giving a simple, straight-forward example.

Jesus got tired.  He felt worn out.

So he sat down and rested.

Another thing the text doesn’t tell us how long He was able to rest before someone came to the well.   But it was in the exact location He chose to rest that He would have His next encounter as part of the Father’s will.  If Jesus had pushed through the tiredness, if He had kept going until the day was completely done, He wouldn’t have stopped at this well.

And one of His greatest evangelistic events wouldn’t have happened.

Are we willing to trust God enough to rest?  We often see the need to rest as weakness and the time taken to rest as time being wasted…as if God if up in Heaven shaking His head in disappointment when we’re feeling worn out from our day, with an extra twinge of guilt if we’re “only” halfway through the day.

Do we believe that God can use our place of rest to recharge us, but also for the benefit of others?

Seems like a tough concept to grab hold of, but as we’ll see, that’s exactly what happened to Jesus.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Coming out of the detour

Seven months ago, life took a serious detour…a detour that would change the course of my family’s history from that point forward.

My company offered voluntary severance packages.  At least this time, anyway.  The previous two layoffs were not voluntary, and we all had the feeling that any future ones wouldn’t be voluntary, either.  The company’s offer this time was quite generous, but the catch (for our family, at least) was that for my line of work, we’d have to move…out of state…to find the next job.  We had built a good life in West Virginia for the last 13 years, fully expecting to raise our family in one town, one church, one house, and with the same group of friends all the way through high school. 

God had blessed us tremendously in West Virginia, but the more we talked about it, prayed about it, and mulled it over…we knew it was time to go.  So, I raised my hand and volunteered.

The hunt for the next job started immediately, even though I would stay on at work through the end of February.  At first, friends and family were happy for us and wished us well.  But as the months drug on, and the few leads I had didn’t pan out…the well-wishes turned to raised eyebrows and mumbled “hang in theres”.  No one deserted us, but their growing concern was thinly-veiled. 

We felt like we were constantly saying goodbye, but never leaving.  It became increasingly more difficult for all of us to tell people, “No news yet.  Don’t know where God will take us.”  It was wearing on me to stay vigilant over the budget and try to get the house ready to sell, while counting down the number of remaining severance checks.  I actually turned down a job offer from a good friend, because we knew it wasn’t where God wanted us next.  A few weeks later, the day after my next best lead went up in smoke, it happened – we got an offer on the house.

We had a solid offer on our current home and no home to go to.  Zero job prospects at that moment, and we had 10 weeks to get out of the house.  I panicked.  I didn’t sleep that night.  There was a lightning storm raging outside, but it wouldn’t have mattered…the storm inside was twice as intense. 

I don’t specifically remember accusing God of abandoning me, but that’s how I felt.  After hours of pouring my heart out to God…finally emptied out…I gave up, and gave in…

“Whatever job you want, Lord.  Whatever place you want, just show me where.  I don’t care what it is, I just need to know where to take my family next.”

I’m not kidding when I say that I woke up the next morning and found the exact job I had been looking for…freshly posted and in the state we were most interested in – North Carolina.  I didn’t know anyone at that company.  I had no contacts or strings to pull.  Just a blind internet-submitted application and resume.  They called me three days later, and, within two weeks, I had accepted their generous offer.

To call this a coincidence would be naïve.  This whole detour journey has been a God-thing.  There’s no other way to describe it.  Even my non-Christian friends marvel at how well “everything just lined up so perfectly”.  Not that there weren’t frustrations and difficulties along the way, but this isn’t a normal, natural story.  It’s SUPERnatural, without a doubt.

We’ve closed on our house in West Virginia, and by the time this is posted, we’ll have closed on our new home in North Carolina.  We’ve come out of the unexpected detour for the better in a lot of ways…but best of all, we’ve had our faith grow and mature in ways that will echo through the future of our family.  The next chapter is just beginning…and I can’t wait to see what God wants to write.

As for this blog, I intend to continue with the once-a-week schedule until the dust settles here a little.  I’d love to get back to the twice-a-week format, but we’ll see how God leads.

For right now, though, the back end of Psalm 31 describes just how ridiculously blessed we are.  I get a little choked up each time I read it.

Psalm 31:19-24
How great is Your goodness
that You have stored up for those who fear You,
and accomplished in the sight of everyone
for those who take refuge in You.

You hide them in the protection of Your presence;
You conceal them in a shelter
from the schemes of men,
from quarrelsome tongues.

May the Lord be praised,
for He has wonderfully shown His faithful love to me
in a city under siege.
In my alarm I had said,
“I am cut off from Your sight.”
But You heard the sound of my pleading
when I cried to You for help.

Love the Lord, all His faithful ones.
The Lord protects the loyal,
but fully repays the arrogant.
Be strong and courageous,
all you who put your hope in the Lord.

Keep Pressing,
Ken