More Than Enough

Brad Snider

About a year ago my wife and I went on a tropical vacation. I had just finished my busiest time at work, and my wife (who is a school teacher) was looking forward to her spring break away from the bustle of the classroom. When we arrived at our destination, we were greeted with warm and sunny weather, a gorgeous beach, swimming pools, palm trees, friendly people, and an opportunity to rest and relax far away from home and responsibility. We had a great week. When we came back home people asked how the trip was, and I would say: “It was great. I got a lot of rest.”

How do you define “rest”? After my vacation, I defined rest as being away from work and people, in a very peaceful and beautiful place, where I had no responsibilities and everything was done for me. Does that sound like rest?

In Mark 6:31-44, Jesus and his disciples were feeling like my wife and I did before our vacation. The disciples had just come back from a long preaching tour throughout the area, Jesus had been dealing with people opposing him and trying to kill him, there was grief because Jesus’ second-cousin John the Baptist had recently been executed by Herod, and there were so many people crowding around Jesus every day that none of them even had time to eat! So Jesus had a similar idea: get away to an isolated place, and have some rest.

When they arrived at their location though, the circumstance quickly turned so that it seemed anything but restful. The crowd figured out where they were going and went ahead and beat them there, so Jesus spent the day teaching them and performing miracles. At the end of the day, the disciples realized that the people had brought no food and that there was no way they could provide for this crowd, which was probably around 10,000 people! To make matters worse, when the disciples brought this to Jesus’ attention, His solution was: “You give them something to eat!” What? They didn’t have that kind of money, and the only help they had was from a boy with five barley loaves (you can’t even make good bread with barley) and two small fish! Where was this “rest” Jesus promised? What had gone wrong?

At this point, we have three possible conclusions about Jesus: He either didn’t know all this was going to happen, or He knew but lied about it, or He was about to redefine for them what rest is all about.

When Jesus was faced with this set of circumstances He didn’t panic, He didn’t get mad at the people for being unprepared, He didn’t lament how difficult His week had been, and He didn’t call his disciples and organize an emergency prayer meeting. Instead, we read in John’s Gospel that Jesus knew what His Father was going to do, prepared the people, and said thanks to His Father for providing more than enough—before it actually was more than enough. That was it, and miraculously the meager supply was sufficient, and the people were fed.

When Jesus speaks of rest, He is not talking about a place or a set of circumstances. What Jesus taught his disciples that day is that rest is not found under palm trees, separated from difficult or uncomfortable circumstances. Rest by Jesus’ definition is not found in the absence of activity or difficulty, but rather it is found in His presence and activity in our situation. Just as He rested in His Father’s plan and activity in His difficult circumstance, He commands us to rest in Him in the same way. We rest when we allow Jesus to take our lousy bread and make it more than enough, trusting Him and saying “thank you” before we even see what that bread will become.

What Jesus demonstrated perfectly, we have to learn. Maybe you are looking at your situation right now, and have no idea what God’s intention is. You may not know the end as Jesus knew His when faced with His situation, but you can choose right now to say: “Thank you for being more than enough in my situation.” That was His example, and from you He asks for nothing else.