Luke 23 is about so many things, the trial, death and burial of Jesus Christ, the new beginning of friendship between Herod and Pilate, the forgiveness of a criminal, for goodness sakes it is about the salvation of the world! Lots in this passage caught my eye, but I landed on Luke 23:56 the final verse.
I have read this passage of scripture tons of times, but never caught the magnitude of this. “Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandments”. Can you believe it! The One they loved had just been falsely accused and died a brutal death. They wanted to honor Him to anoint and perfume His body as a final act of love. They wanted to give Him a proper burial and they had to rest. It was commanded of them. It’s not like Jesus didn’t know the day He would die and the fact that it would be required that these women rest. Rest was not suggested, but a must even in the face of death. While they were resting, God Almighty was at work! His plan of redemption in full swing. Ladies, why is it that we think we are in charge of saving the world and making it dinner too? No seriously, I didn’t learn to rest until my early 40’s after a serious burn out and even now still find it can be challenging. Why can’t we take the invitation/command and obey it? What are we afraid of ?
Often when we get quiet long enough things come up, memories, unaddressed issues, the voice of God…His gentle nudge. Remember when you’ve been holding an exhausted little one and they just want to keep going and going; they are weary and crying and struggling and you’re like come on already! Just rest, you’re not going to miss all the things you think you’re gonna miss. Strangely, I can hear the Fathers saying the same thing to us. It is not that we are unaware, we KNOW we need that weekly and even daily rest. Can I just say you need no one else’s permission to rest. The God of heaven and earth has told you to rest, so you get to. 🙂 I think of Psalm 23:2, “He makes me lie down in green pastures”. Makes me. Sounds like the story of the tired child. It’s okay to rest, no as a matter of fact it is good. Each week we prepare a meal the evening before Sabbath and it is actually something we look forward to each week. Try it! At first, it may feel completely against your grain but soon you will settle down and find that much needed rest. Until we meet again, I pray you will take Him at His word and rest.
Blessings, Tiff
Grow Anyway 