Jesus Invites Disciples To Come Away And Rest
(By Fr. Dexter Brereton)
It is necessary to retreat to that quiet place . . .
[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”0553419536″ locale=”us” height=”375″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41B9LSHqYsL.jpg” width=”249″]Today’s gospel story follows last week’s account of the disciples being sent out in pairs to spread Jesus’ message of joy, and sets the stage for the feeding of five thousand persons which is to follow. In a real way it illustrates the secret of Jesus’ powerful ministry…Jesus’ extraordinary ability to ‘care,’ to fully enter into the reality of all those who suffered any kind of pain or need. We see him setting himself to teach the crowds who have crashed his little ‘vacation,’ at length rather than claiming his privacy and chasing them away. Yes, Jesus’ concern for these members of his flock, in ‘a lonely place,’ mirrors the concern of YHWH who fed the children of Israel in the desert.
The reading begins with the joyful return of the disciples from their evangelizing mission recounting all the wonderful thing they accomplished. Jesus tells them ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’ since there were so many people going and coming that they scarcely had time to eat. If we follow this story in the footsteps of the disciples we find an important spiritual lesson. One of the great temptations of our time ,(and this is especially true of public figures) is this tendency to identify ourselves with all the wonderful things that may be said about us, to see ourselves exclusively through the veil of celebrity, or through our achievements. The danger of course is that our hearts may become coarsened and vain and self-centred and egotistical. There is a wonderful story told a number of years ago by one of the world’s great business executives Indra Nooyi about the dangers of fame and celebrity. It concerns her attempt to tell her mother of her promotion to the post of CEO of PEPSICO, the makers of Pepsi and other snacks. Her mother was not impressed:
…Rather than stay and work until midnight which I normally would’ve done because I had so much work to do, I decided to go home and share the good news with my family. I got home about 10, got into the garage, and my mother was waiting at the top of the stairs. And I said, “Mom, I’ve got great news for you.” She said, “let the news wait. Can you go out and get some milk?” I looked in the garage and it looked like my husband was home. I said, “what time did he get home?” She said “8 o’clock.” I said, “Why didn’t you ask him to buy the milk?” “He’s tired.” Okay. We have a couple of help at home, “why didn’t you ask them to get the milk?” She said, “I forgot.” She said just get the milk. We need it for the morning. So like a dutiful daughter, I went out and got the milk and came back.
I banged it on the counter and I said, “I had great news for you. I’ve just been told that I’m going to be president on the Board of Directors. And all that you want me to do is go out and get the milk, what kind of a mom are you?” And she said to me, “let me explain something to you. You might be president of PepsiCo. You might be on the board of directors. But when you enter this house, you’re the wife, you’re the daughter, you’re the daughter-in-law, you’re the mother. You’re all of that. Nobody else can take that place. So leave that damned crown in the garage. And don’t bring it into the house. You know I’ve never seen that crown.”
The point of the story is not to negate the greatness of the achievement of this Indian –born business woman, but it is a gentle reminder that it is important to keep a wise distance between one’s ‘heart and one’s achievements. In other words, it is important not to take oneself too seriously no matter what position we may hold. I may be the head of the country’s largest grocery chain but it is good to know that at home I still have to take out the garbage. Henri Nouwen speaks of the importance of ‘solitude’ in helping us to keep our perspective. He writes:
A life without a lonely place, that is, a life without a quiet centre, easily becomes destructive. When we cling to the results of our actions as our only way of self-identification, then we become possessive and defensive and tent to look at our fellow human beings more as enemies to be kept at a distance than as friends with whom we share the gift of life. In solitude we can slowly unmask the illusion of our possessiveness and discover in the centre of our own self that we are not what we can conquer, but what is given to us.
In calling his disciples away to a lonely place where they could be by themselves, Jesus was calling his followers away from the highly addictive brew of adulation and admiration which drunken so many of our leaders. Let us pray that we all may find the time to ‘go off to a lonely place’ to view our lives from a quiet distance. Let us pray that we also learn to laugh at ourselves with gentleness and understanding. Amen.
