WORK WITH JESUS, REST IN JESUS

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 6: 30-34

We often hear it said, “There is just too much work to do.” We often say it ourselves, “I have so little time for so many a task.” But will there really be a time when we have enough time to work? Will there really be work enough for the time we have?

“Time is of essence,” so says a proverb. Indeed, it is! We have only twenty-four hours of it in a day. Just when we say, “I will find time to do this or that,” we do not find the time we need. We make it. But making time only means setting our priorities right not setting our watches with an additional hour or two.

Very few people realize that we can only do so much. So much can be done if more people realize that.

The same is true with our apostolates, our ministries and our work for the Church. After we have done our best, we must submit to the grace of God at work in everything and everyone. Let God be in control, He knows what He is doing. Let God be in full control, He knows better than what we ourselves think we are doing best.

So long as we give it our best, our work is worth the time we have and our time is worth the work we do for the Lord. Just give it our best always. Afterall, we are not the messiah. Jesus is. We are here not to save the world. It has already been saved. By Jesus, not by us.

Therefore, we should not be discouraged when we fail after you have given our best. Move on. What we cannot do, Jesus can do better. Whom we cannot save, Jesus can save. There will always be imperfect situations, imperfect people, imperfect ways, imperfect steps, imperfect time. We, ourselves, are imperfect, are we not? Only Jesus is perfect. We, ourselves, need a savior; only Jesus does not need one.

So, in the midst of too much work with too little time, still make time to rest. We need to rest so that we may work better. Quite often we miss His point: what Jesus wants is not that we work more but that we work better. What we can do is not the same with how we do it; both considerations are important but the second has greater weight than the first. Resting better always preconditions us to working better, and even, to working more.

The people will remain miserable as when Jesus saw them two thousand years ago, if we do not rest. They were like sheep without a shepherd when Jesus saw them. They will lose their shepherd if their shepherd does not rest. Worse, the sheep very often suffer from a burnt-out shepherd. The people are already in a pitiable state; they can appear more miserable in the care of a workaholic shepherd.

How do we work? More or better? How do we rest? Better or more?

Work with Jesus. Rest in Jesus.