Tired, Pray, Meditate, Rest

The story in John 4 about the Samaritan woman always stirs my soul. The piece that always shocked me was Jesus’ confession to his disciples that he was tired. I never think of Christ in these terms. The scriptures say he was tired, so he sat down and told the disciples to go on into town and get lunch. I try to imagine their conversation as they walked on into town “This guy can calm the seas and feed five thousand people, but he needs us to go get him a freaking sandwich?” It seems like the only alpha male I’ve ever read about that doesn’t have a messiah complex is the actual Messiah. I think about how often we get tired but pretend like we’re not, pushing on through like we’re some kind of superman, cape waving in the wind, feeling no pain or fatigue. Not Jesus. When he hits the wall he confesses it to his crew and sits down for a bit.

The second thing we see Jesus doing consistently is getting alone for silence, prayer and meditation. This area of my life can quickly—and, at times, carelessly—be folded into sermon preparation or study. The problem is that studying to preach, teach or write is very different than feasting on Jesus in such a way that it feeds the soul. Don’t get me wrong, there is a definite feasting that occurs in study, but I think what Jesus is modeling for us here is different. Silence, trying to hear from him, meditation for our own souls…This is different than meditating on a text to be preached.

The last thing I’ll mention about Jesus’ life is that, when he was finally overwhelmed and exhausted right before the cross, he didn’t have sex with his secretary. He asked publicly for prayer. I habitually ask the people who worship at The Village to pray for me and my family. Sometimes I even give them details about the specific area they can pray about. I need it. I am a young, aggressive, alpha male who didn’t get hugged by his dad a lot; no doubt I have serious issues. The people of The Village have been so faithful; I believe, at times, that God’s response to their prayers has provided the power to help me keep going.