One of the great things about going on long trips with your family is that while cooped up in a car and lodged in confined, unfamiliar surroundings, you are likely to observe and experience personality nuances that don’t usually surface in day-to-day, normal life.
One of the great things about returning home after long trips with your family is that you can stop experiencing those nuances.
As one of my sons said recently as we were on our way home after five days of visiting relatives in Indiana, “I think I’ve had enough family time now.” He didn’t mean to be disrespectful or insulting. In fact, there was no one in our vehicle who did not share his feelings. We all felt the intense need to restore a little routine and reclaim a little space in our lives.
Jesus understands the need for space and time alone. Even though He perfectly loved everyone He came into contact with, Jesus sometimes needed a break. In chapter 14 of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus had just learned that His cousin, co-laborer and perhaps friend, John the Baptist, had been executed by King Herod. And for a really bogus reason. Jesus was well aware of the depravity of man, but he still must have been sickened at the injustice and hardness of heart behind John’s senseless murder.
Jesus needed some time alone to process it all, perhaps to grieve, and certainly to spend time in prayer with His Father – the only One who could really comfort His heart.
But read Matthew’s account of what happened: “Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.” (Matt. 14:13)
Jesus was being stalked by hordes of people who thought he was a miraculous human vending machine. He was the guy who could heal diseases, multiply food, and even raise the dead. The multitudes seemed not to care that He might need to sort out His own thoughts and feelings.
That would have driven me nuts. I probably would have lashed out with, “Okay, people – give me a break! My friend has just been killed. Could you LEAVE ME ALONE?”
But how did Jesus react? “… He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.” (Matt. 14:13, emphasis mine) As a side note, Jesus went on that same day to multiply the loaves and fishes for the hungry crowd and later that night, He walked on the water to catch up with His disciples.
Jesus had every “right” to some time and space – to be a little selfish, to look out for “Number One” … but His heart was full of compassion, not self-care. And He wasn’t “number one” in His eyes – His heavenly Father was.
“… for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me,” Jesus said (John 5:30).
I need time and space alone sometimes, and that’s okay. But when those quiet times are interrupted by the very real needs of people around me — when the “multitudes” find me — I don’t need to remember the magazine articles or the Oprah-like shows that insist, “You are the most important one! Take care of yourself first!”
Rather, I need to entrust my needs to my loving Heavenly Father and ask Him to give me the grace to do what Jesus did: to feel compassion, not annoyance, and to come down off my mountain — or get in the car and drive 12 hours — so that I might be a vessel of His love to a world that is starving for His touch.