It had been quite a day. Word of John the Baptist probably had reached Jesus, he had taught many people and his apostles were coming back full of excitement and news. Time to take a break; time to get away. I appreciate this part of the story. The one who created rest still advocates it. He and the apostles pulled away from the crowd from some downtime.
When they land on the other side, there is another crowd. Now a mere 5000 people (minimum) are expecting something from him. This is where everything inside of me would cry out "no!". He was supposed to be resting but he could not.
Some call it spiritual overtime. You have given all you have and the day is supposed to be over, but it is not. Like overtime in sports, the day keeps going and you have to as well.
Yet Jesus did it with love in his heart. There is no self-pity, fussing or irritability in the story. He truly had compassion for others and did not think of himself. For him it became a great moment to bless the crowds.
There are many times that I feel I am in spiritual overtime; that is not my challenge. My challenge is to be in overtime with the same attitude that Jesus had.
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