Leave Me Alone

January 12, 2008

Matthew 14*
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Jesus is incredible. This passage is right after Jesus is informed of the death of John the Baptist. We might assume that He was mourning John's death, the scripture doesn't give us this detail. What the scripture does tell us is that Jesus sought to be by himself in an area where nobody was. What makes Jesus incredible is that when the crowds and the sick followed Him, He didn't get angry but had compassion on them.

This example of Jesus' action touches me. I have the temperament of withdrawing from everyone when I'm tired, sick, or just plain overloaded. What happens most of the time when I withdraw? Someone seeks me out, be it one of the children, my wife, my colleague, just about anybody. This is God giving me a chance to be more like Jesus. Guess what? I usually fail at this task. I'm learning to be more aware of these chances to serve and to show the love of Christ.

You don't have to have a temperament like me for this to be a challenge for you also. How about it? When you finally get a chance to get away from the chaos we call "life," and you are interrupted, how do you react?

God knows when we need rest and need to be alone; so why would He allow these times to be interrupted other than to give us chance to walk in the footsteps of Jesus?

*The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.