Mark 6:30-32
6:30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.
6:31 He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
6:32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.
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Some people think that the Son of God did not need to rest, like ever. However there is a saying, commonly held in Transylvania that the devil is the one who is not sleeping, like ever.
Jesus called himself in the Gospels more often the Son of Man, and the Apostle Paul asserted that the Son of God is also the second Adam, as he also insisted in his first letter to Timothy that “I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men: for kings and all who are in high places, that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all (...)”
We all know, that in general we may endure a maximum of two days without water, approximately three weeks without food, just a few minutes without Oxygen, and only a few days without sleep. This latter is quite interesting, because we can have a rest without sleeping, like doing absolutely nothing, but still, without sleep we will become very speedily worn out, and extreme sleep deprivation may cause death as well.
It is even more interesting that in the ancient Sumerian epic tale, the Sumerian version of Noah, Utnapishtim, whom the gods granted immortality, tells Gilgamesh,the hero king of the Sumerian city state of Uruk, that he will gain immortality, if he could pass the test of not sleeping through seven consecutive days and nights. Of course he did not pass.
Every single night or sleep time according to our sleep schedule, we must sleep. And sleeping is very similar to recharging of the batteries. The cars, running on fossil fuels, technically can run almost without end whenever the tanks are filled and the car parts are in a good shape. The electric cars must be regularly recharged and it takes a while. Humans look like hybrid cars, we need biochemical fuel to run our activities, and also we need to recharge the batteries, where this electromagnetic phenomenon, we call human soul, requires spiritual energy.
The source of the spiritual energy is the spiritual realm, we call Heaven. Every single night or sleeping we cross the boundaries between this world and Heaven, and we go to the other side, to the source of the spiritual energy, to the source of life in order to recharge the batteries of our souls.
Despite the popular wishful thinking of any scientific attempt to describe life, the source of life is not here in the biophysical world, but it is on the other side in the original home of the souls, where we came from and to where we return not only after this life, but also every single night or daytime sleeping. However, there is a transitional method, to reach the Heavenly sources in order at least to partially recharge the spiritual batteries, and this is the explicit channel to God, what we call prayer, meditation and contemplation, like bridges to the source of life, overarching the border between this life and the Afterlife.
Any spiritual interaction between people, where the stronger usually gives and the weaker usually receives, may deplete the batteries of the stronger very fast, and there is a great need for recharge. Especially for the believers, but even for the Apostles, and even for the Son of God.
In the Gospel story of the Mark, Jesus told the disciples that He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." They had to be separated from the crowds to recharge the batteries of their souls. However the Gospel story written in the Gospel of Matthew says that “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat, and to go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. After he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone. “
Even for Jesus, the Son of God, but also being in a human form, as the Son of Man, there was a great earthly need to regularly be alone in order to recharge the batteries by the prayer connection to the source of the life, who is God, the King of the Universe himself.
Refueling of the body with food is a must in order to keep the body running, though Jesus warns the disciples that the refueling of the body is not a real goal in itself, it is just a tool, as we have to use and discipline our bodies to keep the ordinances of God.
Jesus gave the commandment of not worrying in a beautiful parable, saying in the Gospel of Luke that "Therefore I tell you, don't be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. (…) Don't seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek God's Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.”
Recharging of the batteries of the soul is a must, thus we must sleep regularly to keep our soul in the body. However, also, we have to be aware and conscious that all the time, when we connect our souls to Heaven by prayer, meditation and contemplation, we do it not only to keep the soul recharged on Earth in order that the recharged soul would maintain and sustain the life in the body, but we connect to God in order to beg, to pray for the eternal life in Heaven, when the earthly life ends here.
Because, our ultimate goal is not Earth, our ultimate goal is Heaven. Our ultimate goal is not the eternal life of the physical body, but the eternal life of the Soul. We have to be aware that the destination of the soul is not automatically Heaven. It is a faith choice, and the admission is based on merit.
As Jesus said: “Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. "Aren't two sparrows sold for a single coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father's will, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore don't be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.” May the Lord be praised by our godly thoughts and speeches and deeds,
Amen .
