Come Away

Have you ever been to a concert, or a rally, or a dinner reception where the music and background noise are so loud you have to shout to be heard and you can barely hear the person next to you?

As I think of modern American culture, the phrase that comes to mind is “so much noise.”

And I don’t just mean the obvious—cell phones ringing, horns blaring, etc.  But there’s so much emotional noise that we can’t even stop to listen for truth. 

We’re a culture that’s angry, so we protest, we holler, we call each other names and malign others’ motives. And then we proudly present ourselves as the paragon of virtue for doing all this.

We’re a culture that’s selfish, so we scream out our self-declared “rights” and demand others meet them, validate them, and praise them. 

We’re a culture that’s empty, so we screech out our denial of our need for anything beyond ourselves—even though we’ve failed to find fulfillment in ourselves. 

So much noise. 

Jesus says, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (Mark 6:31). One translation reads, “Come away with me….”

Come away.

We see this same idea in Song of Solomon 2:10 and 13– Come away.

And Song of Solomon 8:14– Come away.

In the passage in Mark, Jesus is literally telling his disciples to come away and get some rest. They had just recently heard news of John the Baptist’s martyrdom and had buried his body. After telling Jesus all this, His reply was simple:  Come away and get some rest. The King James Version actually says come away “into a desert place” and rest awhile. 

So much noise…Come away with Jesus. 

So much turmoil…Come away with Jesus. 

So much anger…Come away with Jesus.

So much confusion…Come away with Jesus. 

So much fear…Come away with Jesus. 

When we can’t hear past our own hollering, past our own demands, past our own pride, past our own emptiness….So. Much. Noise.

Come away.