Mark 6:30-34 describes the return of the disciples from their first ministry tour.  Exhilarated and exhausted, they have stories to tell Jesus — thrilling stories of healing, exorcisms, and conversions.  Perhaps there are darker stories in the mix as well — stories of failure and rejection.  Hard stories they need to process privately with their Teacher. Whatever the case, Jesus senses that the disciples need a break.  They're tired, overstimulated, underfed, and in significant need of solitude. Jesus, meanwhile, is not in top form himself.  He has just lost John the Baptist, his beloved cousin, the one who baptized him and spent a lifetime in the wilderness preparing his way.  Worse, Jesus has lost him to murder, a terrifying reminder that God's beloved are not immune to violent, senseless deaths. Jesus is heartbroken. "Let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile," he says to his disciples as the crowds throng around them.  "Come away with me," is how another translation puts it, and I hear both tenderness and longing in those words.  Jesus wants rest and recuperation for his friends, as well as himself.  In these verses, we see essential glimpses of Jesus' human life.  His need to withdraw, his desire for solitary prayer, his inclination to hide. These glimpses take nothing away from Jesus' divinity; they enhance it, making it richer and all the more mysterious.  They remind us that the doctrine of the Incarnation truly is Christianity's best gift to the world.  Debie Thomas