Alone and Praying

Jesus’ day started with confronting an evil spirit in the synagogue (Matthew 1:21-28) and ended, long after sunset, with him healing all kinds of terrible diseases and silencing and driving out a lot of demons who knew who he was.

Not only did Jesus heal people and force out demons, but he did so in front of the whole town that was gathered around Simon’s house. Everywhere he turned there must have been a person in need.

We know that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. What we don’t know is how his humanity and divinity co-existed. We know from other gospel accounts that Jesus experienced physical tiredness—he was asleep during a storm (Mark 4:38) and he met the woman at the well because he was tired from traveling (John 4:6). But did he also experience spiritual tiredness? He certainly knew when “power had gone out of him” (Mark 5:30).

Perhaps Jesus silenced the demons so that he could demonstrate who he was by his own words and actions when so many people saw him just as just a miracle worker.

So very early the next morning, Jesus went to a place where he could be alone and pray. Though Jesus was divine, he still needed to be alone with God. If he needed to do so, in the midst of all that he was experiencing, how much more do we need to be with God?

As soon as Jesus was found, he restated his purpose for coming to earth: to tell the good news to people. And then he went and did just that.

Respond in Prayer

Lord God, just as your Son needed to spend time with you, so do I. Thank you for always being there when I do turn to you. In your Son’s name, I pray, Amen.

Sarah Patterson