I’m a fairly introverted person. I love people, and I love being around people but I find it fairly tiring! So, after a Sunday morning, you’ll probably find me having an afternoon nap on my couch after a fairly social morning, getting re-energised for the 6PM service. However, in today’s passage, we would be wrong to think that Jesus is retreating because he is ‘peopled out’ like I sometimes am, but in the quiet time of the morning, he goes out specifically to pray. This is only one sentence in the whole book but it is very significant! If Jesus makes quiet time and prayer a priority in his life and he is the Son of God, why should we be any different in our priorities?

Meanwhile, the disciples are wandering around looking for Jesus and when they find him, they tell him that everyone is looking for him! Again, this is probably another exaggeration, I’m not sure that every person was looking for Jesus but you can almost hear the urgency in their words. They may have wanted Jesus to keep on healing, to take this show on the road, to get even more followers! However, Jesus response isn’t what they are expecting.

Jesus tells them that they are going to go somewhere else in order that he will be able to preach. That is the reason that Jesus came - to preach. The miracles may be great in gathering popularity, but the preaching is fundamental in making disciples and is the core of Jesus’ mission on earth. It would be a great mistake of us to just look at Jesus’ life and what he did and not actually listen to his words and put them into practice. MC

Questions

Prayer

Lord God, we are sorry for when we take the privilege of prayer and time with you for granted. Please help us to make this and hearing your word a priority in our lives, that we may grow as disciples of you in every way. Amen.