MEETING THE DEMANDS OF LIFE

 

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

MARK 1:35

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 

 

After this full day—and what a full day it was for Jesus (Read Mark 1:14-38). Calling disciples, teaching in the synagogue, healing a man with an unclean spirit, healing Peter's Mother in law, then that very evening, Jesus heals many as Mark says, "the whole town was at the door!" Just think of what an emotional drain it must have been.

Mark records that early in the morning, before it was daylight, Jesus went out on the mountainside, and there, by Himself, in solitude communing with God through prayer. But even there He was not safe. His disciples interrupted this solitude, and informed Him that everyone was looking for Him. Jesus reveals the heart of his mission in what He says in reply: “Let us go somewhere else, to the nearby villages, so I can preach there also.” I wonder if this is what He was praying about that God would lead Him, that doors would be opened, and hearts and minds would be ready, that there would be fertile soil for the message of the Kingdom of God to take root, in the cities to which He would travel to next.

Why did Jesus seek the Father's face like this, in these hours of pressure? My only answer is that He wants to make clear that the authority He had was not coming from Him. This is what our Lord is trying to get across to us continually in the Scriptures, that it was not His authority by which He acted; He had to receive it from the Father. In John’s gospel Jesus revealed where his authority and power originated, do you remember these words? “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19) Later on in John 14:10 Jesus speaks again to further emphasize this. “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” This tells us that all the power that Jesus demonstrated had to come to Him constantly from the one in whose presence he consistently lived.

Jesus stresses this because this is what He wants us to learn. We are to live our lives on the same basis. Our response must be a total reliance on the One who is at work within us, as we face the normal, ordinary demands of life. The power to cope with those demands comes from Christ in us. This is the secret: The ability to follow Jesus with our whole lives, comes not from us, doing our best to serve God, but from Jesus, giving us what we need each moment. The Father is at work in the Son; the Son is at work in us. We are given power and direction to meet the requirements and the needs that are waiting for us in the demands of our lives.

That brings us back to our verse today. It offers the key instruction that I believe we all need, that is to Make Space for what is important. What could hold greater importance than finding that "solitary place" to connect with our loving creator.

"Very early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
Jesus got up,
left the house
and went off to a solitary place
where he prayed."