September 15 – Mark 1:21-39

There are more than a dozen instances in the gospels of Jesus wandering off to go pray alone. This week we’ll look at one of those and consider all the moving parts, all that Jesus had to leave behind in order to do this and the utter necessity of time with our Father.

You likely just heard Mark 1:35-38 in the sermon, but for CG discussion we’ll expand it to verses 21-39 to get the whole story. Be aware that this adds in a bunch of stuff about Jesus casting out demons, but don’t let that distract you from our focus on verses 35-38. The initial “what stood out to you” can help flush some of that out. In our secular materialistic society, demonic spiritual beings come across as a bit wacky, but quite simply, the Bible presents demonic spirits as actual, malicious spiritual entities, yet they are entirely subject to the power of God, as demonstrated here by Jesus’s work of exorcism. In summary, yes, they’re real, but no, we don’t need to fear them.

With that out of the way, the full story in this passage can help us understand Jesus’s retreat to a desolate place. In the span of a day Jesus went from being the visiting preacher in a synagogue (1:21) to having the whole city at his door step. He went first-century viral—his fame began spreading to the surrounding region, and everyone wanted to hear from him and witness the amazing things he was doing. In the parallel account in Luke 4:31-44, it says that the people “would have kept him from leaving” to go onto the next town.

In discussion we’ll ponder what this was like for Jesus and the disciples. If we skip ahead to why Jesus left to go pray we can likely come up with quick responses—prayer is good, quiet time with God prepares you for the noise of life, etc.—but before we jump there we need to take into account that Jesus is both God and man; he has cares and concerns too. It likely was not effortless for him to leave Capernaum, if only because he was up late healing people and still got up early. Surely the increase in Jesus’s popularity was invigorating; Jesus’s mission was to preach to the people of Israel, and here they are flocking to him. Surely the disciples swelled with pride over being members of this new celebrity’s inner circle. And undoubtedly this came with some subsequent opportunities and responsibilities, accolades and gifts to receive from thankful fans, more people in need of healing and care.

The way the story reads, it’s as if Jesus had to tiptoe out the door that morning, maybe even stepping around people who had camped out over night to be first in line. He went out to be alone with his Father in the dark, still twilight of the Palestinian countryside. We gather that, even for Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, communion with the Father in prayer was absolutely necessary. When we discuss this necessity, we might look at Jesus’s busy 24 hours and think primarily about the way stillness with God prepares us for the busyness of life. And this is most certainly true, especially in the roaring hubbub we inhabit in modern society.

But we have other, more foundational needs than merely armoring up for frantic days. Man doesn’t live by bread alone—or by fame or success or approval—but by communion with God; as we engage with God as the source of abundant life and love, we receive from him the life that nourishes, sustains, transforms, and illuminates. Just as God’s love for us flows out of the love between the Father and the Son (John 17:23), so too our relationship with God is a fountainhead for our relationships with others, and from him we learn how to walk in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25) and love others as God has loved us (Eph 5:1).

We’ll close out discussion talking about those things that typically hinder us from time with God in silence and solitude. This will give us a moment to observe those things standing in our way and to confess, where applicable, that it’s often just us getting in our way. In the last question we’ll have a chance to exchange helpful tactics for getting time alone with God. Ideally, out of this we can all come away with one thing to try in the coming weeks that might aid us in retreating to be with our Father.

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