And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. –Mark 1:35
If Mark wanted to tell us that Jesus got up early to pray he could have done it a bit more simply. But instead he gives us a bit of a clunky sentence which is stacked with four verbs: rising, depart, went out, prayed. Mark wants to tell us more than just Jesus’ habit of praying early in the morning.
Rising. I don’t like getting up early. I especially do not like to get up very early as the text says. Jesus was fully human. He needed sleep. The day before this little tidbit was an action packed and likely exhausting day. Communion with the Father is more important than his own need for sleep.
Departed. While on earth, every day that Jesus went to bed he did so with a mass of humanity, within his proximity, that were not healed. That’s a somewhat tough pill to swallow. But there is also some level of comfort in this for our own lives and ministries. There will always be things left undone. And this departing into the wilderness shows us as well that communion with the Father is more important than even others need for healing.
Went out. Jesus did not retreat into a Netflix binge watch. He retread from the crowds into the wilderness. It’s the place of jackals, the very abode where we saw the Spirit drive him and where he was tested by the enemy. The wilderness is a place where we are away from community. That basic human need to be around others. But here as well communion with the Father is more important than even our need for community.
And prayed. This was a non-negotiable for Jesus. I think of all the times in my life when I’ve tabled my time of prayer to attend to my own needs, the needs of others, or even because I feel as if my greatest need is community. All of these things are good—and necessary in their own place. But Jesus models for us the absolute necessity of prayer.
I think James Edwards, in his excellent commentary on Mark says it well:
The work of the Son of God is both an inward and an outward work. Jesus cannot extend himself outward in compassion without first attending to the source of his mission and purpose with the Father; and, conversely, his oneness with the Father compels him outward in mission. The significance of Jesus’ ministry consists not simply in what he does for humanity, but equally in who he is in relation to the Father. Jesus is, according to Mark’s narrative, neither contemplative ascetic nor social activist. He does not promote an agenda but derives a ministry from a relationship with the Father. He is the Son, one in being with the Father; and the Servant, one in purpose with his will.
Edwards, J. R. (2002). The Gospel according to Mark (p. 66). Eerdmans; Apollos.
I think Edwards is correct because as soon as the disciples found Jesus, he immediately returns to the mission of preaching the gospel. Solitude with the Father propels us into mission, but mission cannot survive without that solitude.
If my prayer time doesn’t push me into mission it’s possible that it hasn’t truly been communion with the Father. Likewise, if the exhaustion of the mission doesn’t necessitate being alone with the Father, it is possible that the mission is being driven by the wrong fuel.
