Mark 1:35-39 – Prayer is essential

Verse 35 explicitly tells us that, “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” He must have slept as much as He could, then He woke up, and slipped away into a solitary and remote place out of town. There He went on His knees and connected with the Father in prayer. 

We have all wondered at times and asked why Jesus, the Sovereign Lord and King, needed to pray? We all know that heaven was certainly at His behest.  So why did He need to pray? One thing to bear in mind is that although He is 100% God, He was also 100% man while on earth. Thus He had a human reason why He needed to pray. The Bible clearly says that although He was God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. But He emptied of Himself and took the form of a man. And being found in the form of a man He was obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

On earth, Christ did not exercise His deity but depended on God, through His Holy Spirit, for the empowerment to accomplish the mission. Thus prayer was one of the means that Jesus our Lord largely depended on. We can also see it this way: Jesus prayed to show us how important it is to connect with the Father. And He wants us to live life like He did. If prayer was needful for Him to live a godly life and to accomplish God’s purpose on earth, it must also be ours! Like the Lord we must make time in our lives for regular prayers.

So here in the desert place Jesus was engaged in dialogue with the Father. Then verses 36 and 37 tell us that He was interrupted. “Simon and his companions searched for Him; they found Him, and said to Him, ‘Everyone is looking for you.’” 

So why were they looking for Him? Having experienced great victory the night before, they wanted him to take advantage of the momentum they had gained. But our Lord was not the least bit interested. He knew exactly what His program on earth was. And after all He had just spoken to the Father. So His reply was, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.”

These few verses tell us the priority our Lord has placed on prayer in His ministry. It would certainly not be too much for Him to sleep a couple of hours more since He was engaged in ministry, and His energy had been spent the night before. But He got up to pray. Let’s us not forget, like the Lord, the call of ministry is a call to engage in prayer. We need to pray unceasingly. We also need to have a schedule program of prayer. We must remember to put prayer in our regular schedule and then diligently carry it out!