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. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
Read Mark 1:35-39 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
If we were to dig into the gospels looking to find habits that Jesus had, one of the more notable ones we would find is found right near the beginning of Mark’s gospel. While Luke also includes this event near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, I imagine that we don’t read about it more because after a couple of days like this, the disciples would not see it as being as unique or significant to include in their gospels.
As I think about this, this event is included in the two gospels that were not written by members of the 12 disciples. I imagine the two disciple-authors simply understood this to be part of who Jesus was.
The habit Jesus had: early morning prayer: “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” (v. 35)
Perhaps, since this was early on in Jesus’ ministry, He caught the disciples off guard and this event stands out because they had to go searching for Him. While they were searching for Jesus, I wonder if many of the disciples were bothered that Jesus had asked them to follow Him, but now they couldn’t even find Him.
Eventually they did find Him, and they probably found Him praying. Jesus’ prayer life and His connection to the Father was His top priority throughout His entire ministry leading up to the cross. There are plenty of times Jesus spent the night in prayer, and I suspect that the times we know of are only a tiny sample of the times that He actually focused on prayer during the night hours.
If Jesus is to be an example for us like He was to the disciples, then we should also focus on our relationship with God through prayer as the first thing we do when we get up each morning, and as the last thing we do before going to sleep – not to mention keeping the communication open during the daytime hours as well. If prayer was a habit in Jesus’ life, we should make prayer a habit in our own lives as His followers.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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